Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Political News
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Bartlett: Tax Tea Party, Part Two
In last week's post, Tax Tea Parties Misstate U.S. Tax Burden, Bruce Bartlett's Forbes' column this week is Tax Tea Party Time, Part Two: Last week, I presented data comparing taxation in the United States to other major countries and concluded that Americans are not especially overtaxed. The almost universal reaction to this analysis was, "So…
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Sasha Obama’s Tax Problem
The Onion: 2008 Tax Records Reveal Sasha Obama Made $136 In Allowance Money: Sasha Obama testified before the Senate Committee on Finance this week after it was revealed that the second-grader had collected more than $136 in undisclosed allowance payments over the past year. Sasha, who has been under fire from congressional leaders since her…
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Obama and Biden Release Tax Returns
President Obama and Vice-President Biden today released their 2008 tax returns: Obama: Press Release Federal Income Tax Return Federal Gift Tax Return Illinois Income Tax Return Biden: Press Release Federal Income Tax Return Delaware Income Tax Return Here are charts putting the 2008 returns in context with their earlier returns: Obama: Biden: I especially…
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Tax Day Tea Party Locations
For a state-by-state list of the more than 750 Tax Day Tea Party locations, see here. Press and blogosphere coverage: Atlanta Journal Constitution (Dick Armey, Karl Frisch) Forbes (Ira Stoll) Fox News Los Angeles Times (Marc Cooper) Wall Street Journal (Glenn Reynolds) Washington Post (Michael E. Ruane) Web CPA (Michael Cohn) Update: Tax Day Tea Party Google…
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HHS Nominee Kathleen Sebelius Pays $7k in Back Taxes
In advance of her Senate confirmation hearing, Health and Human Services nominee Kathleen Sebelius has corrected three years of tax returns and paid more than $7,000 in back taxes after finding several "unintentional errors" involving deductions for charitable contributions, mortgage interest, and business expenses: Charitable contributions: For charitable contributions in excess of $250, taxpayers must…
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More on Obama’s Chief Vetter and D.C.’s Business Tax Rules
Following up on this weekend's posts: Obama's Chief Vetter Has His Own Tax Problem (Mar. 1, 2009) Cohen: Obama's Chief Vetter Does Not Have a Tax Problem (Mar. 2, 2009) Gawker today posted Obama Vetter's Wife Speaks Up About Her Missing Business Permit.
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Yet Another Obama Nominee’s Tax Problems
Add Ronald Kirk, former Dallas mayor and President Obama's U.S. Trade Representative nominee, to the long and growing list of administration nominees and officials with tax problems. The Senate Finance Committee today released a three-page report detailing various mistakes on Mr. Kirk's 2005-2007 tax returns. Mr. Kirk has agreed to pay almost $10,000 in additional taxes for, among other…
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Cohen: Obama’s Chief Vetter Does Not Have a Tax Problem
Yesterday, I blogged the Gawker story, Obama's Chief Vetter Has His Own Tax Problem, reporting that White House general counsel Gregory Craig, brought in to run the Obama Administration's vetting process after the controversy over the tax problems of nominees Tom Daschle, Tim Geithner, Nancy Killefer, and Hilda Solis, may have a tax problem of his own: Derry…
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Obama’s Chief Vetter Has His Own Tax Problem
NPR: White House Counsel Vets Nominees for Top Jobs, by Nina Totenberg: White House Counsel Greg Craig's job is to be the guy who makes things run so smoothly, you never hear about him. … President Obama recently asked Craig to take charge of vetting administration nominees for top jobs, because of some stumbles in the process.…
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More on Tax Consequences of Rahm Emanuel’s Rent-Free Use of D.C. Home
Following up on last week's post: The Next Obama Tax Kerfuffle: Rahm Emanuel's Rent-Free Use of Capitol Hill Townhouse: Chicago Tribune: Questions Raised About Rahm Emanuel's Housing Arrangement in D.C., by Andrew Zajac: White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel's Washington lodging arrangements, a rent-free basement room in a Capitol Hill home owned by Rep.…
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The Next Obama Tax Kerfuffle: Rahm Emanuel’s Rent-Free Use of Capitol Hill Townhouse
Pressure is building on Barack Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel surrounding his failure to pay taxes (and disclose on congressional ethics forms) on his rent-free use of a Capitol Hill townhouse. From the New York Post: Emanuel is a multimillionaire, but lived for the last five years for free in the tony Capitol Hill townhouse…
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Alaska Concedes Travel Expense Reimbursements Are Taxable to Gov. Palin
As predicted on this blog (see prior posts below), and contrary to the pathetic tax opinion released by the McCain campaign, the Anchorage Daily News reports that state tax authorities now concede that the state erroneously failed to include over $16,000 of pre diem payments for travel expense reimbursements as income on Gov. Palin's W-2. The payments were made…
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Politico Asks 99 Senators: What About Your Taxes?
