Posts Tagged ‘ taxes ’

"Most of us think of April 15 as 'tax day,' but, of course, that doesn’t end our tax agony. Tax Freedom Day comes three days later, when the average American has stopped working to pay his taxes and starts working for himself and his family. Even that isn’t the end for many." (04/17/13)

"Senate Republicans will face a fork in the road this week when Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., forces a vote on a measure paving the way for expanded state sales tax collection for online purchases. The route Durbin would have them take would eventually lead to passage of the so-called 'Marketplace Fairness Act,' a bill that dramatically expands state and local tax authority in order to help bail out states like his native Illinois. The other avenue would protect taxpayers from perhaps the scariest Internet predator: government. A vote on Internet sales taxes during this week’s budget process will tell us which path conservatives will choose." (03/19/13)

"The OECD is very worried about the erosion of different countries' tax base, they say. The acronym (everything needs a catchphrase these days) is BEPS -- Fiscal Base Erosion and Profit Shifting. I guess the full acronym, FBEAPS, just wasn't so trip-off-the-tongue. The target, of course, is international companies who choose to base themselves in low-tax countries even as they operate in high tax countries." (02/20/13)

"Reform should make the law simpler, not more complicated." (02/20/13)

"Today the 2020 Tax Commission, a joint venture of the Taxpayers' Alliance and the Institute of Directors helmed by City AM's Allister Heath, releases its final report. The Single Income Tax ... argues for a comprehensive tax reform that would see the state shrink from 50% to 33%, with many of the current taxes we have on income, inheritance, and transactions being replaced with a single rate of 30% on income from labour, interest and dividends, with a £10,000 personal allowance." (05/21/12)

"It is worth noting that no universally agreed definition of 'tax haven' actually exists and, in fact, they are known by many different names including secrecy havens and low tax jurisdictions amongst others. Maybe a simple starting point would be to say that a tax haven is any jurisdiction, anywhere, that has preferential rules for foreign investors -- in so much as taxes are lower." (05/21/12)

"A couple weeks back, I wrote a post for the Economist trying to get my head around the circumstances in which tax deductions and credits, and tax cuts generally, do and don't count as government spending. Conflicting answers to these questions are, I think, at the center of the current impasse over fiscal reform, so it might be helpful to try to make our assumptions about income and taxation more explicit. But this isn't easy." (05/04/12)

"Obama needs the Gandhi Rule, not the Buffett Rule, if he wants the rich to pay more taxes." (04/24/12)

"Unlike Will, I have a hard time coming up with a model in which it makes sense for Warren Buffett to refuse to contribute more to the government unless the rest of us also are forced to contribute more. In order to come up with such a model, I would have to assume some extreme 'lumpiness' of public goods." (04/22/12)

"In order to score rhetorical points, the Democrats are proposing raising taxes on the rich back up to Clinton-era levels. That means that the top tax rate will rise from 35% to 39.6%. That is an increase on one tax bracket of about 11%, and it shows not only that the Democrats are not interested in balancing the budget it shows that they believe the voters are idiots for thinking that 8% increase is what is needed to balance the budget." (04/22/12)

"I've been trying to figure out what marginal tax rates would be if the so-called 'Buffett Rule' were passed. There's an actual Senate bill out there but, as with almost all bills, you have to look at previous law -- and know how to read dense laws -- to understand what it means. Here's a little background on tax law and economics to explain what I mean." (04/19/12)

"The US government exercises a brutal tax-enforcement regimen. As a police state, it regularly finds citizens guilty of crimes absent the intent to commit a crime -- the legal imperative of mens rea. The 'taxpayer,' compliant or not, however, must accurately be described as an innocent, non-aggressive property owner, who has the natural right to keep what he has worked for, or what was voluntarily bequeathed to him."

"Whether it’s through the Buffett Rule, higher income-tax rates or double taxation of dividends and capital gains, President Obama often demands that 'rich' taxpayers and big corporations send more money to Washington. But as Americans pay their taxes by today’s deadline, we might note that trying to get more money from upper-income taxpayers is like playing whack-a-mole. So long as tax rates are high, rich people will figure out ways to protect their income." (04/16/12)

"The federal tax code is getting uglier every year as politicians from both parties add more credits, deductions and other special breaks. In the first year of the income tax in 1913, the 1040 tax form came with just one page of instructions. This year the instruction book for the 1040 is 189 pages long. That's just one IRS tax form, but there are more than 500 others." (04/16/12)