“The power to tax involves the power to destroy.” – Justice John Marshall, McCulloch v Maryland – Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) is known for her outlandish statements, but this one is impressive even for her: If [the banks] don’t come up with loan modifications and keep people in their homes that they’ve worked so hard for, we’re [...]
Tags: Legislative Watch
We’ve reported here that many states are trying to use their long arms to tax previously untaxable out of state Internet sales. Joseph Henchman of Tax Policy Blog reports that the House of Representatives is trying to prevent that: The House Judiciary Committee today approved the Business Activity Tax Simplification Act (BATSA) on a bipartisan [...]
Tags: Legislative Watch · State Taxes
Charles Riley of CNNMoney has a prediction about how the debt/deficit debate is going to turn out: Huge spending cuts, and maybe some targeted tax hikes. That’s how the deal to raise the debt ceiling is shaping up. Details are thin, as negotiations have been carried out behind closed doors and involve only a few of [...]
Tags: Legislative Watch · Politics of Taxes
Hey, I finally found a new tax I can support. Michael Cohn writing for Accounting Today says that Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., has introduced legislation to amend the Tax Code to regulate and tax Internet gambling: The bill, known as the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act of 2011 (H.R. 2230), was introduced last [...]
Tags: Legislative Watch · Tax Policy
The Wall Street Journal reports that “AARP, the powerful lobbying group for older Americans, is dropping its longstanding opposition to cutting Social Security benefits, a move that could rock Washington’s debate over how to revamp the nation’s entitlement programs.” The decision, which AARP hasn’t discussed publicly, came after a wrenching debate inside the organization. In [...]
Tags: Legislative Watch · Politics
Michael Cohn of Accounting Today reports that Senate Democrats failed to muster enough votes to advance a bill that would have eliminated tax credits for the five largest oil and gas companies: Three Democrats joined with all but two Republicans to block the bill from coming up for debate. In a 52-48 vote on Tuesday, [...]
Tags: Legislative Watch · Tax Policy
President Obama and Congressional Democrats have accused Republicans of holding middle-class tax cuts and an increase in unemployment benefits hostage in order to get tax cuts for the wealthy. Here’s the Prez on why he agreed to an extension of the Bush tax cuts for all Americans: I’ve said before that I felt that the middle-class tax cuts [...]
Tags: Legislative Watch · News · Politics of Taxes · Tax Policy