Politico: For Senators, Tax Questions Are Taxing: Last week, Politico asked the offices of all 99 sitting senators to say who prepares their taxes, whether they or the Internal Revenue Service has ever discovered an error on returns they’ve filed, and whether they’ve ever had to pay back taxes. Of the 56 senators who have…
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Legal Times: Why Do Smart People Make Such Stupid Tax Mistakes?
Legal Times Commentary: Shot in the Foot: Income Tax Mistakes Are Often Made by People Who Think They’re So Smart: In the midst of the financial crisis, when nerves seem rawer than ever, the most intense attention has been placed on nominees’ tax records. Timothy Geithner, who was confirmed as secretary of the Treasury, would…
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Senate Cancels Labor Secretary Nominee’s Confirmation Hearing Because of Her Husband’s Tax Problems
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee abruptly canceled today's 2:00 p.m. scheduled meeting to consider President Obama's nomination of Rep. Hilda Solis to be Secretary of Labor after USA Today reported that her husband yesterday paid $6,400 to settle tax liens that had been outstanding for as long as 16 years against his L.A. auto repair business: At…
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NY Times: How to Avoid a Tom Daschle Problem
New York Times: How to Avoid a Tom Daschle Problem, by Ron Lieber: Don't Forget Your Driver The Case for Getting Help The Nanny Tax Check Your Work (Hat Tip: Ann Murphy.)
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Is Kwame Kilpatrick’s Lawyer Angling for a Cabinet Appointment?
The Detroit News reports that Willie Gary, former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's new lawyer, was the subject of $3.8 million in IRS tax liens for the 1998-2000 tax years: The Web site of the so-called "Giant Killer" is wallpapered with photos of the Stuart, Fla., resident posing outside a mansion, with Bentleys and his custom-designed, 32-passenger Boeing 737…
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Dorf: Why Didn’t the Questionnaire Catch the Tax Issues?
I previously blogged the the extensive questionnaire that the Obama transition team asked job applicants to complete. In light of the Daschle-Geithner-Killefer tax trifecta, Michael Dorf (Cornell) asks Why Didn't the Questionnaire Catch the Tax Issues?: I did not expect Obama's nominees to be tripped up by tax delinquencies, mostly because so many of the questions on…
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Obama Considers Tax on Cabinet
The Borwitz Report: Obama Considers Tax on Cabinet; Would Create Budget Surplus, Experts Believe: President Barack Obama is mulling a controversial new tax program that would require members of his Cabinet to pay taxes owed under the Federal tax code, the White House confirmed today. While the unorthodox tax proposal is reportedly "only in the planning…
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WaPo: Daschle Not a “Victim” of the Tax Code
Today's Washington Post: Victims of the Tax Code? Not So Fast; Nominee Trouble Preventable, Experts Say, by Michael S. Rosenwald: The tax system is complicated. It is, according to many lawyers and tax preparers, in need of sweeping reform. But the tax code can hardly be blamed for the recent problems of Obama administration appointees…
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Obama’s Pick for Chief Performance Officer Withdraws Because of Nanny Tax Issue
Nancy Killefer, President Obama's selection to be the federal government's inaugural Chief Performance Officer, withdrew her candidacy after press reports surfaced that the D.C. government had slapped a $946.69 lien on her home for nonpayment of $298 of employment taxes (plus $48.49 of interest and $600 in penalties) on her two nannies and personal assistant over an…
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Daschle and Public Opinion About Tax Compliance
The IRS Oversight Board has released the results of its 2008 Taxpayer Attitude Survey of 1,005 respondents. This is the eighth year the board has conducted the survey. Among the results showing a disconnect between the Washington, D.C. cognoscenti's acceptance of Tom Daschle's tax transgressions and the public's repudiation of such disregard of the tax law:…