Friday, June 29, 2018

Is Holding On To Tax Cut Failures Admirable Perseverance or Foolish Stubbornness?

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Advocates of tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations not only continue to hold fast to their disproven theories, and not only crow...
Wednesday, June 27, 2018

When a Quid-Pro-Quo Gets In the Way of a Charitable Contribution Deduction

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It was the first part of the headline to this Philadelphia Inquirer article that caught my eye and caused me to think of tax. The headline ...
Monday, June 25, 2018

No “Redo” or “Reset” Button for Tax Fraud

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Though it’s a well-settled principle that taxpayers who file fraudulent returns cannot escape the resulting fraud penalties by filing amende...
Friday, June 22, 2018

Taxes and Voting

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According to this report , brought to my attention by reader Morris, bills have been introduced in both houses of the Michigan legislature t...
Wednesday, June 20, 2018

A Hidden Tax Question

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Reader Morris alerted me to something of which I was unaware. He began by directing my attention to this story written by the city manager ...
Monday, June 18, 2018

Should There Be Limits on Tax Credits?

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When I ask if there should be limits on tax credits, I am not referring to dollar or percentage caps that limit the amount of the credit. I ...
Friday, June 15, 2018

Trickle-Down Variation Is No Better Than Trickle-Down

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Reader Morris sent me a link to an article of a little more than a week ago . In the article, Joseph Lawler reports on comments made by JPMo...
Wednesday, June 13, 2018

A Tale of Taxes and Bridges

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Sometimes stories teach lessons much more efficiently, and interestingly, than do recitations of law and policy. In his recent report Danie...
Monday, June 11, 2018

Tax Law Aggravation: Is It the Theory or the Practical Application?

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A recent case, Johnson v. Comr. , T.C. Summ. Op. 2018-31, provides an opportunity to examine whether it is the theory or the practical appli...
Friday, June 08, 2018

Some Tax Zappers Have Been Zapped, Lightly

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It has been more than six years since I wrote about tax zappers in Zap the Tax Zappers . Briefly, a tax zapper is software that is connected...
Wednesday, June 06, 2018

Can A Tax Stop Gossip?

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According to this recent report , Uganda’s parliament has enacted a daily tax, equivalent to 5 cents, on people who use internet messaging p...
Monday, June 04, 2018

Getting Past Nexus and Into Voluntary Use Tax Collection Compensation Plans

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Last week, in a Washington Examiner commentary , George Pieler presented arguments against permitting states to compel nonresident vendors t...
Friday, June 01, 2018

Most Taxpayers Do Not Know They Are Handing Out Billions to Corporations

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The other day, reader Morris presented me with a question that is the title of a New York Times editorial by Nathan Jensen. The article hea...
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...