Most voters are aware that Barack Obama wants to raise taxes on high-income taxpayers if he's elected president in November.
The House voted Wednesday to protect more than 20 million mostly upper-income taxpayers in danger of being slapped with a tax increase averaging $2,300 because of the alternative minimum tax.
The latest hit to the economy could come from state houses and city halls across the nation, which are in their worst budget crisis in years.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain threw some red meat to the small-business crowd on Tuesday, promising that if elected president he would drastically overhaul the tax system, end corporate welfare, introduce tax credits to make health insurance more affordable, and help the GOP "reclaim our good name as the party of spending restraint."
John McCain and Barack Obama have starkly different philosophies about tax policy - how to raise the revenue needed to support government programs, spur growth and ensure economic fairness.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain outlined his agenda on tax cuts to a group of small business leaders Tuesday, vowing to keep taxes low in the face of a weak economy and rising oil prices.
Barack Obama's emergence as the presumptive Democratic nominee on Tuesday sets the stage for a sharp partisan debate over the issue weighing most heavily on voters: the economy.
Lee Avery had never really thought of his company's work - producing parts for underwater oil and gas pipelines- as involving research and development: His engineers don't wear white lab coats, after all. So Avery, co-founder and president of Quality Connector Systems of Houston, was initially skeptical when he was told that his four-year-old company was eligible for tens of thousands of dollars in annual tax savings from the $7-billion-a-year U.S. Research and Development Tax Credit Program.
There are two proven paths to building wealth: You can increase the amount of money you make, or you can increase the amount of money you keep.
Last week, the federal government began sending out more than $100 billion in "tax rebates" to millions of Americans in an effort to stimulate the sluggish economy.
Most voters are aware that Barack Obama wants to raise taxes on high-income taxpayers if he's elected president in November.
The House voted Wednesday to protect more than 20 million mostly upper-income taxpayers in danger of being slapped with a tax increase averaging $2,300 because of the alternative minimum tax.
The latest hit to the economy could come from state houses and city halls across the nation, which are in their worst budget crisis in years.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain threw some red meat to the small-business crowd on Tuesday, promising that if elected president he would drastically overhaul the tax system, end corporate welfare, introduce tax credits to make health insurance more affordable, and help the GOP "reclaim our good name as the party of spending restraint."
John McCain and Barack Obama have starkly different philosophies about tax policy - how to raise the revenue needed to support government programs, spur growth and ensure economic fairness.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain outlined his agenda on tax cuts to a group of small business leaders Tuesday, vowing to keep taxes low in the face of a weak economy and rising oil prices.
Barack Obama's emergence as the presumptive Democratic nominee on Tuesday sets the stage for a sharp partisan debate over the issue weighing most heavily on voters: the economy.
Lee Avery had never really thought of his company's work - producing parts for underwater oil and gas pipelines- as involving research and development: His engineers don't wear white lab coats, after all. So Avery, co-founder and president of Quality Connector Systems of Houston, was initially skeptical when he was told that his four-year-old company was eligible for tens of thousands of dollars in annual tax savings from the $7-billion-a-year U.S. Research and Development Tax Credit Program.
There are two proven paths to building wealth: You can increase the amount of money you make, or you can increase the amount of money you keep.
Last week, the federal government began sending out more than $100 billion in "tax rebates" to millions of Americans in an effort to stimulate the sluggish economy.
Sen. John McCain Thursday admitted his idea of a gas tax "holiday" would not solve the problem of rising oil prices but said it would give low-income Americans "just a little break this summer."
In his most wide-ranging speech on the economy, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain on Tuesday laid out an agenda that would change the tax code, freeze discretionary spending and temporarily suspend federal gas taxes.
An end to earmarks, a gas-tax holiday, government-backed mortgages -- they're all part of an economic-revival plan that a top aide to GOP Sen. John McCain described Tuesday as "big and ambitious."
We hope your initial reaction to this story wasn't "Wait, when is tax day again?" If you haven't filed yet, you'd better hurry. You don't want to find yourself on this list next year.
Ah, tax day. The day that we all get together to give our money to an organization that none of us believe actually deserves it.
Here's a cold reality that none of the presidential candidates want to tell you: a shrinking number of Americans are bearing an ever bigger share of the nation's income tax burden.
