Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Does Failure to Pay Real Property Taxes Make the Owner a Squatter?

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Though it’s unclear whether it is a newly filmed episode or one produced before the pandemic set in, a new Judge Judy episode popped up last...
Monday, September 28, 2020

What Qualifications Are Needed to Be a Tax Collector?

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In a series of posts about the former Seminole County, Florida, Tax Collector, starting with A Reason Not to Run for Tax Collector (or Any O...
Friday, September 25, 2020

How Is Tax Relevant in This Contract Case?

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The combination of a pandemic shutdown and a summer recess in many television show productions means that the supply of court show episodes ...
Wednesday, September 23, 2020

The Deal-Maker’s Tariff: Backing Down Without an Apology

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A little more than a month ago, in An Unwise Tariff Decision , I criticized the tariff imposed by the current Administration on aluminum imp...
Monday, September 21, 2020

A Six-Cent Tax Mess

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The headline caught my eye. Multiple news outlets have shared the story, most with the same or very similar headlines. For example, NBC New ...
Friday, September 18, 2020

Need a Tax Return Preparer? Don’t Use a Current IRS Employee

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Indictments of tax return preparers appear to be increasing. Though I discussed one in 2009 in Tax Fraud Is Not Sacred , there have been at ...
Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Tax Collector Behaving Badly: From Even Worse to Even More Than Even Worse

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About three months ago, in A Reason Not to Run for Tax Collector (or Any Other Office)? , I commented on a story about an incumbent tax col...
Monday, September 14, 2020

When Behaving Badly as a Tax Collector Gets Even Worse

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About three months ago, in A Reason Not to Run for Tax Collector (or Any Other Office)? , I commented on a story about an incumbent tax col...
Friday, September 11, 2020

Miscasting Tax Facts: How Tax Fear Goes Viral

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Looking at my facebook newsfeed, it caught my eye. It was a photograph of a portion of a newspaper page, with a chart circled in red. It was...
Wednesday, September 09, 2020

Suppose They Gave a “Tax Break” And No One Used It?

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Almost 85 years ago, Carl Sandburg, in his poem “The People, Yes,” wrote “Sometime they’ll give a war, and nobody will come.” Jump forward a...
Monday, September 07, 2020

Surely There Is More to This Tax Fraud Indictment

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Several days ago, in this news release , the Department of Justice announced that a federal grand jury in Las Vegas, Nevada, had returned a ...
Friday, September 04, 2020

Muddying the Tax Waters: When Certain Members of Congress Are Frightened

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The current President made a statement that has caused alarm bells to ring. At his news conference on August 12, as reported in multiple sou...
Wednesday, September 02, 2020

Just Because A Tax Involves Arithmetic Does Not Mean It Resembles Quantum Physics

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Real property taxes in Pennsylvania, like most states, are based on the assessed value of real property. In Pennsylvania, the assessment pro...
Monday, August 31, 2020

No. Just No. Not Even for Me, a Somewhat Tax Person

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Yes, I have taught tax. I have prepared tax returns. I have offered tax advice. I have written about tax. Of course, tax isn't all that ...

Taxes and Lies: Why?

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The false tax posts on social media are proliferating. One that caught my attention was the claim that “Biden’s tax rate on a family making ...
Friday, August 28, 2020

How, Not If, The Taxation of Social Security Benefits Should Be Changed

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The taxation of social security benefits is a topic that can spark intense discussion. I have written about this issue more than a few times...
Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Running for Tax Collector (or Any Other Office)? Don’t Do These Things

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About two months ago, in A Reason Not to Run for Tax Collector (or Any Other Office)? , I commented on a story about an incumbent tax colle...
Monday, August 24, 2020

Chocolate from Heaven?

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A break from writing about taxes. It’s chocolate time. Imagine living in or near Olten, Switzerland. Suddenly, chocolate powder begins to f...
Friday, August 21, 2020

An Unwise Tariff Decision

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As reported by many sources, including this story , the Administration’s tariff on aluminum imported from Canada has gone into effect. The i...
Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Payroll Taxes, Trust Funds, Regressive Taxes, Progressive Taxes, And Flat Taxes

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Over at Mother Jones , Kevin Drum advocates changes in the way Social Security is funded. In his commentary , he argues that the payroll tax...