Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Political News
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Clinton Unveils Tax Incentives as Part of “Insourcing Plan”
Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton yesterday unveiled an Insourcing Plan that includes a number of tax incentives designed to spur job creation: Increase the R&D credit by 50% (from 20% to 30%) and increase the Alternative Simplified Credit by 67% (from 12% to 20%). Create a 40% Basic Research Credit. Create a 10% Start Up…
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More on Taxes and the Presidential Candidates
Center for American Progress : Five Easy Pieces and Two Trillion Dollars The Bush-McCain-Norquist Tax Agenda, by Robert Gordon & James Kvaal Citizens for Tax Justice: Center for American Progress Finds McCain Tax Plan a Continuation of George W. Bush/Grover Norquist Agenda MSNBC: Obama: The Tax Man, by Domenico Montanaro Republican National Committee: Obama’s Cap…
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Why Didn’t Obama Save for Retirement?
Several bloggers have note another curious fact about Barack Obama’s tax returns: despite over $1.6 million in Schedule C income, most of it from royalties on his book, he did not take the elemental tax planning step of establishing a SEP-IRA. The tax magic is that you can shelter up to 25% of your self-employment…
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More Coverage of Obama’s Tax Returns
Following up on yesterday’s post on Barack Obama’s release of his 2000-2006 tax returns, today’s New York Times picks up the story in Obamas’ Tax Returns Show Donation Spike, by Leslie Wayne. The article links to the returns posted on TaxProf Blog (and unfortunately includes a snarky quote from me). For more press and blogosphere…
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Obama Releases 2000-2006 Tax Returns
Barack Obama today released his 2000-2006 tax returns: 2006 Return 2005 Return 2004 Return 2003 Return 2002 Return 2001 Return 2000 Return Here is a summary of the figures: What is surprising, given the recent controversy over Obama’s membership in the Trinity United Church of Christ, is how little the Obamas apparently gave to charity…
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Easter: Resurrection, Race, Politics, and Taxes
Obama Talk Fuels Easter Sermons (New York Times), by Laurie Goodstein & Neela Banerjee: This Easter Sunday, the holiest day of the Christian calendar, many pastors will start their sermons about the Resurrection of Jesus and weave in a pointed message about racism and bigotry, and the need to rise above them. Some pastors began…
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Another Tax Urban Legend: Income Taxes Under Bill Clinton and George Bush
The Tax Foundation reports that an email is circulating on the Internet and appearing on various blogs and web sites purporting to use tax Foundation data to show the income tax burden is much lower under President Bush than under President Clinton: Individual Income Taxes Under Presidents Clinton and Bush, 1999 Law and 2008 Law…
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Comparing the Clinton & Obama Tax Plans
Interesting article today on Bloomberg: Obama Tax Plan Stresses Inequality, Clinton Focuses on Behavior, by Alison Fitzgerald & Matthew Benjamin: Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both propose significant changes to the tax code that would add to its complexity. His plan emphasizes income inequality, while hers seeks to change Americans’ behavior. Obama’s proposal would shift…
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WSJ: Obama Pastors’ Sermons May Violate Tax Laws
Interesting front page story in the Wall Street Journal: Obama Pastors’ Sermons May Violate Tax Laws, by Suzanne Sataline: Scholars and attorneys say that a growing number of congregations are delving into issue advocacy and partisan politics, a trend dating back to the 1980s, when the religious right enlisted churches to fight abortion. An increasing…
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NY Times: An Open Letter to John McCain on Taxes
Interesting open letter to John McCain in the Sunday New York Times by Ben Stein: What McCain Could Do About Taxes: The problem, and it’s a killer, is that over the years we have obligated ourselves as a nation to spend truly staggering sums. … That is the first thing you need to know. The…
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WIlmerHale Agrees to Represent Church in IRS Dispute Over Obama’s Speech
I previously blogged news reports that the IRS has opened an investigation to determine whether the United Church of Christ has engaged in prohibited political activity in support of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. The National Law Journal reports that Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr (Washington, D.C.) has agreed to represent the church on…
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Election Day in Ohio
Today we go to the polls in Ohio in the last Presidential election my high school age kids will be unable to vote in. We have had spirited discussions throughout the campaign, and for the first time the Caron family unanimously (4-0) agrees on a candidate. Here are our favorite ads for the four major…