You've tried staring your computer down, but it's not blinking. No matter how many times you go over the figures, you get the same answer. That number on your screen - what you're paying the IRS this year - is more than your dad earned in his five best years. You can't help thinking, Why am I such a chump when other people must be getting off scot-free?
Regardless of how much money you make, you have skin in this game.
If you bought a hybrid vehicle last year, and you were counting on a tax credit, you may be in for a nasty surprise.
Are you cross-eyed trying to figure out which tax breaks you can take this year?
If Congress passes legislation to roll back nearly $18 billion in tax breaks for large oil companies, advisers to President Bush will recommend a veto, the White House said Tuesday.
When Wilkes-Barre Mayor Thomas Leighton hears about the troubles afflicting bond insurer Ambac Financial Group, he worries whether his Pennsylvania city can renovate a blighted park or repair the sewer system.
The economic stimulus bill signed into law by President Bush today included one tax break for small businesses added by the Senate, but lost another as Congressional leaders bowed to White House pressure to move quickly without adding too many amendments.
Sigrid Crane couldn't understand it. The tax assessor for the town of Vienna, Va. pegged the value of her home in 2007 at $570,000, up $20,000 from the year before, despite the fact that the local market had already gone south. Crane fought back - and won.
The state of the slowing economy and how to energize it - now and beyond - will be a focal point of President Bush's State of the Union address Monday night.
In last night's debate, held days before Tuesday's Republican primary in Boca Raton, Florida, GOP candidates came up with a few new factual distortions and repeated several old ones. Among them:
Consumers fuel the economy and if they're strapped, the thinking goes, better get them some cash to spend.
Delayed tax returns and late tax code changes are among the most serious problems facing taxpayers today, according to taxpayer advocate Nina Olson in an annual report to Congress Wednesday.
By the end of next week 21 million taxpayers will probably receive the protection they've been promised from the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). But the fix likely won't account for an estimated $50 billion in lost tax revenue.
Every presidential candidate bemoans something about income taxes: they're unfair, they're too complex, they hinder economic growth, you name it. And every candidate is sure their proposals can set things right and still result in green glory for the Treasury.
As you invest your money, shop for a home or tackle any one of the many financial decisions you have to make over your lifetime, do you sometimes wish you'd paid more attention in math class? Do you find yourself having to "run the numbers" and wondering how?
The Senate voted Thursday to block a looming tax increase averaging $2,000 for millions of taxpayers after Senate Republicans succeeded in thwarting a Democratic plan to also raise taxes on investors.
Presidential campaigning is a promise-making fiesta, and never more so than when it comes to taxes.
You probably don't know what your federal tax liability will be for 2007, and Congress certainly isn't helping. Lawmakers have yet to pass a temporary fix to the Alternative Minimum Tax, to prevent 21 million of us from having to pay the so-called wealth tax.
Warren Buffett thinks those who use the phrase "death tax" are intellectually dishonest because the phrase in his words is "clever, Orwellian and dead wrong."
Warren Buffett has said it before and he's likely to say it again to Congress on Wednesday: He thinks the heirs of the wealthy should be taxed on their inheritance.
Question: My employer offers a 401(k), but no match. Given that I'm already maxing out my Roth IRA, would I be better off investing in a taxable account rather than contributing to my no-match 401(k)? - Luis Gonzalez, Denver, Colorado
A January referendum seeks to reduce property taxes for a middle class getting squeezed. But reformers want still more
The leading Democratic candidates for president have said they'd favor higher investment taxes on upper-income taxpayers - and Wall Streeters don't like it.
If a tax-system overhaul proposed last week were to pass into law, there would be a substantial redistribution of the tax burden.
Lawmakers are looking to pass $71 billion worth of tax-break extenders this year. Most politicians support the extensions, but how to pay for them is another matter entirely.
No one actually expects lawmakers to overhaul the tax code this year, but House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) planted his flag Thursday morning by unveiling a bill that he calls the "mother of all tax reforms."
Mutual fund companies have begun to estimate this year's taxable distributions - and your tax bill is going to be mighty big.
A bill representing the "mother of all tax reforms" is set to be revealed Thursday, according to House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY).
DETROIT (AP) -- A federal judge sentenced Robert "Tractor" Traylor to three years of probation Friday after the former NBA player and Michigan star admitted to preparing a false tax return that hid the assets of a convicted drug dealer.
American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. bounced 564 property tax checks in Maryland but blamed other financial institutions for the problem, the state's commissioner of financial regulation said Thursday.
