New York Times:
- The Estate Tax: Efficient, Fair and Misunderstood (5/12): The Bush administration has proposed permanent repeal of the estate tax, the tax people pay when they inherit money. Citing overwhelming support even among middle-class voters, some predict that the Senate will soon approve a repeal bill similar to the one the House passed last month.But is support for repeal of the estate tax as broad as it appears?
- Tax on Fast Food Proposed in Detroit (5/9): Faced with a $300 million budget hole, Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick wants to ask Detroit voters to approve a 2% tax on fast food in addition to the 6% state sales tax on restaurant meals.
- If the I.R.S. Gets Less, Does Charity Get More? (5/8): Since he became president, George W. Bush has made charity an important part of his political platform. Time and again, he has suggested that charitable groups, especially those with religious affiliations, could take over social services traditionally offered by the government.
Wall Street Journal:
- Swartz Says He Didn’t Notice Millions Unreported on Tax Form (5/12): Mark H. Swartz, Tyco International Ltd.’s former CFO, said that he simply failed to notice that millions of dollars in compensation weren’t reported on his 1999 taxes. Mr. Swartz was being cross-examined by prosecutors yesterday for the first time, in what is expected to be a crucial phase of the trial. Mr. Swartz said he doesn’t remember looking at his 1999 W-2 tax form or seeing that the amount of taxable income reported didn’t include $12.5 million in loan forgiveness when he signed his 1999 taxes…
- Taft and Spend (5/12): Tax reform is in the political air, but not all reforms are created equal. Consider the current effort in Ohio, where the Republicans who dominate state government are using the cause of reform to compensate for their lack of any spending control.
- Estate-Tax Repeal May Hurt Some (Tom Herman) (5/11): To the applause of many wealthy people and their heirs, Republicans in Congress want to kill the estate tax permanently, and the House has approved legislation to do just that. Often overlooked, though, is pending legislation that would change the rules permanently so thousands of heirs would have to pay significant capital-gains taxes when they sell inherited property. As a result, some taxpayers might even wind up paying more in capital-gains taxes than they would save in estate taxes.
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How to Ask (Nicely) For Your Inheritance; Boomers Create Empty Trusts, Invite Parents to Fill Them; An Awkward Talk With Dad (5/11): As a wave of baby boomers prepares to receive inheritances from their aging parents, the estate-planning industry is pitching a new twist on an old technique. The new approach is called an "inheritor’s trust," and it is part of a growing range of services, seminars and estate-planning strategies designed to capture what is expected to be the largest intergenerational transfer of wealth in history — while reducing the tax hit.
