Friday, January 15, 2016

WHAT’S THE BUZZ, TELL ME WHAT’S A HAPPENNIN’

Another short, but sweet, BUZZ.

* Attention fellow tax pros – join me in my crusade to reform the US Tax Code by signing the petition – click here.

* Just a reminder – time to start looking for a professional tax preparer for your 2015 returns.  Don’t rely on a “box” or Henry and Richard - you should totally ignore the ridiculous Turbo Tax and H&R Block television ads.  Begin your search at FIND A TAX PROFESSIONAL.

* Over at DON’T MESS WITH TAXES Kay Bell reminds us “Final 2015 Estimated Tax Payment is Due Friday, Jan. 15”.  Hey – that is today!  

* Jason Dinesen’s series on “Glossary” at DINESEN TAX TIMES briefly describes the “Social Security Wage Base”.    

* The PATH Act did not extend all of the “tax extenders”.  The TAX FOUNDATION answers the question “Which Tax Extenders are Left?” by providing a list of the “extenders” that will expire on December 31, 2016.

If you ask me none of these “extenders” should be extended past 12/31/16.  The Tax Foundation suggests (the highlight is mine, to show agreement) –

Looking over the list below of remaining tax extenders, none of them seem like ‘must-pass’ policies. As a result, the pressure is off of Congress to renew all of the tax extenders as a package. Instead, Congress should take the time to evaluate the remaining tax extenders one by one, making the good provisions permanent and letting the bad ones expire. Temporary tax policy is bad tax policy, and it’s about time that Congress laid the ritual of tax extenders to rest once and for all.”

* While the State of the Union address was light on tax talk, Michael Cohn of ACCOUNTING TODAY tells us that in the speech “Obama Proposes to Expand Tax Cuts for Childless Workers”.

And –

Obama began the speech Tuesday night, the last of his presidency, by praising the new Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, R-Wis., for helping shepherd the tax extenders legislation through Congress last month.”
 
Let us hope this rare example of cooperation and positive action by the idiots in Congress is a sign of things to come - but don't hold your breath (after all, they are idiots).

What BO is referring to in the item’s title is expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit, a potentially refundable credit, for taxpayers with no children.  But instead of expanding the credit, the EITC should be removed from the Tax Code!

THE FINAL WORD -  

The “great unwashed” do not seem to understand that the issue with Donald Trump as a candidate for President really has nothing to do with what he saying or proposing as a candidate, however weird and inappropriate it may be.  The problem with Trump is the character, personality, nature, disposition, temperament, mentality, and makeup of the man Donald Trump.

Donald Trump is a self-absorbed, self-important narcissist.  His only motivation for doing anything is to feed his excessively, and undeservedly, enormous ego.  While he “is” a character, he “has” no character (definition = moral or ethical quality).  He is all ego and no character.  And he is totally incapable of responding to criticism and challenges like a mature adult.  This is why he is not Presidential material.

Even if some of what Trump was saying and proposing as a candidate actually made sense, or if you support some or all of what he is saying and proposing, he would still never be “Presidential” because he is Donald Trump. 

A truly savvy and intelligent billionaire businessman would want to be a “king maker”, but would never want to be the actual “king”.    

If we, and the press, had ignored Trump from the beginning, and treated him as the joke he is, he would have soon lost interest and dropped out.

TTFN

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