American Home Mortgage Investment bounced property tax checks for some Maryland homeowners, local and state officials said Monday, and they have demanded an explanation from the bankrupt mortgage lender and servicer.
Lawmakers have effectively denied roughly 23 million taxpayers the ability to plan adequately for their taxes this year.
Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday proposed overhauling the tax code to lower taxes for the poor and middle class, increase them for the rich and make it so most Americans can file their taxes in five minutes.
The critics of legislation that would raise taxes on the income of private-equity and hedge-fund manager are coming out in full force, contending it would hurt returns and have negative effects on other kinds of limited partnerships. In addition, they say, not much tax revenue would be raised.
It seems completely counterintuitive: Raise the gasoline tax to help American commuters.
Nearly half of all Americans are worried about the collapse of a bridge somewhere in the United States, yet nearly two-thirds reject higher taxes to inspect and fix them, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Thursday.
Some of the highest-earning Americans are paying a lower percentage of tax on some of their income than everyone else. Whether or not that's justified was the subject of a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Tuesday.
Take your tax breaks and mind-boggling incentives - give us a low rate.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Thursday the U.S. business tax system creates distortions in the allocation of capital and must be re-examined to boost the competitiveness of American companies.
The partners at private equity firm Blackstone Group will effectively avoid paying taxes on $3.7 billion of the funds they received when the company sold shares to the public last month, according to a published report.
To figure out whether you need to pay quarterly estimated federal taxes this year and avoid underpayment penalties, you need to have a sense of what your tax liability will be.
The timing couldn't be more poetic for Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. Reports that it will have its own IPO stole some of the thunder from arch rival Blackstone's New York Stock Exchange debut Friday, signaling that the firm is still a titan in the world of private money.
A bill to raise taxes on "carried interest" compensation awarded to private equity firm partners was introduced Friday by 14 Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Tax-writing committees in Congress are weighing a curtailment of a little-known tax break that helps private equity firms and hedge funds cut their tax bills, according to a newspaper report published Thursday.
The Senate Monday pressed ahead with a Democrat-driven rewrite of American energy policy that would strip nearly $15 billion in tax breaks from large companies and put the money toward making energy from clean, renewable sources like wind, solar and soybeans.
The attack that Congress is mounting on private equity may mark an historic inflection point, a grisly finale to what buyout king Henry Kravis lauds as the "golden age." Thursday, top ranking members of the Senate Finance Committee announced legislation aimed at substantially raising the taxes paid by publicly-traded private equity companies.
Like California a generation ago, the Sunshine State is moving toward providing relief for overburdened homeowners
It seems completely counterintuitive: Raise the gasoline tax to help American commuters.
At first glance, private equity and venture capital are kissing cousins - same partnership structure, same investment pool, same pedigreed MBAs. But ever since the Senate Finance Committee this spr...
Launching a business was Ryan McBryde's first priority, but a close second was finding the best way to save for retirement. Specifically, the 38-year-old professional land surveyor - and now owner ...
The Senate passed the $124 billion war supplemental budget bill Thursday in a 51-46 vote that moves the legislation, which includes a minimum wage hike and small business tax cuts, toward an all but certain veto from President Bush.
House Democrats on the tax writing committee may have come to a consensus on how to reform the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), according to a report Wednesday in Tax Notes, a trade publication published by Tax Analysts. The proposal would give the biggest tax break to middle- and upper-middle income households.
Question: My wife and I are in the 33 percent tax bracket. We're getting the standard tax breaks for owning our home, having a child and making charitable contributions, but we're getting hit hard with taxes. Do you think we should buy a bigger home to get a bigger tax break? - J. Court, Houston, Texas
Question: I'm 25 and recently switched employers. Although my new company provides a lucrative profit-sharing plan that everyone is automatically enrolled in after one year of work, my new employer does not offer a match in the 401(k). I can budget approximately 20 percent of my income for retirement savings, but I'm confused about how to allocate those savings.
A flood of last-minute tax filers swamped Intuit Inc.'s e-filing system early Tuesday, causing long delays for taxpayers trying to check that their electronic returns had been submitted successfully.
Still smarting over the shocking sum you doled out to Uncle Sam for 2006? If only you'd known at the start of last year what you know now.
It's that annual ritual that Americans love to grouse about, but this year's tax filing season is finally coming to a close.
