WHAT’S THE BUZZ? TELL ME WHAT’S A HAPPENIN’

+ Don’t forget to check out the NOVEMBER issue of LOIS.

+ Howard Gleckman gets right to the heart of the matter in “It’s Time Stop Squabbling about the Bush Tax Cuts” at the Tax Policy Center’s TAX VOX blog

“Rather than bickering endlessly about whether what they are doing is a tax cut or a tax increase compared to a law first passed a decade ago, lawmakers should start talking about what a fair and economically efficient tax code should look like. They ought to just decide how much tax revenue they need and then figure out how to raise it.  

Much as I’d love to take credit for this brilliant new insight, it is hardly original. The chairmen of the 2010 White House deficit reduction commission, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, proposed rewriting the entire tax code from scratch and fixed a revenue target for the new law of 21 percent of Gross Domestic Product.  House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) did much the same thing when he called for a bottom’s-up tax reform that produces 18 or 19 percent of GDP in federal taxes.”

Right on, Howard!  I have been pushing to rewrite “the entire tax code from scratch” here at TWTP for some time now.

+ Daniel Stoica reminds us that “2011 Home Energy Credits are Still Available”, although “the credit is more limited than in the past years”.

When purchasing energy efficient items available for the credit be sure to get a “Manufacturer’s Certification” from the seller – and be sure to give this certification to your tax preparer with all your other tax “stuff”.

+ Bruce, the MISSOURI TAX GUY, answers the question “What if You Default on Your IRS Payment Plan?”.

+ Peter J Reilly tells us that for the first time the “Turbo Tax Defense Works for Patent Attorney” at FORBES.COM.

The case involved Kurt Olsen, a patent attorney working for the Department of Energy who prepared the joint return for himself and his wife using commercial software.  For 2007 he failed to report about $30,000 in interest income from a Form K-1 from issued by a trust.

According to Peter –

“Mr. Olsen did a better job of representing himself in tax court than he did in preparing his return so the penalty of $1,859 was not upheld.” 

THE LAST WORD:

A belated word of thanks - I am thankful that I live in a country where I can publicly identify the members of Congress as the idiots they are without fear of being thrown into prison.

TTFN