This is the last BUZZ until after the end of the tax filing season!
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You can continue to get daily tax tips from my column at MAINSTREET.COM.
* Did you catch Kay Bell’s “Tax Twitter Tuesday - 1.26.10” at DON’T MESS WITH TAXES? The first T3 of 2010!
* Kudos to Joe Kristan for his comments in “We're Government, We Can Do This, Don't You Try It!” at the ROTH AND COMPANY TAX UPDATE BLOG.
* Professor Nellen continues the cry “AMT Must Go” over at 2ist CENTURY TAXATION.
“Clearly the individual AMT is out of control. When the AMT was broadened by the Tax Reform Act of 1986, it was not done so to reach the middle class. But the failure to adjust the exemption amounts and rate brackets for inflation have caused the AMT to just become a penalty. Also, the addition of more favorable tax deductions and credits for individuals means the AMT is more likely to kick in.
I've written about the need to repeal this tax before. I'm not the only one that has called for its repeal. The Joint Committee on Taxation, the AICPA and ABA have done the same. There should be only one minimum tax - the one we currently call the regular tax. If Congress believes that deductions and credits are allowing people to pay less than the minimum, then be more transparent about it all and just reduce or eliminate some of these numerous tax breaks that also are a source of complexity in the law.”
Right on, sister!
* The Professor also makes a very good point in her post “State of the Union Speech Includes Tax and Budget Deception”.
As she points out a tax credit = additional government spending. Instead of writing a check the government is netting the cost against tax collections – same “bottom line”.
* And Chad Bordeaux makes an excellent point in a BEANCOUNTER RAMBLINGS post that asks the question “Did President Obama Actually Cut Taxes?”.
“I also don’t think that sending a check to someone that doesn’t pay any tax can be called a ‘tax cut’ either. How can you cut zero? There is nothing there to cut.”
A refundable credit is not a reduction in tax – it is a welfare or benefit payment!
TTFN
* Did you catch Kay Bell’s “Tax Twitter Tuesday - 1.26.10” at DON’T MESS WITH TAXES? The first T3 of 2010!
* Kudos to Joe Kristan for his comments in “We're Government, We Can Do This, Don't You Try It!” at the ROTH AND COMPANY TAX UPDATE BLOG.
* Professor Nellen continues the cry “AMT Must Go” over at 2ist CENTURY TAXATION.
“Clearly the individual AMT is out of control. When the AMT was broadened by the Tax Reform Act of 1986, it was not done so to reach the middle class. But the failure to adjust the exemption amounts and rate brackets for inflation have caused the AMT to just become a penalty. Also, the addition of more favorable tax deductions and credits for individuals means the AMT is more likely to kick in.
I've written about the need to repeal this tax before. I'm not the only one that has called for its repeal. The Joint Committee on Taxation, the AICPA and ABA have done the same. There should be only one minimum tax - the one we currently call the regular tax. If Congress believes that deductions and credits are allowing people to pay less than the minimum, then be more transparent about it all and just reduce or eliminate some of these numerous tax breaks that also are a source of complexity in the law.”
Right on, sister!
* The Professor also makes a very good point in her post “State of the Union Speech Includes Tax and Budget Deception”.
As she points out a tax credit = additional government spending. Instead of writing a check the government is netting the cost against tax collections – same “bottom line”.
* And Chad Bordeaux makes an excellent point in a BEANCOUNTER RAMBLINGS post that asks the question “Did President Obama Actually Cut Taxes?”.
“I also don’t think that sending a check to someone that doesn’t pay any tax can be called a ‘tax cut’ either. How can you cut zero? There is nothing there to cut.”
A refundable credit is not a reduction in tax – it is a welfare or benefit payment!
TTFN
