“Try to see it my way…” Congress is still nowhere near an agreement on a fifth coronavirus relief package. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows met with Speaker Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer over the weekend. Both sides expressed that there had been “progress,” but they remain very far apart on issues including aid to state and local governments and how to replace the $600 weekly boost to unemployment benefits, which expired over the weekend.
“Do I have to keep on talking 'til I can't go on?” Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Friday that “there are 15 to 20 of my guys that are not going to vote for anything.” Why the opposition? McConnell noted the growing size of the country’s debt. If 20 Republican senators vote against a deal, 27 Democratic senators would need to vote in favor of it in order for it get over a 60-vote procedural threshold to pass in the Senate.
"While you see it your way, run the risk of knowing that our love may soon be gone.” President Trump tweeted 3 weeks ago that Treasury should look into the tax-exempt status of “left-wing” universities. On Friday, reported Bloomberg Tax (paywall), Treasury's Office of the Inspector General and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration told House Ways & Means Chairman Neal that Treasury’s Office of Tax Policy will conduct a policy review of applicable regulations and guidance implicated by the President’s comment.
“Think of what you’re saying. You can get it wrong and still you think that it’s alright.” The IRS released regulations that bar money managers from using certain types of business entities to claim an exemption to rules for taxing carried interest. Carried interest is the share of an investment fund’s returns that that goes to private equity managers, venture capitalists, and certain real estate investors. The regulations address an error in the 2017 tax overhaul that allowed hedge fund managers to avoid paying higher taxes on investments.
“Think of what I'm saying. We can work it out and get it straight, or say good night.” New Jersey Democratic Governor Phil Murphy on Friday signed into law a tax on state health insurance plans. Murphy said the measure will replace an expiring federal tax in the Affordable Care Act. The revenue from the state’s 2.5-percent tax on the net value of health insurance premiums will be applied to certain health insurance markets, specifically those in the individual market, which covers adults and minors, and will subsidize coverage of families with annual income of up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level.
“Life is very short, and there's no time for fussing and fighting, my friend.” The state of Rhode Island issued 176 tax refund checks last week that had been signed by Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse. The signatures were a misprint and were intended only to be used in test runs of checks in the Division of Taxation’s automated refund check printing system. A majority of the 176 checks were corporate tax refunds. The checks have been voided, and checks with the correct signatures of state treasurer Seth Magaziner and state controller Peter Keenan will be on the correct checks.
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