Tax Politics
The Politics of Taxes
WSJ: Get Rid of the Wealth Surcharge!
The Wall Street Journal weighs in on the surprise surcharge that the Republicans presented in their tax plan -- and subsequently defended when it was discovered. I have reposted it below in its entirety, because it is excellent: You know Republicans are intellectually...
Did the GOP Create a 46% Tax Rate?
Politico is reporting that there is a surcharge in the new Republican tax plan for high income earners. As described, "Thanks to a quirky proposed surcharge, Americans who earn more than $1 million in taxable income would trigger an extra 6 percent tax on the next...
House Releases Tax Reform Bill Draft
The House Republican tax reform plan has been released. Here are the highlights: The top individual rate for high-income earners will stay at 39.6% The corporate rate will be cut to 20% Tax brackets will go from seven to four: the rates will be: 12, 25, 35 and 39.6%...
Republican Tax Writers Should Know Better
The stated intent of the new proposed Tax Reform Package is to grow the economy while providing tax cuts and simplification for the middle class. Forget the fact that as the most progressive tax system in the World, our lower and middle classes already carry a...
The Obnoxious Problem of Miscellaneous Itemized Deductions
There is a very real problem within the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) that deserves attention. The IRS generally requires that hedge fund investors pay taxes on huge amounts of “income” that does not exist. This is derived from rules that require investors to pay tax on...
Dealing with the Ten Year Budget Reconciliation Issue
A major problem in constructing tax legislation is the “No deficit after 10 years” problem. It takes a 60 vote majority in the Senate to pass permanent legislation. A key exception is what is known as “budget reconciliation”, whereby financial budget items, including...