Use of New Technologies for Tax Administration

One of the trends I think really got underway in 2010 regarding the tax law was new and expanded uses of various technologies by the IRS and...

State lotteries as disguised taxes - and with high administrative costs

The Tax Foundation has an interesting blog post today (12/28/10) - " How Much Implicit Tax Revenue Did Lotteries Raise in FY2010 ?...

Employment Trends and the Income Tax

Part of the rationale behind "21st Century Taxation" as the title for this blog is that I think any degree of tax reform should co...

The Growing Deficit - Relevant?

The 2010 Tax Relief Act enacted December 17, 2010 ( P.L. 111-312 ) which extends tax cuts from 2001/2003 and even later, has a projected bud...

Payroll Tax Holiday Period and Other Recent Oddities

Despite some concern about the "cost" of extending the 2001/2003 tax cuts for everyone, Congress and President did so AND added so...

Boston Tea Party Anniversary

The Boston Tea Party was 237 years ago today (December 16, 1773 - see Library of Congress picture ). For years, I have thought this annivers...

Too Much Uncertainty in The Tax Law

In my last post , I listed 12 trends I discern from recent tax rulings and legislative activity with the number one trend being uncertainty....

2010 — Setting the Stage for a New Tax Era

I think there were either new or continuing activities in 2010 that indicate our federal and state tax systems will be shaped and how we wil...

Tax Considerations in Deficit Reform

Tax reform can be about more than base and rate changes and sometimes should be. For example, considerations can be given to administrative ...

Year End Tax Dramas and the State of Tax Policy

The exchange of letters between the heads of the tax-writing committees and Commissioner Shulman illustrates the unfortunate state of our f...

The 1099 Drama Continues

The expanded 1099 filing requirement brought about in the March 2010 health care legislation and calls for its repeal are starting (continui...

Maine Spending in Tax System Greater than Outside It

A November 15, 2010 article in the Bangor Daily News - " Study: Tax breaks exceed state spending " by Leary, refers to a report p...

More on Colorado Use Tax Collection Approach

The Colorado Department of Revenue recently issued FYI Sales 79 - Sales of Taxable Items Over the Internet to provide specific guidance on ...

Small Businesses and Expanded 1099 Filing Obligations

On November 18, the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship held a hearing - Assessing the Regulatory and Administrative Bur...

1099s - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Well, need I say more than that title? Information reporting forms are certainly a useful compliance tool, but perhaps not for everything. ...

How heavy are FAQs?

With the constant stream of new tax rules passed by Congress since 2008 for "economic stimulus" and the IRS's own initiatives...

Deficit Commission Co-Chairs Issue Their Draft Proposals

On November 10, 2010, the co-chairs of President Obama's Deficit Commission - Erksine Bowles and Alan Simpson released a draft of the...

Expensing of Business Assets - New Treasury Report

Economic stimulus provisions of the past few years have included bonus depreciation and higher expensing amounts under IRC Section 179. Pres...

The Many Sizes of "Small"

It is amazing, and perhaps odd, that small businesses are defined in so many different ways in the federal tax law. The recently enacted Sma...

Tax Collection and the First Amendment

A ruling was handed down this week in the lawsuit between Amazon and North Carolina regarding the details of customer orders the state shoul...

Deficit Commission and Tax Expenditures

There is talk that President Obams's Deficit Commission might recommend curtailing of some tax expenditures! This would certainly be p...

Idaho Pumpkin Stand Debacle - Lessons to be Learned

In case you missed it, there was a story in a few newspapers this week about the Idaho Tax Commission closing down a pumpkin stand operated ...

Various Tax Measures on November 2 Ballots in Several States

California is not the only state with tax-related ballot measures to be decided by voters on November 2, 2010. The National Conference of S...

IRS Stats Group Posts Reports Dating Back to 1863

This week the IRS announced that it has posted some of its numerous historic statistical reports dating back to 1916 as well as the Commissi...

Cell Phone Pervasiveness and Tax Fairness - and Federalism Too

I think two actions of the past few weeks need to be linked in order to get a better sense of the tax policy issue and to determine whether ...

VAT - Economic Effects of More Investment and Less Consumption

The National Retail Federation released a study on October 14 on the likely effects of a VAT in the US. The VAT used in the study was model...

Tax System Equity and Tax Expenditures .. and Stanley Surrey Explanation

On October 11, 2010, the Washington Post ran an editorial entitled " The Current U.S. Tax System Is Tilted Toward the Haves ." It...

Chicago Bottled Water Tax and Blog Action Day 2010

October 15 is Blog Action Day serving the purpose of trying to get bloggers to all blog on the same topic on this day. The 2010 topic is w...

Taxpayer receipt or is there better information

I was intrigued by a September 2010 Idea Brief from The Third Way - A Taxpayer Receipt . This group would like to see the IRS add a feature ...

Trends and the Tax System - The Home Mortgage Interest Deduction

I think that a consideration of trends is helpful in reforming a tax system. For example, today's economy has become more global than in...

Lessons Learned - Tax Reform Act of 1986

What lessons do you think were learned from TRA'86? How might such lessons be relevant to tax reform efforts today? Please share your id...

Tax Reform Discussions in 2011?

A 9/29/10 article in The Hill - "Rep. Levin seeks early action on tax reform next year" reports that the House Ways & Means C...

More data on sales tax holidays

I think that one of the " oddities " of the tax law are sales tax holidays used in some states. The holiday typically makes some s...

Small Business Jobs Act of 2010

On September 27, 2010 (Monday), President Obama signed an additional economic stimulus bill - the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (H.R. 5297...