April 15 is traditionally the last day when U.S. taxpayers can file their tax returns (or appropriate forms) with the federal government without being penalized. Because April 15 falls on a Sunday this year, and the following day, April 16, is Emancipation Day, a legal holiday in the District of Columbia, the 2007 deadline is April 17 for most of the country. Use this Extra! to help students understand federal income taxes.
It's virtually guaranteed to happen every year - the IRS gets a slew of tax returns loaded with errors.
John Edwards says we need to raise taxes to fix health care, and you can bet that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will eventually say so too. Their red-blooded Republican foes will counter that raising taxes is always and everywhere evil, because it hurts the economy.
April 30 is the day that Americans can stop working to pay the taxman and start working for themselves, according to the Tax Foundation's annual estimate dubbed "Tax freedom day."
Mr. and Mrs. Middle Class went to Washington last week and delivered a direct message to lawmakers: Kindly get on the stick about the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). We don't feel like being punished because you guys keep punting the problem.
Question: I'm considering contributing after-tax dollars to my 401(k), but I'm wondering whether it would be better to put this money in a traditional deductible or Roth IRA. What do you think? - Richard Smarz, Dallas, Texas
If you bought a Toyota Prius last summer you may have thought you were entitled to a $3,150 tax credit.
Under the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), you're not allowed to take a lot of the income tax breaks you might otherwise enjoy under the regular income tax code. But there is one that's preserved: The reduced 15 percent rate on capital gains and dividends.
If you're thinking of buying a hybrid car, this would be a good time to act on that impulse, according to a pricing and cost analysis by the automotive Web site Edmunds.com.
Here's some tax trivia for you: What is this year's deadline for filing your taxes?
Middle-income taxpayers have become more vulnerable than millionaires to the alternative minimum tax, which was originally designed to prevent tax avoidance by the rich, according to testimony given Wednesday before a House panel.
Question: My wife and I are 55 years old and considering retiring in the next seven years. We have a retirement portfolio of more than $500,000 that includes $50,000 in annuities that we bought 20 years ago.
In a 360-45 vote, the House on Friday passed a $1.4 billion package of small-business tax cuts, which is expected to ease the passage of a federal minimum-wage increase in the Senate.
When it comes to the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), the question on lawmakers' minds these days isn't "Should it change?" but "How should it change?" ... and, not insignificantly: "How should we pay for it?"
Manhattan and the metropolitan area of Stamford/Norwalk, Conn. have the highest paying taxpayers among U.S. counties and cities.
Here's yet another way to save for retirement. Starting in 2006, the law will allow employers to offer a new option in 401(k) plans: to contribute after-tax money that will grow tax-free.
With W-2s arriving, many Americans begin thinking about how to spend their tax refund. Nearly half of those polled during last year's tax season -- 47 percent -- said they would spend their refund checks on paying down debt, according to a 2006 survey by the National Retail Federation.
To achieve a budget surplus by 2012 while boosting spending on the military, President Bush has proposed curtailing domestic spending, permanently extending his tax cuts and only providing relief from the alternative minimum tax for one more year.
President Bush in his State of the Union address Tuesday laid out a plan intended to make healthcare more affordable, give everyone who buys insurance the same tax break and incentivize you to be more cost-conscious in how you spend your healthcare dollars.
Just when you thought Washington politics couldn't get any weirder: now George W. Bush wants to tax the rich.
The Senate began debating the minimum wage bill this week with plans for a vote to end debate Wednesday and possible passage next week.
The new Democratic-led House Thursday passed legislation aimed at "Big Oil" that would roll back some industry tax breaks and force energy companies to pay more drilling royalties, valued at $14 billion over 10 years.
If lawmakers repeal or fix the alternative minimum tax (AMT), taxpayers are likely to foot the bill, even if tax rates aren't raised explicitly.
The most serious problem facing taxpayers today is complexity, and no tax represents that complexity better than the Alternative Minimum Tax, according to National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson in her annual report submitted to Congress on Tuesday.
President Bush's tax cuts offered the biggest benefits to families in the highest income categories, according to a study cited in a published report Monday.
A bipartisan group of senators on Thursday introduced a bill calling for the death of the stealth tax that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have criticized.
All eyes will be on the 110th Congress when it convenes on Thursday, but small businesses will be paying particularly close attention to legislation in the works that could impact their bottom lines.
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