Most Recent Posts
Convicted Cicero Town President Learns Silence Not Golden In Tax Court
Everybody who watches TV cop shows knows you have a right to remain silent and that what you say can be used against you. Betty Loren-Maltese who went from being...
Some Zero Tax Romney Returns Would Be As Shocking As Gambling At Rick’s
My personal Rafalcagate, where my ignorance of the multi-stage nature of dressage, caused me to call the Romney horse out too soon, has me thinking about Mitt's returns...
Professor Proposes Charitable Alternative To Flexible Spending Use It Or Lose It Rule
Adam Chodorow is a Professor of Law at Arizona State University. I invited him to do a guest post on a topic of his choice. He and I seem to share a taste for...
Rafalca London Olympics Medal Or Not – No Current Tax Savings
I had studied Romney’s 2010 and draft 2011 returns sometime ago. The Rob Rom partnership which owns Rafalca did not register with me. A few days ago, Janet Novack, my esteemed editor, called to interview me for her piece Both Left And Right Got The Taxes On The Romneys’ Olympic Horse Wrong. You can see what I had to say about it in her piece, but as part of the interview, I cluelessly asked her why this was in the news now. She told me it was because of the Olympics? I did remember that the Olympics were going on. I don’t have a television, though, and the only Olympic sport I like is curling, which they don’t do in the Summer Olympics. The tax questions were fascinating though and I did a piece on how to keep straight the various obstacles there are to posting negative numbers on your return – Romney’s Olympic Horse Not Jumping Through The Last Hoop of Deductibility. As Frank Frank notes, though, my research on the actual dressage competition was abysmal.
Chief Apostle Bishop Corletta Vaughn Still Liable For Ministry Payroll Taxes
Originally published on Forbes.com on August 1st, 2012 Back in October, I told the story of Chief Apostle Bishop Corletta Vaughn of Go Tell It Ministry. She was in...
Another Judge Declares DOMA Unconstitutional
You have to be on the elderly side to remember Hamilton Burger. He was the prosecutor who always lost to Perry Mason. The spirit of Hamilton Burger lives on in the...
Tony Martin’s Career Comeback Casbah Led To Tax Court Encounter
Originally published on Forbes.com on July 31st, 2012 Tony Martin, who worked as an entertainer for over 80 years died last Friday at the age of 98. I'm sure he must...
First Circuit In Easement Donation Case – Don’t Confuse The South End With South Boston
The high point of the decision, for me, was an incidental geographical observation that the Court made. The Kaufman’s house was in a Boston neighborhood called the South End, which the Court noted is “not be be confused with South Boston.” After upholding Arthur Garrity’s decision on school desegregation 1974, it will be a long time before the First Circuit confuses South Boston with anyplace else.
Julian Block May Have Some Tax Advice For Kanye West
Originally published on Forbes.com on July 29th, 2012 I asked Julian Block to comment on my recent innocent spouse piece. He is too busy pondering the tax implications...
Innocent Spouse Status Not Just For Women
In my years of reading tax cases, an erroneous impression I formed was that asking for innocent spouse status was simply not manly. When I actually took the trouble to...