Sometimes a great idea in the lab doesn't work so well in the field. George Yin, former Chief of Staff of the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, thinks temporary legislation -- such as the perpetually-expiring AMT patch and research credit -- is a good thing : Consequently, enactment ... Read more

Governor Culver has formed a panel to review Iowa's 30-odd business incentive tax credits . He sent a letter to some of his agency heads: To assist the panel with their work, I am asking you to submit information on your respective departments’ tax credits to the Iowa Department of Manageme ... Read more

Tax Policy Blog has a handy summary of how Harry Reidcare will allegedly be financed . Peter Pappas has a nice summary of some of the more baleful provisions of the bill , including a sexism angle. One of the taxes in the bill applies to cosmetic surgery, which Mr. Pappas calls "...a vanity ta ... Read more

It's good to watch a fight when you don't have to pick sides, and you can enjoy every blow. For example, H&R Block Tax Services Inc. v. Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc.; No. 6:08-cv-00037 . Go to it, guys! ... Read the full post ... Read more

The new Cavalcade of Risk is up at Healthcare Economist ! Among the many useful insurance and risk management posts there is the InsureBlog's explanation of the hidden link between heart attacks and double-decker buses . I would have suspected double-decker cheeseburgers, myself. ... Rea ... Read more

The Iowa Fiscal Partnership has generated some headlines by passing around their take on a new study by The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy: Study says Iowa tax system unfair to poor Report: Iowa tax code favors wealthiest residents Report: Iowa tax system hurts low an ... Rea ... Read more

As part of his 2000+ page nightmare of a "health care" bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid would partially decouple the "Medicare" portion of the healthcare tax from the tax withholding system. For the first time the Medicare tax would be different for taxpayers with different filing statuses ... Read more

Reuters Headline: Nearly 15,000 Americans admit offshore tax cheating They are talking about the response to the recent IRS offshore amnesty. No doubt there were plenty of true tax cheats in the bunch, but many amnesty participants -- and all of the ones I'm familiar with -- aren't tax c ... Read more

The Tax Court says so . ... Read the full post ... Read more