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Democrats Have Civil Debate With No New Tax Positions
He was handed a chance to embarrass Sanders over Sanders conscientious objector status in Vietnam while Webb was a decorated Marine. He passed on that, while still indicating that he, Webb, was most qualified to be Commander in Chief. Webb stood out when foreign policy was discussed by mentioning China’s activities in the South China Sea and its cyberwarfare.
His best line was right at the end when the candidates were asked about who the enemies they had made were. Webb went last and after Hillary mentioned the Republicans and Bernie mentioned Wall Street, Webb said it was probably the guy who threw a grenade at him, but that guy is not around anymore.
Some Unique WWII Memoirs
I really like memoirs and biographies. There are three that I just finished. I would recommend two of them as really good reads. The Yeoman Wake of The Wahoo by...
Live Blogging From Debate Night With We Want Bernie Worcester
I'm live blogging the Democratic debate from the Sahara Restaurant on Highland St in Worcester. I arrived early and snagged a table with an electric outlet. As of...
Hillary’s Tax Proposals Will Make Things More Complicated
Clinton’s worst proposal for those of us who would like to see an Internal Revenue Code with fewer bells and whistles is a temporary tax credit (two years) for companies that establish profit sharing plans. Robert Samuelson nailed it in his analysis.
Hillary Clinton has just given us an object lesson — presumably unintended — demonstrating why our tax system is such a complex mess. The main reason is this: Politicians of both parties cannot resist the temptation to use the tax code to promote the latest political fad or to please favored constituencies.
As a tax adviser, I can tell you this. I would be only recommending looking at this credit for somebody who was going to do something like it anyway, which by the way is the way the research credit works in the world that I play in. Experts go in and identify all the things the company does that can plausibly be considered research.
A lot of firms that have bonuses as part of their compensation scheme – like many accounting firms – would all of a sudden have profit sharing plans (at least for a couple of years). Of course there will be safeguards to prevent that type of abuse- adding a few more thousand words to the Code or the regulations.
Lincoln Chafee OK With Tax Code As Is With Higher Top Rate And Exemptions
Debbie Rich sent me a press release dated September 24th titled “Chafee Proposes New Tax Bracket For The Wealthy”. Unlike Bernie Sanders, Chafee would preserve the favorable rate on capital gains and dividends, but would raise the rate to 25% for taxpayers with total income over $750,000. He would also put in a new top ordinary rate of 45% for those with income over $750,000.
Chafee estimates that the $41 billion raised by the higher rates could be used to raise personal exemptions by $1,000. He is also open to further increasing the personal exemption for low and moderate incomes by phasing it out for incomes over $200,000.
Jindal Tax Plan Creates A Wonderland Of Dodging
More to the point, though, Jindal’s plan opens up a veritable wonderland of tax dodging . There is no corporate income tax. So if you have a C corporation that is profitable, there will be no tax unless there are distributions (Under this regime I doubt anyone would want a flow-through entity except while it was unprofitable). The plan also calls for up to $30,000 per year in contributions to a tax-deferred account. So if you are really doing well and can afford a plane or a boat or a second home or an expensive art collection who is going to own it? Well say there is $100,000 of cash in your corporation. Do you take a distribution of $100,000 and buy a $75,000 painting with the net or just have the corporation buy the painting leaving $25,000 in the till?
IRS Scandal Narrative Still Inspires Passion
As something of an amateur historian, my biggest question about the IRS Scandal, which I sometimes refer to as Teapartygate, is how prominent it will be in our historical memory in a few decades. There are certain controversies about particular incidents that become vehicles for ideological freight and achieve a long life at least among the culturally literate. Think of the Dreyfus affair (l’affaire Dreyfus) or the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti . The IRS Scandal certainly has an ideological dimension as it can be portrayed as Washington insiders using the most feared federal agency to intimidate people advocating a return to constitutional values.
Volkswagen’s Emissiongate May Include Tax Crimes
Jack lists seven statutes that VW Emissiongate minions might be charged under (There are probably more). Some of them might surprise you. For example it is possible to be charged with tax evasion for enabling otherwise innocent taxpayers to improperly reduce their reported tax liability. That’s a three-year felony. Also a three-year felony are “Attempts to interfere with administration of internal revenue laws”. More apparent are tax perjury, a three-year felony, and false statements, a five-year felony.
Just so you know, there will not be somebody named Hans charged with 60,000 counts of tax evasion and sentenced to 180,000 years. How much time anybody serves will likely be ultimately limited by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. One of the factors considered in tax crimes, however, is the size of the tax loss, which in this case might be, as we say, a number.
Paul Caron’s Day By Day IRS Scandal Has Jumped The Shark – Conclusion
As I noted in Part I, I consider Paul Caron the dean of the tax blogosphere, so it seems rather arrogant of me to make suggestions about how he should run his blog, but as it happens, my blogging persona is kind of on the arrogant side. What I would like to see happen with the day by day IRS Scandal is some sort of boundary around what the scandal is which would result in quite a few days where there is nothing to report. We will continue to see flurries of activity for at least the next year or two as various pieces of litigation play out, but there might be more and more days with nothing to report. I think a policy like that would prevent the high quality of the series from being diluted. And of course, if Professor Caron were to do something like Day 900 All Quiet on The IRS Scandal Front, the commenters would be sure to point out anything he missed.
Paul Caron’s Day By Day IRS Scandal Has Jumped The Shark – Part 1
The numbering starts on Day 5 (May 14,2013) with a collection of posts including a video of President Obama throwing his purported minions under the bus. On Day 27, the precedent is set that will allow the scandal to continue indefinitely as a TIGTA report on conference spending becomes part of the narrative. The Treasury Inspector General For Tax Administration is one of the many Inspector Generals in the federal government. The thing about internal auditors is that if they don’t find something, they think they are not doing their job. Every TIGTA report will henceforth have a shot at becoming part of the scandal narrative.