Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Congressional News
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Senate Finance Committee Approves Geithner’s Nomination, 18-5
After Treasury Secretary nominee Timothy Geithner submitted over 100 pages of answers to follow up questions from senators, the Senate Finance Committee today approved his nomination by an 18-5 vote. The nay votes were all Republicans: ranking member Charles Grassley and Sens. Jon Kyl, Jim Bunning Pat Roberts, and Mike Enzi. In voting against the nomination, Sen. Grassley
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Charles Rangel and the Harlem Tax Revolt of ’09
Charles Rangel and the Harlem Tax Revolt of '09 (via YouTube) (Hat Tip: InstaPundit):
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Leiberman Proposes Changes to Market Discount Rules and NMTC
Senator Joe Lieberman has written letters to Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus and Ranking Member Charles Grassley, and to incoming Director of National Economic Council Lawrence Summers, requesting that two tax provisions be added to the economic stimulus bill: The first proposal would help shore up .. home values and improve the functioning of credit
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Rangel Sought $10 Million Contribution From AIG, Then Approved Subpart F Exception Benefiting AIG
From the New York Times (Rangel Pushed for a Donation; Insurer Pushed for a Tax Cut): Embattled House Ways & Means Chair Charles Rangel sought a $10 million donation from AIG for a school of public service that City College of New York was building in his honor and later changed his position and approved the
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Congress Eases Pension Funding, Distribution Rules in Light of Stock Market Crash
The House and Senate have passed the pension technical corrections bill, H.R. 7327, the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008. President Bush is expected to sign the bill. Among other provisions, the bill suspends the 50% excise tax assessed on seniors who fail to take a required minimum distribution in 2009 from their retirement accounts, eases funding requirements
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Tax Provisions in Auto Bailout Bill
The House yesterday released the legislative text of the auto bailout bill (H.R. 7321), which contains two tax provisions: Section 18 makes the Treasury Department the guarantor of sale-in/lease-out tax shelters between investors and state and local governments. Section 21 provides that I.R.C. § 382 will not apply in the case of an ownership change resulting from the act
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Cathy Koch Named Tax Chief of Senate Finance Committee
Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus has named for the committee: Koch has served as Acting Cjhief since Hanuary. … Koch formerly served as Senior Tax Policy Advisor and Staff Director of the Energy Tax Finance Subcommittee for Senator Jeff Bingaman, where she focused on energy tax policy. Prior to that, she was Director of Global Government
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Grassley Seeks Investigation of IRS’s Issuance of Bank Bailout Notice 2008-83
Senate Finance Committee ranking member Charles Grassley has sent this letter to the Treasury Inspector General asking him to investigate the issuance of Notice 2008-83, which lifted restrictions on the ability of banks to use NOLs after an acquisition. Grassley raised concerns about both Treasury's legal authority to issue the notice and possible conflicts of interest involving Treasury officials, former Goldman Sachs
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Rangel Hires Accountant to Scrub Tax Returns
Embattled House Ways & Means Chair Charles Rangel has hired an accounting firm to scrub his tax returns to look for additional errors: Associated Press The Hill New York Post New York Times NY1 I wonder if the accounting firm will charge less than Lanny Davis and the tax lawyers at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe –
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Bankman Testifies on Tax Treatment of Hedge Fund Managers
Joe Bankman (Stanford) has had a busy week: he testified at yesterday's hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Hedge Funds and the Financial Market. Here is Joe's recommendation: The tax advantage of deferral of management fees was eliminated by new Internal Revenue Code Section 457, enacted as part of the Emergency Economic
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Joint Tax Committee Unveils “New Paradigm” of Tax Expenditure Analysis
The Joint Committee on Taxation today released Estimates of Federal Tax Expenditures for Fiscal Years 2008-2012 (JCS-2-08), which implements its "new paradigm" of tax expenditure analysis: Earlier this year, the JCT Staff introduced a new paradigm for the identification and classification of tax expenditures. The new paradigm is designed to improve the utility of tax expenditure analysis and
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House Holds Hearing Today on Economic Recovery, Job Creation and Investment In America
The House Ways & Means Committee holds a hearing at 10:00 a.m. today on Economic Recovery, Job Creation and Investment In America. From the hearing announcement: The hearing will focus on challenges facing American families and State and local governments during the economic downturn and solutions to improve economic security, create new jobs and invest
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CTJ Criticizes Financial Bailout/Tax Extenders Act
