Tax Lawyer's Blog

President Merkin Muffley: Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room!

It’s that time of the month again (no, I’m not grouchy) when the great and powerful Dr. Tax O Sphere roams the online tax world in search of literary gems.

As usual, the tax quack found several:

Howard Gleckman of Tax Vox Blog gave us an excellent summary of the “socialism” in our tax system at “Refundable Tax Credits=Socialism?”.

McCain also seems to be implying that a progressive tax system is itself socialistic. This is somewhat surprising since, while McCain would make the code somewhat less progressive than it is today, I had not heard that he favored abandoning the entire principle.

I think any government that taxes it’s citizenry is engaging in some degree of socialism. The question should not be whether or not we want socialism, but rather how much of it do we want.

Kay Bell of Don’t Mess With Taxes wrote about the defiance of several tax-exempt churches to recent pressures on them to stay out of politics or risk losing their tax exemptions at Pulpit Freedom Sunday . . . not likely to get an ‘amen’ from IRS or congregants.

A group of ministers, around 35 at last count, will tell their congregations to vote for either Barack Obama or John McCain. This so-called Pulpit Freedom Sunday message is a direct challenge to the tax law that prohibits tax-exempt organizations from participating in overtly political activities.

This annoys me. The recipient doesn’t get to choose the conditions of his benefactor’s largesse. The government has the right (and obligation to the taxpayers) to impose conditions on entities that wish to be tax-exempt. These churches can do all the political pulpiteering they want just by relinquishing their non-profit status.

Joe Kristan of Tax Updates wrote about how the economic crunch might be causing states to reconsider giving lavish deals to Hollywood Movie makers in But What About Brad Pitt’s Economy.

There’s nothing like a financial catastrophe to focus your spending priorities. Some states are pondering whether financing Hollywood projects is the best way to spend their shrinking tax revenues . . . .

I would have hoped that the states were already conducting cost/benefit analyses of funding Hollywood movie deals? If they weren’t, the responsible officials were probably breaching their fidicuiary duty to state taxpayers.

Bill Bischoff of SmartMoney wrote Bailout Act Includes Tax Breaks for the Little Guy.

You might not be a big fan of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (better known as the bailout bill). But it does include a bunch of federal income tax changes, most of which are taxpayer-friendly. Here’s a rundown of the personal tax changes that may affect you and members of your family.

You mean it’s a Main Street not a Wall Street bailout?

Cincinnati tax attorney Howard Levy opined on the question Can the IRS conduct a collection interview at your house or business? 

Under Internal Revenue Code 7521(c), the IRS cannot compel the presence of a taxpayer at a meeting if the taxpayer has representation. 

If I were Howard, I’d legally change my middle name to “Releases.”

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