Friday, June 30, 2017

Tax Planning of the Bizarre Kind

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Every political entity, whether federal, state, county, township, city, village, or other subdivision, that has jurisdiction over highways, ...
Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Yet Another Reason the IRS is Not Ready for ReadyReturn

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For more than a few years, I have tried to persuade advocates of federal and state ReadyReturn programs that one of the major impediments to...
Monday, June 26, 2017

Another One of Those Non-Arithmetic Tax Questions: What Is a Sport?

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When someone claims that tax law isn’t “really law” because it’s “just numbers,” I have a list of tax issues that don’t require computations...
Friday, June 23, 2017

Learning from The Tax Experiences of Others

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On more than a few occasions I have discussed the failure of supply-side, trickle-down economic theory as it played out in Kansas. In posts ...
Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Is the Soda Tax an Ice Tax?

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Readers of this blog know that I am not a supporter of the soda tax, for all sorts of reasons, particularly because it doesn’t tax most item...
Monday, June 19, 2017

How Much of a Victory for Philadelphia is Its Soda Tax Win in Commonwealth Court?

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For almost ten years I have been commenting on the Philadelphia soda tax, from when it was a proposal, through its enactment, and during its...
Friday, June 16, 2017

The Cutting Edge of Chocolate Meets Tax?

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A reader directed my attention to an online retailer selling chocolate band-aids . The reader asked, I think half in jest, if the purchase p...
Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Tax versus Fee: The Difference Can Matter

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On at least three previous occasions, I have explored the difference between a tax and a fee. I did so in Please, It’s Not a Tax , So Is It ...
Monday, June 12, 2017

Will Congress Pay Attention to the Kansas Tax Model?

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One of the arguments in favor of states’ rights in a federal system is the opportunity for states to serve as experimental laboratories, pro...
Friday, June 09, 2017

People’s Court: So Who Did the Tax Cheating?

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Readers of this blog know that I watch television court shows, not only because of my interest in law generally, but because from time to ti...
Wednesday, June 07, 2017

Soda Tax Revenue Increase Followed by Decline

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As expected, the Philadelphia soda tax continues to be controversial. Controversy has accompanied it since its proposal, as I’ve described i...
Monday, June 05, 2017

Store Tanks Computing Sales Tax, and Customer Cleans Up

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One of the many reasons taxpayers should pay attention to whatever is being done when someone else computes their tax liabilities is that pe...
Friday, June 02, 2017

Tax Question: What Is a Salad?

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When students express concerns about enrolling in a basic tax course, usually because they are “afraid of” or “cannot do” math, those of us ...
Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Death as a Price for Taxes and User Fees

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Readers of this blog are familiar with my claim that it is cheaper, in the long run, to increase taxes and user fees dedicated to highway, b...
Monday, May 29, 2017

Is Tax and Spend Acceptable When It’s “Tax the Poor and Spend on the Wealthy”?

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It is no secret that I object to the use of public funds to support private enterprises that are not in need of financial assistance. For so...
Friday, May 26, 2017

“Creative” Attempt to Boost Tax Revenue Fails Court Test

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In Pennsylvania, state law prohibits localities and school districts from subjecting billboards, wind turbines, amusement park rides, and si...
Wednesday, May 24, 2017

A New Tax, Proposed But Rejected . . . Until?

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Last week, a reader asked me if I was aware of a tax proposal in Oregon. I was not. The tax, proposed in Oregon House Bill 2877 would have ...
Monday, May 22, 2017

Running Out of Sin Taxes

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A few months ago, in If You Want a Professional Sports Team, Pay For It Yourselves; Don’t Grab Tax Dollars , I criticized a major league soc...
Friday, May 19, 2017

No Tax Benefit for Being Nice

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Sometimes people decide to do something nice, in a monetary way, and then discover that there is no tax benefit for doing so. If there is a ...
Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Me, My Big Mouth (or Is It Irrepressible Keyboard?), and Taxes

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If my blog post from last Friday, Taxes, Strip Clubs, and Creativity had been a podcast, I’d now be saying, “I had to go and open my big mo...
Monday, May 15, 2017

Taking Responsibility for Funding Highways

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The nation’s highways, bridges, and tunnels are in need of major repairs and reconstruction. The sticking point, as is the case with just ab...
Friday, May 12, 2017

Taxes, Strip Clubs, and Creativity

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If asked which industries are most likely to get caught up in tax disputes, it would be a safe guess that the folks operating strip clubs wo...
Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Raising Revenue While Opposing Taxes

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It can boggle one’s mind. A member of Congress has proposed legislation, the “Lifetime GI Bill Act,” which, among other things, would requir...