Refundable tax credits are a magnet fo’ mo’ fraud. Five from Mo’ Money tax prep office in St. Louis arrested in scheme (St. Louis Post-Dispatch):
Mo’ Money franchise owner Jimi Clark, 57, of Memphis, Tenn., abused the American Opportunity Credit to attract and keep clients, prosecutors said. They filed for the credit on at least 47 returns where the taxpayer had not incurred any educational expenses, and unwisely, claimed the same amount of educational expenses, $3,765, on the “vast majority” of the returns, their indictment says.
In all, the 47 returns claimed more than $50,000 in educational credits.
Maybe 25% of the rundable Earned Income Tax Credit is paid improperly. Yet legislators ignore how the credits actually work because they like them in theory.
Bankrupt state pays people to be friends. Illlinois governor to sign deal to lure fertilizer plant (Sioux City Journal)
Speaking of Bankrupt… Detroit Taxes and the Laffer Curve (Alex Tabarrok):
- [The] per capita tax burden on City residents is the highest in Michigan. This tax burden is particularly severe because it is imposed on a population that has relatively low levels of per capita income.
- The City’s income tax… is the highest in Michigan.
- Detroit residents pay the highest total property tax rates (inclusive of property taxes paid to all overlapping jurisdictions; e.g., the City, the State, Wayne County) of those paid by residents of Michigan cities having a population over 50,000.
- Detroit is the only city in Michigan that levies an excise tax on utility users (at a rate of 5%).
Sometimes you can’t solve the problem with more taxes.
Robert D. Flach, DEDUCTING CAPITAL LOSSES
Tony Nitti, Q&A: How Can An Accrual Basis Business Defer Revenue When It Receives Cash In Advance?
Phil Hodgen, Nonfilers–voluntary disclosure is not your only choice:
But my opinion is that the official program is fabulous for someone who is in deep trouble and might otherwise face a spot of prison time. For that person, the “Your money or your life!” demand from the IRS is easy to answer. Give ‘em your money.
For almost everyone else, the voluntary disclosure program is stupidly expensive–in tax cost, penalties, interest, and professional fees to give the government all of the paperwork they want.
You gotta shoot the jaywalkers so you can slap the real crooks on the wrist.
Peter Reilly, Not Good For Real Estate Loss When Tax Court Judge Says Purports
Fiduciary Income Tax Blog, Trials and Tribulations of Nongrantor Trusts
Cara Griffith, Improving Transparency in Pennsylvania (Tax Analysts Blog)
TaxProf, The IRS Scandal, Day 77
Howard Gleckman, The OECD’s International Tax Plan: The First Step on a Long Road (TaxVox)
Tax Justice Blog, CTJ Presents the Nuts & Bolts of Corporate Tax Reform
Linda Beale, Senators promised 50 years of secrecy on their tax reform proposals
Daniel Shaviro, What is a “tax expenditure” and when does this matter?
TaxGrrrl, Louisiana To Offer ‘Fresh Start’ Tax Amnesty Program. I’m sure this time they really mean this is the last one.
Missouri Tax Guy, The Enrolled Agent, EA
Jack Townsend, Fourth Circuit Holds Defendant to His Tax Loss Stipulated in the Plea Agreement
Kay Bell, Summer 2013 sales tax holidays begin this weekend
William Perez, Sales Tax Holidays in 2013
Quotable: (my emphasis)
The manufacturing innovation institute, meanwhile, is just another iteration of an idea that’s been around for longer than Barack Obama has. Go to any Rust Belt city and you’ll find research campuses, innovation institutes and similar institutions named after hopeful politicians who promised that a new manufacturing base would coalesce around this exciting agglomeration of creative minds. Unfortunately, in most instances it has turned out that manufacturing bases would rather coalesce around cheap land, low taxes and acres of uncongested freeway.
-Megan McArdle, “Obama’s Speech Is a Confession of Impotence“
I think one judge will think otherwise. Three South Dakota men say income taxes don’t apply to them (Argus-Leader.com)
Tax Court Judge Holmes has a new opinion out. Always entertaining and enlightening.
News you can use: No Such Thing as Free Swag (Austin John, Elizabeth Malm, Tax Policy Blog). Sorry, ESPY winners.
More harebrained than what they do anyway? U.S. Senators with Harebrained Tax Reform Ideas Offered an Opportunity (Going Concern)
Maybe not where you grew up. Cigarettes and Preschoolers Don’t Go Together (Scott Drenkard, Noah Glyn, Tax Policy Blog)
