Friday, September 30, 2016

Does Not Paying Federal Income Tax Make a Person Smart?

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As reported by many sources, including the Wall Street Journal , “When Mrs. Clinton said there were years when Mr. Trump paid no taxes, he r...
Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Carelessness and Tax Evasion

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According to this story , the owner of several Atlantic City businesses admitted in federal court that he and his associates in one of the b...
Monday, September 26, 2016

Course Enrollment Matters, Even for Tax Purposes

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Most people have heard at least one anecdote about a student who attempts to take a final exam in a course, only to discover that failure to...
Friday, September 23, 2016

Another Lesson in the “Tax Rate Reductions Increase Tax Revenue” Experience

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Supply-siders like to argue that by reducing tax rates, people and businesses will engage in economic activity squelched by higher tax rates...
Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Alimony or Property Settlement? Placement Versus Language

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An attorney is retained to represent a plaintiff, and agrees to be compensated with a contingent fee. While the case is ongoing, the attorne...
Monday, September 19, 2016

Another Angry Clothes Burner, But Without the Casualty Loss Issue

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Yes, this is another MauledAgain post based on a television court show. The list is getting longer, and includes posts such as Judge Judy an...
Friday, September 16, 2016

Money, Taxes, and Education

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In Pennsylvania, public K-12 education is financed through real property taxes. Not long ago, the state legislature imposed a limit on the a...
Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Tax Ignorance is Dangerous

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Too many people are ignorant about taxes. Finding it difficult to complete a tax return is not tax ignorance. Tax experts find tax return pr...
Monday, September 12, 2016

Good at Long-Range Trash Can Hoops? Then You’re Ready to Be a Chemist, or Tax Return Preparer, or Surgeon

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Excuse the sarcastic blog post title, folks. It isn’t a secret that I am a fan of education, a critic of people having responsibilities beyo...
Friday, September 09, 2016

Using the Free Market to Collect The Use Tax

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The drop in sales and use tax revenue experienced by states because online purchases keep growing continues to stymie state governments seek...
Wednesday, September 07, 2016

The Perils of Tax Politics

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Running for office presents candidates with numerous opportunities to slip up. This is particularly a problem when the issue is a complicate...
Monday, September 05, 2016

Robots Doing Tax Returns?

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Perhaps it’s fortuitous that on labor day I share some thoughts about the prospect of even more jobs disappearing. According to this recent ...
Friday, September 02, 2016

Is Tax Cheating Going to Increase?

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In a recent opinion piece , Catherine Rampell predicts, “Tax cheating is about to rise in the United States.” Is she correct? Rampell give...
Wednesday, August 31, 2016

What Happens When the IRS Tax Data Repository Contains Unverified Data?

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Recently, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) released a report with the tongue-twisting title, “The Integrated Pr...
Monday, August 29, 2016

It’s a Tax, and It’s Not Deductible

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A recent letter to the editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer illustrates why taxpayers are more confused than they need to be when it comes t...
Friday, August 26, 2016

More Evidence That Film Tax Credits Are an Ineffective Giveaway

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Readers of this blog know that I am not a fan of targeted tax credits ostensibly designed to generate more tax revenue than they cost, in pa...
Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Would You Report Your Neighbor’s Unregistered Vehicle?

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Fairfax County in Virginia imposes a personal property tax on motor vehicles (and some other items). To collect the tax, the county requires...
Monday, August 22, 2016

Does Getting a Tax Deal Done Require This Sort of Action?

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New Jersey has a problem, though I doubt it’s the only state with this sort of challenge. The federal government also faces a similar issue....
Friday, August 19, 2016

Can Voters Be Given Too Many Tax Propositions?

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A reader alerted me to this story and asked if voters can be given too many tax propositions. According to the story, voters in Amarillo, T...
Wednesday, August 17, 2016

What’s the Remedy for This Income Tax Mess?

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A recent Tax Court case, Cappel v. Comr. , reminds taxpayers that tax danger lurks in every child support situation. Usually, divorcing coup...
Monday, August 15, 2016

To Test The Mileage-Based Road Fee, There Needs to Be a Test

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The future of highway, bridge, and tunnel maintenance, repair, and expansion rests with the mileage-based road fee. Why do I make that claim...
Friday, August 12, 2016

Imagine ReadyReturn Afflicted with This Sort of IRS Error

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Recently, the IRS sent a tremendous number of Failure to Deposit Notices to employers, treating monthly and daily deposits of payroll taxes ...
Wednesday, August 10, 2016

What is The Remedy for a Flawed Tax?

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When the Pennsylvania legislature enacted the most recent budget for the state, it included not only increases in the cigarette and tobacco ...
Monday, August 08, 2016

The Kansas Trickle-Down Tax Theory Failure Has Consequences

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The saga of how the tax cuts for the wealthy enacted at the behest of Kansas governor Sam Brownback has hurt the state now has a parallel ta...
Friday, August 05, 2016

Kansas Trickle-Down Failures Continue to Flood the State

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Anti-tax and anti-government advocates argue that tax cuts for the wealthy will increase private sector jobs. This argument appeals to those...
Wednesday, August 03, 2016

What’s the Best Income Tax Base?

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A reader recently noted a several-years-old proposal in Portland, Oregon, to collect a tax based on adjusted gross income. The reader asked,...