Tax News Jan. 24 - 28

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News
FRIDAY
15 Democrats Support Johanns’ Repeal of Tax Reporting Provision
Sen. Mike Johanns believes he has enough support to overcome Democratic efforts to block his proposal to repeal the unpopular 1099 tax reporting provision of the health care overhaul law, the Nebraska Republican said Thursday.
Corporate Tax Code Proves Hard to Change
But recent efforts to rationalize the code all have failed, and some members of both parties express skepticism that this time will be different. The problem, in a nutshell, is that the popular step of lowering taxes for industries like trucking requires the unpopular step of raising taxes for industries like biotech.

THURSDAY
Sacramento's $500,000 `Crash Tax' Taps Drivers to Fill Gap
California’s capital city of Sacramento, facing a $35 million deficit, will bill out-of-town drivers whose traffic accidents require rescue crews, the latest U.S. municipality turning to a “crash tax” for revenue.
Executives Skeptical Obama Can Deliver
Many chief executives reacted skeptically to President Barack Obama's offer to lower the corporate-tax rate and foster U.S. job growth, but some said they appreciated the president's changed tone toward business during his State of the Union address.
Low-tax states attract budget-conscious Americans
Retirees who can stash money into a tax-deferred retirement account during their working years, and then withdraw the money to spend on their new life in a low-tax state, can especially profit.

WEDNESDAY
A Call to Overhaul Corporate Taxes
President Barack Obama opened the door Tuesday to lowering U.S. corporate tax rates, launching a politically fraught and complex effort that holds promise for some U.S. firms and pain for others.
Real Bipartisanship: Undoing Tax Law, Not Paying for It
Tuesday’s serious crossing-the-aisle effort came as Democratic and Republican senators jostled to show their support for repealing a much-maligned revenue raiser in the health care reform law.

TUESDAY
More money for your kids
For the next two years the tax will return with a much higher exemption level ($5 million for individuals, $10 million for couples) than before and a lower rate (35%) than just about anyone expected.
A 2nd I.R.S. Amnesty for Offshore Accounts
The Internal Revenue Service said on Monday that it would soon announce a new amnesty program aimed at encouraging wealthy Americans with hidden offshore bank accounts to come forward, declare their money and pay taxes owed.

MONDAY
Mortgage Giants Leave Legal Bills to the Taxpayers
Since the government took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, taxpayers have spent more than $160 million defending the mortgage finance companies and their former top executives in civil lawsuits accusing them of fraud.
Lawmakers Look to Obama to Lead on Tax Overhaul
This year, members of both parties agree that strong backing from the White House is crucial to successfully revising the nation’s tax laws, and they are looking for that push to begin Tuesday.

Economist Comments
THURSDAY
Tax-Code Overhaul May Raise Burden on Some Businesses
Six million other employers operate under tax laws that govern individuals and would lose deductions without gaining a lower rate.

WEDNESDAY
Taxpayers Lose Most When Munis Fluctuate
Although there is little doubt that states and cities face their most serious budget crunch in decades, some of the talk about massive defaults comes from mixing up two sets of issues, namely government's short-term fiscal problems and the long-term obligations of states and municipalities, including their bond debt and pension liabilities.

TUESDAY
How Public Unions Took Taxpayers Hostage
The first to seize on the political potential of government workers was New York's Mayor Robert F. Wagner. The Kennedy White House took notice of his success.

MONDAY
The IRS Targets Income Tricks
There's a saying: Pigs get fed and hogs get slaughtered. The Internal Revenue Service surely hopes that includes tax hogs.
Slow-Growth US Now Ripe for Consumption Tax
It's been 360 years since Hobbes first called for the elimination of income taxation and wholesale adoption of a consumption tax. Its time may finally have come.
Obama Team Wants Business Buy-In on Corporate Tax Reform
The White House wants tax reform, not tax reduction.
Estate tax' label misleads on levy's true purpose
For as long as there have been politicians, politicians have hidden their true purposes by giving laws names that disguise what they actually do. One such law is the estate tax.

Blogs
WEDNESDAY
Obama Calls for Corporate Tax Cut
The stuff about loopholes and simplification–that’s window dressing. The real story is that the reality has sunk in even to liberal Democrats that we are shooting ourselves in the foot with the highest corporate tax rate in the world.
How to Think & Talk About Vouchers & Ed Tax Credits
...evidence suggests that the best message overall is one that focuses on the financial benefits of school choice (and this is even before the financial crisis).

MONDAY
More on “Failure to Tax” as Subsidies
The closest we can actually come to a tax that is both economically neutral and satisfies widely accepted conditions of fairness is a head tax – a lump-sum levied regularly on each person regardless of that person’s income, status, or anything else.

Reports
None.