Category Archives: Legislation

With an estimated $40 to $70 billion in taxes lost each year because of tax havens, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee was naturally quite interested in plugging this hole. Yesterday the panel heard testimony from IRS Commissioner … Continue reading →

The Orange County Transportation Authority unanimously voted yesterday to ask the Board of Supervisors to put a 30-year extension of Measure M, Orange County’s 0.5% sales tax that funds transportation improvements, on the November ballot. Given that all fives supervisors … Continue reading →

Today the Citizens Against Government Waste came out with their list of wasteful and not wasteful legislators. Given Congress’ propensity to spend on pork, this is an interesting list, and you can find it here. My Congressman, John Campbell, gets … Continue reading →

Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) has proposed making some tax crimes felonies if the underlying issue is a pimp or sex trafficker who fails to file employment tax forms. The penalties would be a 10-year prison sentence and a $50,000 fine … Continue reading →

States have seen tax revenues flourish this year, leading to budget surpluses of various sizes. So, if you have a budget surplus what do you do? Do you: (a) Increase spending, to help the people who supported you or groups … Continue reading →

Forbes magazine recently presented its annual comparison of taxes in the US to the world. So where does the US rank? More or less, in the middle. Of course, that depends on what state you reside in. The comparison looked … Continue reading →

That’s not a typo in the subject of this post. The tax bill that was signed last week by President Bush is titled “The Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005.” Apparently Congress didn’t look at a calendar…. Here … Continue reading →

Republican negotiators in Congress sent tax legislation out of conference committee. The highlights of this generally lackluster legislation: – AMT Relief extended, with a new higher exclusion of $62,550 for 2006; – 15% capital gains rate extended for two more … Continue reading →

A man condemning the income tax because of the annoyance it gives him or the expense it puts him to is merely a dog baring its teeth, and he forfeits the privileges of civilized discourse. But it is permissible to … Continue reading →

According to the Wall Street Journal, the 2007 budget has $513,000 allocated to set up a “dynamic analysis” unit within the Department of the Treasury. Currently, the Congressional Budget Office uses static analysis to determine the impact of proposed changes … Continue reading →