Friday, August 31, 2018

Tax Definitions That Are Surprising and the Need for More Tax Education

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Reader Morris directed my attention to a web site that contained the following statement: Taxable income is the amount of money you owe the ...
Wednesday, August 29, 2018

A Not Surprising Proposed Income Tax Regulation

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When the Congress, in its 2017 tax legislation, chose to limit state and local income tax deductions, states with relatively higher state an...
Monday, August 27, 2018

A Tax on Reproductive Failure?

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Reader Morris directed my attention to an article describing a proposal by Hu Jiye, a finance professor at China University of Political Sc...
Friday, August 24, 2018

Those Federal Corporate Tax Cuts Apparently Aren’t Enough

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Reader Morris alerted me to a story that is showing up in multiple reports, including this one from Fortune At least three large corporatio...
Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Who Should Fix Congressional Tax Errors?

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It’s no secret that the tax legislation rushed through the Congress late last year is infected with errors. These are not simple mistakes th...
Monday, August 20, 2018

Tariffs: Taxes By Another Name

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It amuses me when someone who disagrees with a point that I make tries to classify me as an adherent of one or the other of the two competin...
Friday, August 17, 2018

Indeed, Check Your Withholding, and Do It Now

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Almost two weeks ago, in The Realities of Income Tax Withholding , I discussed the extent to which the revised withholding tables will cause...
Wednesday, August 15, 2018

The Wrong Type of Tax Education

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It’s no secret that I support education. Education is the antidote to ignorance, and ignorance is the fertilizer of undesired and unpleasant...
Monday, August 13, 2018

Defending the Indefensible Tax Idea: A Reflection on Tax Policy Ignorance

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A week and a half ago, in Tax Hogs at The Tax Trough , I criticized the proposal that Treasury, independent of Congressional action, index a...
Friday, August 10, 2018

Who Can Bank on Those Tax Breaks?

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My criticism of the 2017 tax legislation as a sloppily-drafted, terrible-for-most-Americans giveaway to the oligarchs is no secret. I have w...
Wednesday, August 08, 2018

When It Pays to Pay for Use Tax Collection Work

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I have been writing about the collection of use taxes on internet transactions for more than fourteen years. I started with Taxing the Inter...
Monday, August 06, 2018

The Realities of Income Tax Withholding

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For decades, taxpayers whose income comes from wages have paid their income taxes not by waiting until filing their returns but through with...
Friday, August 03, 2018

A Self-Designed Tax Shelter That Failed

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When people try to avoid or evade taxes, they often become creative. Tax creativity is good if it works, and is a nightmare when it fails. A...
Wednesday, August 01, 2018

Tax Hogs at The Tax Trough

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It ought not be shocking that the folk who pay lower federal income tax rates on their incomes than typical middle-class Americans do are ba...
Monday, July 30, 2018

What’s Not Good Tax-Wise for Most Americans Is Just as Not Good for Small Businesses

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My criticism of the 2017 tax legislation as a sloppily-drafted, terrible-for-most-Americans giveaway to the oligarchs is no secret. I have w...
Friday, July 27, 2018

A Better Understanding of Sales and Use Taxes Can Enrich the Discussion

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When I last wrote about the collection of use taxes on internet sales, in Getting Past Nexus and Into Voluntary Use Tax Collection Compensat...
Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Taking the Simpler Path to Resolving a Tax Issue

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A recent case, Jusino v. Comr. , T.C. Memo 2018-112, provides an example of when a tax issue can be resolved by following the simpler path r...
Monday, July 23, 2018

What’s Next? A Tax on Exiting the Store? How Unwise Taxes Undermine Tax Policy

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For almost a decade I have been criticizing the so-called soda tax. It fails to get my support because it is both too narrow and too broad. ...
Friday, July 20, 2018

When Should Tax Revenue Subsidize the Private Sector?

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About a year and a half ago, in If You Want a Professional Sports Team, Pay For It Yourselves; Don’t Grab Tax Dollars , I explained that if ...
Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Could A Different Rental Arrangement Have Saved This Tax Deduction?

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After reading the opinion in a recent Tax Court case, Najafpir v. Comr. , T.C. Memo 2018-103, I asked myself what could the taxpayer have do...