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Wrong Way PILOTs Would Crash into Atlantic Yards

Daniel Goldstein | Posted 11.03.2009 | New York


Daniel Goldstein

Imagine the city told you, that instead of paying property taxes on your home you could take the equivalent of the tax you would pay and use it for your mortgage. Not a bad deal...for the homeowner.

Global High Wealth Industry Group Created: New IRS Unit Will Target The Very Wealthy

Wall Street Journal | MARTIN VAUGHAN | Posted 10.27.2009 | Business


WASHINGTON -- A new Internal Revenue Service enforcement unit targeting the very wealthy will help the tax agency decode partnerships, offshore trusts...

Excessive Compensation: Your Tax Dollars at Work

Aaron Zelinsky | Posted 10.22.2009 | Business


Aaron Zelinsky

The Obama Administration recently announced pay limits for bailed-out CEOs. But unless the IRS changes its policies, taxpayers will continue to subsidize unreasonable compensation paid by publicly held corporations.

IRS Investigating 100,000 Suspicious Claims For First-Time Home-Buyer Tax Breaks

Wall Street Journal | JOHN D. MCKINNON | Posted 10.20.2009 | Business


WASHINGTON -- The Internal Revenue Service is examining more than 100,000 suspicious claims for the first-time home-buyer tax break, another sign of p...

UBS Bank Accounts: More Than 7,500 Americans Come Forward About Secret Foreign Accounts

Anna Schecter and Brian Ross | Posted 10.14.2009 | Business


Faced with a Thursday midnight deadline to avoid possible prosecution, more than 7,500 Americans have come clean about secret foreign bank accounts, a...

Tax Deadline Nears For Americans With Offshore Bank Accounts

New York Times | LYNNLEY BROWNING | Posted 10.12.2009 | Business


Thursday is the deadline for Americans to come clean about the money they have hidden offshore, in places like Swiss bank accounts. No one can say wit...

Hummer's Now History -- Here's How It Started

Steve Parker | Posted 10.10.2009 | Business


Steve Parker

Somewhere, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has tears in his eyes. His favorite vehicle, Hummer, has left the building. Its sale was announce...

Jobs: Optimism Has Employers Hiring Again

Jerry Chautin | Posted 09.30.2009 | Business


Jerry Chautin

Employers who think they can avoid payroll tax and employee benefits by mischaracterizing independent contractors may be in for a surprise. The IRS, Labor Department, and even local state governments may disagree and the consequences can be severe.

Tax Amnesty Deadline: IRS Extends Cutoff For Applicants

AP | STEPHEN OHLEMACHER | Posted 09.22.2009 | Business


WASHINGTON — Procrastinating tax cheats will get a few extra weeks to apply for an amnesty program that has been flooded with applications from ...

Top 1 Percent Of Americans Reaped Two-Thirds Of Recent Income Gains

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | Avi Feller and Chad Stone | Posted 11.09.2009 | Business


Two-thirds of the nation's total income gains from 2002 to 2007 flowed to the top 1 percent of U.S. households, and that top 1 percent held a larger s...

Is Bank of America Bad for America?

John Hood | Posted 10.19.2009 | Living


John Hood

Here I am, one of the taxpayers who helped give Bank of America billions of dollars; hell, helped them buy Merrill Lynch for Zeus' sake! And still they fleece me every chance they can get.

IRS Could Mine Mortgage To Catch Tax Cheats

Flife | Martin Vaughn | Posted 10.17.2009 | Business


WASHINGTON -- The Internal Revenue Service will expand a program designed to catch tax cheats that searches for inconsistencies between mortgage payme...

UBS Whistleblower Sentenced to 40-Month Prison Term Puts Chill on Whistleblowing

Gary S. Chafetz | Posted 09.27.2009 | Politics


Gary S. Chafetz

Bradley Birkenfeld may be one of the most effective whistleblowers in the nation's history. His reward? A 40-month prison sentence.

United States of America vs. UBS: A Step Too Far?

Georges Ugeux | Posted 09.19.2009 | Politics


Georges Ugeux

There is no winner when fundamental rule of law and customer loyalty are not respected. This will have major ramifications outside of Switzerland and the United States.

UBS To Divulge 4,450 Account Names, More Expected

AP | STEPHEN OHLEMACHER | Posted 09.19.2009 | Business


WASHINGTON — The U.S. pulled back the veil on Switzerland's famed tradition of banking secrecy Wednesday, winning an agreement for banking giant...

Rich Americans Scrambling Over Tax Dodge Crackdown

Posted 09.15.2009 | Business


By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - A deal with Switzerland settling U.S. demands for the names of suspected tax dodgers from...

Federal Reserve Has Lowest Job Approval Rating; CDC, NASA Top List: Poll

Gallup | Posted 08.27.2009 | Politics


At a time when Americans are discouraged about the direction of the country and hesitant about the scope of President Barack Obama's federal budget pl...

More Pressure to Breast-Feed? The IRS Rules Against Tax Relief for Formula Feeders

Claire Bidwell Smith | Posted 08.23.2009 | Living


Claire Bidwell Smith

I was surprised by the amount of warnings I received about how I should breast-feed my child. While I never considered doing otherwise, I have to wonder how this pressure feels to women who are unable to breast-feed.

Ponzi-Scheme Losses: Tax Deductions

smartmoney.com | Posted 08.02.2009 | Business


If you've been cheated in a Ponzi investment scheme a la Bernie Madoff, the IRS wants to cut you some slack. The feds will let you treat your loss as ...

Are You Really Married? (Hundreds of Thousands of Gay Couples Say They Are)

Philip N. Cohen | Posted 07.30.2009 | Politics


Philip N. Cohen

One of the dirty not-so-little-secrets of the same-sex marriage debate is that the everyday benefits of marriage don't require legal marriage at all.

IRS Weighs Tax On Use Of Work Cellphones

Wall Street Journal | MARTIN VAUGHAN | Posted 07.12.2009 | Business


WASHINGTON -- The IRS is weighing a proposal to deem one-quarter of employees' use of work cellphones as personal use and therefore subject to tax as ...

The Urinator and the Judge

Christopher Brauchli | Posted 07.12.2009 | Politics


Christopher Brauchli

Two federal employees have been in the news recently for criminal conduct. One is a federal judge, the other an IRS employee. Both did what they did because they thought they could get away with it.

An Open Letter to Magic Johnson

Don McNay | Posted 05.23.2009 | Business


Don McNay

Who is the real Magic Johnson? The friendly guy who raises money for charities or the guy who encourages people to get high interest loans they don't need?

The Role of Government in Advancing the Green Economy

Richard Stuebi | Posted 05.19.2009 | Green


Richard Stuebi

In the grand scheme of things, shifting the U.S. mindset on the topic of energy taxes is much more important than urging people to put a recycling bin in the garage.

IRS Seeking Credit Card Processor's Offshore Data

New York Times | LYNNLEY BROWNING | Posted 05.16.2009 | Business


The federal government is widening its investigation of offshore tax evasion to include services sold by the First Data Corporation, a large processor...