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IRS Investigates Church Over Obama’s Speech
According to this letter, the IRS has opened an investigation to determine whether the United Church of Christ has engaged in prohibited political activity in support of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama: Our concerns are based on articles posted on several websites incuding the curch’s which state that [Obama] addressed nearly 10,000 church members at…
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McCain-Obama Tax Calculator 2.0
On Tuesday, I blogged the spreadsheet created by Ted Frank (American Enterprise Institute) to calculate your tax bill under a President McCain or a President Obama. Ted has updated the spreadsheet to "permit[] one to enter in different salaries, deductions, bonuses, income, and state tax data to determine your new marginal rates." For further discussion,…
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Hillary Clinton Continues to Stonewall on Releasing Her Tax Returns
On Sunday, I blogged the controversy over Hillary Clinton’s refusal to follow Barack Obama’s lead and release her tax returns prior to the nomination. Here is the exchange between NBC’s Tim Russert and Senator Clinton on the issue at last night’s presidential debate: MR. RUSSERT: Senator Clinton, an issue of accountability and credibility. You have…
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Calculate Your Tax Bill Under a President McCain or a President Obama
Ted Frank (American Enterprise Institute) has created this spreadhseet you can modify to calculate your tax bill under a President McCain or a President Obama. Ted blogs that an average mid-level BigLaw associate would pay $15.048 of additional tax each year under a President Obama than under a President McCain: Now, money isn’t everything. A…
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Clinton, Obama, & McCain: The Good, Bad, & Ugly Tax Views
Roni Deutch outlines the good, the bad, and the ugly of the tax views of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain.
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Seven Tax Questions for Clinton, Obama, and McCain
Howard Gleckman at the Tax Policy Center’s TaxVox Blog has Seven Tax Questions for Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain.
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Huckabee on Saturday Night Live
Non-tax, but funny: Mike Huckabee’s appearance on Saturday Night Live:
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John McCain: Straight Talk on Taxes?
Citizens for Tax Justice has an interesting post, John McCain: Straight Talk on Taxes?: Now that the Arizona senator is the presumptive Republican nominee, it’s worth asking what sorts of tax policies he would push for as President. Our honest answer: We have no idea. He has held several views and his recent explanations don’t…
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Clinton, McCain Refuse to Follow Obama’s Lead in Releasing Tax Returns
Hillary Clinton and John McCain continue to resist calls to release copies of their tax returns, as Barack Obama did last April (blogged here). Although both Clinton and McCain pledge to follow the traditional practice of releasing their tax returns if they become the nominee of their party, the press is putting pressure on them…
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Does Obama Want a Trillion-Dollar Global Tax?
Interesting article in U.S. News & World Report: Does Obama Want a Trillion-Dollar Global Tax?, by James Pethokoukis: Back in December, Obama sponsored the "Global Poverty Act," a bill that proposed the following: To require the President to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to further the United States foreign policy objective of promoting the…
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Pastor Again Asks Followers to Pray for Death of Critics Who Filed IRS Complaint Over His Endorsement of Huckabee
In August, I blogged Pastor Supports Huckabee for President, Asks Followers to Pray for Death of Critics Who Filed Complaint with IRS Over His Political Activities. The L.A. Times reports that Pastor Again Asks Prayers for Demise of Group’s Leaders: For the second time in six months, Buena Park pastor Wiley S. Drake has called…
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A Tax Prof Votes for Obama
Interesting op-ed in the U.K. Guardian by TaxProf Shari Motro (Richmond): My Audacious Hope: Why I Voted for Barack Obama, and What a Victory for Him Could Mean for America and the World: I live in Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy, and yesterday I voted for Barack Obama, an inspired African-American, for president.…
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Why the Left Should Support Repeal of the Corporate Tax
From the Green Commons: Netroots of the Green Party: The business conservatives are screaming for a corporate income tax cut. They claim that the tax rate that US corporations must pay is far higher than their overseas competitors. They are right…kind of. Some are screaming for the rate to be dropped to 25%. We should…