In late March, thirteen states filed a lawsuit to fight what they claim is “a complete take-over of state finances” by the federal government, “one of the most egregious power grabs by the federal government in the history of the United States.” They want to use federal Covid-19 relief money to cut state taxes, which would continue
Taxes
In this episode of Tax Notes Talk, Joel Slemrod and Michael Keen, authors of Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue: Tax Follies and Wisdom Through the Ages, share interesting tax facts and lessons learned from history. The post has been edited for length and clarity. David Stewart: Welcome to the podcast. I’m David Stewart, editor in chief of Tax Notes
Hawaii and New York rank last in the nation on key economic growth measures, a sign that the pandemic continues to take a toll on major cities and tourism-reliant economies. In its first Index of State Economic Momentum update for 2021, the Federal Funds Information for States’ reports that Hawaii lags the nation’s economic momentum by an
Non-employee platform-based work seems like a sufficiently distinct phenomenon to require changes to either tax forms or the tax code to accommodate the new work arrangements that have arisen over the past decade or so, but the only truly novel element in platform work might be the online platform. The IRS maintains that platform work
Today’s column addresses questions about an incorrect claim that the new law made it no longer possible to suspend a retirement benefit, whether public pension survivor’s benefits affect Social Security benefits and how the new law changed deeming rules for retirement and spousal benefits. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and
Tech companies are likely to be hit with tax rises this year as a series of new proposals are muted by multilateral organizations. The first is a “solidarity tax” proposed by the IMF, and designed to fix the income gap between rich and poor that has widened over the past year. It proposes rich nations
U.S. consumers spent over $800 billion online last year, a 44 percent increase over 2019. The pandemic-fueled shift to e-commerce was so significant that IBM estimates the trend away from bricks-and-mortar to digital has been accelerated by five years. On top of that, Americans now pay an average of $47 per month for streaming video
Are you comfortable signing your tax return under penalties of perjury? It’s almost April 15, but for most of us, Tax Day this year is May 17th. There’s a month left for you to stew about it, and the IRS and Department of Justice Tax Division want to make you think carefully. Willfully filing false
It’s not how much you make but how much you keep. This fact of life doesn’t go away once you leave the workforce. Making intelligent tax-planning decisions before and during retirement can have a significant impact on your net retirement income. In plain English, we are talking about reducing the taxes you have to pay
Finally the syndicated conservation easement (SCE) empire strikes back. Battered in Tax Court by the IRS, hounded by the Department of Justice seeking criminal charges and injunctions and beleaguered by class action attorneys SCE appraisers are fighting back with a class action lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury along with some individually named IRS