Tuesday, June 15, 2004 Today’s Washington Post has a great piece on which Senators would benefit the most financially from the tax bill scheduled to be voted on this week, based on the recently filed Senate financial disclosure forms (the House releases its financial disclosure forms tomorrow).

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Monday, June 14, 2004 Likely lost among the hubub of the Supreme Court’s pledge of allegiance opinion issued today is its 5-4 ruling in Hibbs v. Winn that taxpayers can use federal courts to challenge state taxes. The specific state statute at issue was an Arizona tax credit for payments to nonprofit “school tuition organizations”…

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Monday, June 14, 2004 New York City summer associate weekly salaries top $2,500 this year (well in excess of median law professor weekly salaries, proving the bromide that “those who can, do; those who can’t, teach”) .

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Monday, June 14, 2004 For those of us living in cicada country (DC, Indiana, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia & West Virginia), the past several weeks have been disgusting as billions of the “Brood X” insects have tunneled to the surface after lying dormant underground for the past 17 years.…

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Sunday, June 13, 2004 Following up on this week’s posts on the intersection of tax, religion, and politics (here and here), the IRS has sent 3-page letters to all seven national political parties with candidates running for the Presidency (bonus points if you can name all 7 without peeking) promising that it “will take whatever…

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Friday, June 11, 2004 As Ronald Reagan is laid to rest today, Tax Profs offer their remembrances of our 40th President: • Ellen Aprill (Loyola-L.A.): “Although a liberal Democrat, I was completely comfortable serving in the Office of Tax Legislative Counsel during President Reagan’s second term. My experience confirmed the reputation of the office for…

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Friday, June 11, 2004 The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article (subscription required) blaming a drop of 5% in the number of adults with wills on uncertainties surrounding the estate tax’s scheduled 2010 repeal and 2011 resurrection. Several law firms report a dramatic reduction in estate planning business, with 800-lawyer Gibson Dunn & Crutcher…

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Thursday, June 10, 2004 An article in the Washington Post argues that Republicans should honor the memory of Ronald Reagan by ditching the pending American Jobs Creation Act because it undermines the 1986 tax act, the Gipper’s greatest legislative achievement.

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Thursday, June 10, 2004 Following up on Tuesday’s post about the intersection of tax, religion, and politics with 2 Washington Post articles: • Speaker Pushes Jobs Bill Provision, describing House Speaker Hastert’s insertion of a provision into the American Jobs Creation Act to give churches more freedom to engage in partisan politics without endangering their…

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Thursday, June 10, 2004 For those disappointed with the tax proposals offered thus far by Bush and Kerry, check out the tax views of Libertarian Party Presidential Candidate Michael Badnarik. As blogged by The Curmudgeonly Clerk, Badnarik says he will do this on his first day as President: Issue another valid executive order to my…

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Tuesday, June 8, 2004 Yesterday’s grant of certiorari by the U.S. Supreme Court in Rouse v. Jacoway (No. 03-1407), blogged here, sparked a spirited dicussion on the TaxProf Discussion Group over whether federal bankruptcy law should protect IRAs from creditors. Greg Germain (Syracuse) and Tom Allington (Indiana-Indianapolis) were two of the most vocal participants and…

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Tuesday, June 8, 2004 The IRS today released Form 8802, with additional information, to permit taxpayers to obtain lower tax rates in countries with a tax treaty with the U.S. The IRS expects to inssue more than 3 million residency certifications in 2004 in light of increased foreign investment by U.S. taxpayers. For a copy…

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Tuesday, June 8, 2004 The New York Times today has an article on House Republican efforts to loosen the restrictions on the political activities of churches. Coming on the heels of the brouhaha over the efforts of some Catholics to deny communion to pro-choice politicians like Sen. Kerry (blogged here, here, and here), Democrats are…

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Tuesday, June 8, 2004 From the you knew it was coming department: there is a growing clamor in the blogosphere for various “fat taxes” to address the obesity problem in the U.S. Calls for a “fat tax” come from the World Health Organization and The Center for Consumer Freedom, among others. The term apparently was…

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Monday, June 7, 2004 The IRS announced today that its partnership with the states already has borne fruit in the war against tax shelters. Here’s the opening of the announcement: The Internal Revenue Service announced today it has seen promising early results from a partnership with the states to target abusive tax avoidance schemes. So…

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Monday, June 7, 2004 The U.S. Supreme Court today granted certiorari in Rousey v. Jacoway (No. 03-1407), which raises the important issue of whether federal bankruptcy law protects IRAs from creditors. The 8th Circuit ruled that IRAs are unlike pensions and annuities and thus not protected in bankruptcy.

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Monday, June 7, 2004 See the press reports of this new study–oh what I endure for the good of the tax community!

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Sunday, June 6, 2004 The PBS News Hour on Friday had a segment called Taxes at the Top (available in both audiotape and transcript formats) on a new breed of tax shelters called “SILOs” (“Sale-In, Lease-Out”). The segment re-aired part of a Frontline program on tax shelters, Tax Me If You Can, originally broadcast February…

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Saturday, June 5, 2004 Following up on Monday’s post, Do State Tax Incentives Work?, Ernst & Young’s brazen PowerPoint presentation, Turning Your State Government Relations Department from a Money Pit into a Cash Cow, has made it onto the web via the Carolina Journal (a North Carolina-based business publication). Ernst & Young delivered the PowerPoint…

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Friday, June 4, 2004 To follow up on recent posts about tax and religion: • Effect of Colorado Catholic Diocese’s anti-Kerry Letter on its tax exemption (here and here) • Whether Unitarians constitute a religion for Texas tax purposes (here and here) Here are some recent developments: • U.S. Churches Cautious on Politics to Keep…

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Thursday, June 3, 2004 Following up on this morning’s post about the new Form1040SR approved unanimously by the House: the possibilities are endless. Form 1040PARENT? Form 1040VETERAN? Form 1040GAY?

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Thursday, June 3, 2004 The House unanimously approved H.R. 4109, the Simple Tax for Seniors Act, to allow seniors to file a simplified tax form (Form 1040SR). For the statutory language, see here.

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Wednesday, June 2, 2004 The IRS announced today that interest rates for the calendar quarter beginning July 1, 2004, will drop by one percentage point, returning to the levels held from last October through March of this year. The new rates will be: • 4% for overpayments [3% for corporations] • 4% for underpayments •…

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Wednesday, June 2, 2004 A tax debate is raging in Europe, with Germany, France and other long-standing EU members pushing for minimum corporate tax levels while new Eastern European countries like Latvia, Poland and others cling to their low rates to spur investment in their countries. With corporate tax rates in the 35%-40% range, Germany…

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Tuesday, June 1, 2004 Forbes has published its annual Tax Misery Index, an assessment of the tax burden placed on entrepreneurs and executives in 50 of the world’s major business locations. Here are the five “winners” in the Forbes’ Tax Matrix: • United Arab Emirates (Misery Index of 18.0) • Hong Kong (43.0) • Cyprus…

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