IRS Warns of Fake Email Scams: Phishing

Following continuing threats to taxpayers, the Internal Revenue Service has added "phishing" schemes to its list of top filing season concerns and part of the annual listing of the "Dirty Dozen" tax scams for 2018. The IRS warned taxpayers, businesses and tax professionals to be alert to fake emails or websites looking to steal personal information.
Posted in Tax

Banks want in on tax reform plan to spur investment in distressed areas

In passing President Trump's tax cut bill, Congress approved a new program that allows investors to defer paying taxes on capital gains if they invest in "Opportunity Zones." The Investing in Opportunity Act, sponsored by Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Tim Scott, R-S.C., allows community development financial institutions to create Opportunity Funds that invest in Opportunity Zones.

Democrats seek to respond to tax cuts

Resistance to the Republican tax overhaul comes with an ideological twist for some Democratic state officials: They've styled themselves as champions of the working class but are pushing hard for measures that would reduce taxes mostly for the wealthy. Democratic governors and lawmakers in a handful of high-income, high-tax states are promoting policies that are intended to spare their residents the pain of the new $10,000 cap on deductions for state and local taxes.

California gas tax boost is key to funding Trump’s infrastructure plan

Strong ironies are playing out as California's 14 Republican members of Congress support President Trump's announced $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan at the same time they all back a planned ballot initiative to repeal the state's new gasoline and diesel fuel tax increase. No state needs more work on its infrastructure than this one, where more than 1,300 bridges of various sizes and shapes require seismic retrofitting and potholes are common on every type of road from country lanes to major urban freeways.

IRS releases tool you can use to check if your employer is messing up your taxes

The Internal Revenue Service released a new tool Wednesday designed to help millions of Americans ensure they're not dramatically underpaying or overpaying their taxes under the new Republican tax law. The online calculator allows taxpayers to compare how much their employer is withholding for taxes on their pay stub to a government projection of how much should be withheld.
Posted in Tax

The Republican tax reform was extremely unpopular – ” until it started working

WASHINGTON When the Republican-controlled Congress first approved its tax bill in December, most Democrats believed it would be a political loser for the GOP. Indeed, a New York Times poll found that just 37 percent of Americans approved of the plan.

Here’s why voters are coming around on the GOP tax law | Marc A. Thiessen

When the Republican-controlled Congress first approved its tax bill in December, most Democrats believed it would be a political loser for the GOP. Indeed, a New York Times poll found that just 37 percent of Americans approved of the plan.

Marc A. Thiessen: The GOP tax reform used to be extremely unpopular. Not anymore.

When the Republican-controlled Congress first approved its tax bill in December, most Democrats believed it would be a political loser for the GOP. Indeed, a New York Times poll found that just 37 percent of Americans approved of the plan.

Slam the brakes on proposed gas-tax hike

Thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Republicans are on a roll. So why is President Trump praising a gas-tax hike to finance his infrastructure plan? Despite House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi's complaints that the GOP tax-rate reductions are "Armageddon, "crumbs," and - as of Tuesday - "unpatriotic," Americans are growing fond of tax reform.

Fixing Welfare Is Ultimately A Philosophical Problem

With the passage of the recent bipartisan budget agreement and its $300 billion assault on spending caps, coming on the heels of the GOP's Tax Cut and Reform Bill and its sweeping $1.5 trillion reduction in taxes, at some point Republicans must focus their attention to a side of the spending coin that has never sat well with America-welfare. According to Gary D. Alexander, Pennsylvania's former Secretary of Human Services, the federal government's $1 trillion-a-year "limitless war on poverty" has spawned a kraken of runaway spending that threatens America's economic survival.

Mnuchin says IRS to ban hedge-fund tax dodge on carried interest

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the Internal Revenue Service will issue guidance within the next two weeks to prevent hedge-fund managers from dodging new tax rules on carried-interest profits. "I've already met with the IRS and our Office of Tax Policy this morning as a result of that article," Mnuchin said Wednesday during a Senate Finance Committee hearing, referring to a Bloomberg News story about hedge fund managers creating shell companies to work around stricter limits on carried interest.

The Deficit Hawks Have It Wrong

The problem is not the deficit, but that Trump's deficit finances the wrong things-billionaires rather than bridges, tunnels, and schools. uestion for today: What is the connection between the Republican tax cuts, the rising federal deficit, and the wildly gyrating stock market? The answer is trickier than it seems.

Paul Ryan deletes tax bill tweet after being dragged for not understanding math

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan answers questions on the possibility of a government shutdown at the U.S. Capitol on January 18, 2018 in Washington, DC. In a tweet posted Saturday morning, Ryan praised the new tax law spearheaded by the Republican party.