Citizens for Justice criticizes last week’s passage of H.R. 1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, in a new report: The financial rescue plan and the tax legislation were both bills that were opposed by the House, largely because of their costs. Counter-intuitively, the compromise was to pass both as one bill. It almost sounded like
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House Passes Combined Financial Bailout/Tax Extenders Bill, 263-171
The House Today passed by a 263-171 vote a bill (now H.R. 1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act) that combines the financial bailout bill that failed in the House with a bill that extends a variety of expiring tax cuts (formerly H.R. 6049 (Legislative Text; House Report; CRS Summary)). Democrats voted 172-63 in favor the
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Senate Passes Combined Financial Bailout/Tax Extenders Bill, 74-25
The Senate last night passed by a 74-25 vote a bill (now H.R. 1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act) that combines the financial bailout bill that failed in the House with a bill that extends a variety of expiring tax cuts (formerly H.R. 6049 (Legislative Text; House Report; CRS Summary)). The only change in the
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Tax Thermometer
Ranking Member Charles Grassley posted this Tax Thermometer on the Senate Finance Committee website:
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Tax Provisions in Bailout Bill
Tax provisions in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, per Senate Finance Committee press release: Help for Homeowners Sinking Under Mortgage Debt. Usually, when homeowners have parts of their mortgages forgiven, they immediately owe income taxes on the amount of indebtedness forgiven. To keep struggling homeowners from facing higher tax bills, the housing relief
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Congress, NY Times Take a Swing at $943m Tax-Exempt Financing for Yankees’ New Stadium
The Subcommittee on Domestic Policy of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform holds a hearing this morning on Gaming the Tax Code: Public Subsidies, Private Profits, and Big League Sports in New York: This hearing will examine whether the use of the federal tax code to subsidize the construction of professional sports stadiums
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Senate: U.S. Banks Help Wealthy Dodge Taxes on Dividends
In conjunction with today’s hearing, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has issued a 77-page report, Dividend Tax Abuse: How Offshore Entities Dodge Taxes on U.S. Stock Dividends. From the Introduction: Each year, the United States loses an estimated $100 billion in tax revenues due to offshore tax abuses. The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on
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Zelinsky: Rangel Episode Shows Need to Automatically Audit Tax Returns of Ways & Means Committee
Following up on my prior coverage of House Ways & Means Chair Rangel’s failure to report $75k of rental income from his condo in the Dominican Republic: Edward Zelinsky (Cardozo), Congressman Rangel’s Tax Returns and the Ghost of Wilbur Mills: Predictably, Republicans have decried Congressman Rangel’s failure to comply with the tax law. Democrats, with
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IRS Agrees to Suspend AMT on Exercise of ISOs Through Sept. 30
Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Charles Grassley today announced that he has secured a commitment from the IRS to suspend for one month the collection of the AMT (including interest and penalties) arising out of employees’ exercise of incentive stock options. The suspension gives Congress time to enact legislation that would ease these burdens on
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Senate Finance Committee Criticizes IRS’s “Tepid” Response to Identity Theft
Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus yesterday criticized the IRS’s "tepid" response to identity theft: Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) commented today on an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) update and accompanying letter on its Identity Protection Strategy, the details of which were requested by Senator Baucus at an April Finance hearing. The report
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Proposed Bill Would Allow Tax-Free Employee Cell-Phone Use
I previously blogged Bill Would Liberalize Tax Treatment of Employer-Provided Cell Phones: It is no secret that in many ways the Tax Code is ill-suited to the 21st Century American economy. One small example is the tax treatment of employer-provided cell phones. Because cell phones are treated as "listed property" under § 280F, an employer
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Senate Holds Hearing Today on Health Benefits in the Tax Code: The Right Incentives
The Senate Finance Committee holds a hearing today on Health Benefits in the Tax Code: The Right Incentives. These are the witnesses scheduled to testify: Edward Kleinbard (Chief of Staff, Joint Committee on Taxation) Jonathan Gruber (Associate Head, Department of Economics, MIT) Katherine Baicker (Professor of Health Economics, Harvard School of Public Health) In connection
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President Bush Signs Housing Tax Relief Bill
President Bush today signed the housing stimulus bill (H.R. 3221, The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008). The House had approved the bill 272-152 and the Senate 72-13. There are four main tax cuts in the $15.1 billion tax package: Refundable tax credit for first time home buyers (10% of the purchase price, up