It is a nice object lesson in how a couple of obscure changes in the tax law can save a few people a lot of money. The IRS has reported that the number of those earning $200,000 or more who paid no taxes rose sharply in 2005. More than 7,300 of these worthies avoided U.S. income tax entirely, two-and-a-half times the year before. About 85,000 paid worldwide taxes of less than 10% of their income.    more »

Senator McCain proposed today to suspend the 18.4 cents per gallon federal excise tax on gasoline between Memorial Day and Labor Day this year. For a moment, forget about whether encouraging fossil fuel burning makes sense during a time of global warming, whether we should raid the highway trust fund when bridges are collapsing for lack of maintenance, or the disconnect between the proposal to cut gasoline taxes and the candidates’ endorsement of “cap-and-trade” limits that would raise gasoline prices.    more »

While the Presidential candidates are campaigning on grandiose and often radical reforms to the current tax system, they are missing out on a simple commonsense reform that would make tax filing easier for millions of Americans.    more »

The IRS is talking about making taxpayer information available online. I am terrified. According to the Don't Mess With Taxes blog, the director of the agency's Office of Electronic Tax Administration, David R. Williams, says that up to three years of returns may be made available to taxpayers as soon as next summer. This is the Service's attempt to be customer-friendly in a 21st century sort of way. And, to some, it may seem like a great convenience. But….    more »

Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson said in a letter to congressional Republicans yesterday that Congress needs to act immediately to enact an Alternative Minimum Tax fix. One reason: It will take 12-13 weeks for the agency to reprogram its computers to account for the change. Huh?    more »