Wednesday, May 30, 2018

The Tax is Not Axed

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Several days ago, while working on a family history project with the television in the background, my ears picked up during a commercial to ...
Monday, May 28, 2018

How Not to React to a Bad Tax Law

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Three Months Ago, in Will My Reaction to Their Tax Plan Break Their Hearts? , I shared my opinion that attempts by states to avoid the $10,...
Friday, May 25, 2018

When Will “First the Jobs, Then the Tax Break” Supersede the Empty Promises?

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A little more than a week ago, in Yet Another Reason for “First the Jobs, Then the Tax Break” , I reiterated the need to tie tax breaks to t...
Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Incorrectly Breaking Down the Internal Revenue Code

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Reader Morris asked me if I agree with the following claims in this article : What most people don't realize, in fact, is that 99 percen...
Monday, May 21, 2018

Adverse Possession, Basis, and Gross Income

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Reader Morris directed my attention to a Philadelphia Inquirer article from several weeks ago that apparently I missed. I think, though, th...
Friday, May 18, 2018

What Does It Mean to Be Retired for Tax Purposes?

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When people ask me if I am retired, I tell them, “Not really.” Yes, I’m retired, because I stepped down from my full-time tenure-track posit...
Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Yet Another Reason For “First the Jobs, Then the Tax Break”

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So that big tax giveaway last December was touted as the impetus for an increase in good-paying jobs in this country. As I pointed out in po...
Monday, May 14, 2018

What Should Taxes Fund?

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Several days ago, an article about a tax proposal dispute in Wichita, Kansas caught my eye. The Fraternal Order of Police, the Internationa...
Friday, May 11, 2018

When Winning Money Isn’t the Cure

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Several days ago, a television commercial caught my ear as it came to a close. Generally, I don’t pay much attention to commercials, letting...
Wednesday, May 09, 2018

Perhaps Chocolate Should Be Its Own Food Group?

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Perhaps I don’t write about chocolate as much as I should. I’d like to, but there are so many other topics to discuss. So few, if any, of my...
Monday, May 07, 2018

It’s So Easy to Criticize a Revenue Plan, and So Much More Difficult to Present a Revenue Solution

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Almost two years ago, in Does the “No New Taxes” Crowd Think Tax-Financed Public Goods Are Free? , I criticized Connecticut Republicans who ...
Friday, May 04, 2018

Lawmakers “Hoping” But That’s Not Enough

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It came as no surprise to read the report that Apple has increased its dividend payment and is investing $100 billion to buy back stock, wh...
Wednesday, May 02, 2018

State Income Tax Deductions for the Marijuana Industry: Do They Exist and Do They Violate Federal Law?

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Last week I attended a continuing legal education program at the law school which focused on the ethical and practical problems faced by att...
Monday, April 30, 2018

Yet Another Reason the 2017 Tax Cut Legislation Isn’t Good for Most Americans

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Last week, in Another Reason the 2017 Tax Cut Legislation Isn’t Good for Most Americans , I commented on one of the many flaws in the 2017 t...
Friday, April 27, 2018

Some Statistics About Tax Attorneys

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The latest 2018’s Best & Worst Entry-Level Jobs report from WalletHub includes some rather interesting information about tax attorneys....
Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Another Reason the 2017 Tax Cut Legislation Isn’t Good for Most Americans

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It’s no secret I’m not a fan of the 2017 tax legislation that lowered taxes significantly for the wealthy, gave some modest or trivial tax d...
Monday, April 23, 2018

Tithing, Taxes, and Income

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Reader Morris pointed me in the direction of a question at the intersection of tax and theology . There are many questions at that intersect...
Friday, April 20, 2018

Who Should Decide Tax Policy?

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According to this recent story , a billionaire who is registered as an independent but who has donated to both major political parties thoug...
Wednesday, April 18, 2018

When Anti-Tax Means Anti-Too-Much

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Too often, the anti-tax crowd portrays opposition to tax as beneficial for society. A frequent social media meme claims that before the inco...
Monday, April 16, 2018

No, It’s Not A Good Way to Run a Tax System

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A little more than a week ago, in How Not to Run a Tax System , I criticized the efforts by the Office of Management and Budget to get its h...
Friday, April 13, 2018

How Not to Manage Income Tax Refunds

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The title of the article, Why tax season is good (and bad) for Americans' health caught my eye. Expecting to read about increases in st...
Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Kansas Demonstrates Again Why Supply-Side Economics Fails

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One of the best examples of how trickle-down supply-side tax policy is a total failure is the Kansas experience. I have written about the te...
Monday, April 09, 2018

What Is a Retailer’s Obligation Not to Provide Misleading Tax Information?

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The other day, listening to Philadelphia’s news radio station, I heard a commercial for a retailer in Delaware. One of the featured parts of...
Friday, April 06, 2018

How Not to Run a Tax System

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In theory, the process of administering new tax laws works. Congress amends the Internal Revenue Code, and the Treasury Department, in coope...