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13 Apr 2011 10:34

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Biz: General Electric’s tax refund story: A complete, total hoax

  • NOthis story isn’t true … the AP fell victim to a hoax source
  • » Moral of the story: The AP really annoys the crap out of us sometimes.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Mar 2011 14:09

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Culture: Acting legend Al Pacino’s pockets may get a little lighter

Al Pacino is in trouble with the IRS, on the hook for $188,000. He blamed his former manager, Kenneth Starr (not that one), who is currently in prison for stealing his client’s money. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Feb 2011 14:30

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Politics: Barack Obama makes his tax pitch to the business community

  • Another barrier government can remove is a burdensome corporate tax code with one of the highest rates in the world.
  • President Barack Obama • Speaking to the Chamber of Commerce, the President reiterated his State Of The Union pledge to cut the corporate tax rate. This plan writ large may not cause too much angst to his liberal supporters, provided that the reciprocal promise he made, eliminating loopholes in said corporate tax code, also sees some motion. Chamber of Commerce head Thomas Donahue called it  “a good change in tone.” source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2011 22:16

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Politics: Why you’re paying less in taxes than you were two years ago

  • 13% drop in income tax payments since Bush’s last year in office
  • 33% decrease in taxes paid by corporations since 2008; that’s a big drop
  • 1950 the last time taxes (as a percentage of the entire US economy) were this low source
  • » But don’t get too excited. While lower taxes may sound nice on paper, the real reason for this drop isn’t as much due to policy changes as it is the recession. See, people (and corporations) are making a whole lot less money than they were a few years ago; hence, they’re paying less in taxes. And that sucks for just about everybody involved. However, Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota places a lot of the blame on our nation’s tax code itself, calling it a “simply indefensible” policy that’s “hemorrhaging revenue.” Still, our primary focus should probably be on pulling our economy out of the toilet. Then we can fix the tax code.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jan 2011 09:22

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U.S.: How extreme are Illinois’ huge state tax increases, guys?

  • 67% the size of Illinois’ tax increase, quickly pushed through this week by some lame ducks
  • 5% the current tax rate, up from 3 percent – a change retroactive to January 1st
  • $3,300 the amount you’ll have to pay in state taxes now if you had to pay $2,200 before source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Jan 2011 21:00

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U.S.: Tax watchdog: Taxes too complicated, take too much time

  • United States Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson says something has to change. Olson, who makes a yearly report on the collective state of tax compliance, says we spend too much time paying our taxes, and the process is way too overwhelming. “There has been near universal agreement for years that the tax code is broken and needs to be fixed,” she says. “Yet no broad-based attempt to reform the tax code has been made.” Some of her findings:
  • 6.1B the number of hours it takes for businesses to comply with tax-filing requirements
  • 3M the number of workers Olson estimates are needed to ensure everyone tax compliance
  • 550% the increase in liens the IRS has filed against taxpayers over the last five years source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Jan 2011 20:45

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Politics: Poll: Start cutting the deficit by raising rich people’s taxes

  • 61% of respondents would prefer that taxes increase for the rich to help cut the deficit
  • 20% of respondents say that defense spending would be a better first choice to hack away at
  • 4% of respondents would prefer instead that we took the scalpel to Medicare source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

02 Jan 2011 12:05

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U.S.: Dear early-bird tax filers: The IRS isn’t ready for you guys yet

  • good Obama got the tax compromise through late last month, even if it didn’t have absolutely everything he wanted in it. There’s no more uncertainty, which is good.
  • bad As a side effect of it coming so late in the year, the IRS can’t take as many as 50 million itemized tax forms until late February, due to tax code changes. Sorry, guys. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Dec 2010 09:18

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Politics: Obama, in fact, playing his long-term tax change card

  • Look, the fact of the matter is that, for a decade now we have had the tendency to think that we can keep on having all the services we want and … can keep cutting taxes as much as we want and that somehow things are going to magically balance out.
  • Barack Obama • Discussing the country’s current tax situation – basically a suggestion that we’ve been living like we can have our cake and eat it too. Obama, on the other hand, doesn’t think that’s true; he suggests his compromise would play out as “a central battle as part of a larger discussion about how do we reform our tax code so that it’s fair” and a way to deal with the deficit in “an intelligent way.” Obama is playing for long-term gain, and if he’s successful, he’ll make a stronger long-term mark. Of course, that still means it needs to pass, which Obama’s confident will eventually happen (even if it didn’t yesterday). source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Oct 2010 23:02

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Biz, Offbeat: Surely, this qualifies as governmental overreach

  • cute Two young entrepreneurs, aged 4 and 6, decided to sell pumpkins outside their home in Idaho to raise money for sports.
  • callous Officials from the Idaho State Tax Commission busted the kids for running a business without obtaining proper permits. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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