Speaker Johnson offers a two-tiered stopgap funding plan. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Saturday unveiled a plan that would extend spending to until mid-January for some agencies and early February for others. It excludes supplemental funding for US border management and aid to Israel and Ukraine. If the House and Senate do not pass this plan, Johnson said he’d propose a full-year continuing resolution with increases only for defense and national security priorities. The House could vote on the two-tiered plan as soon as tomorrow.
Politico: Biden administration quietly pushing to extend digital services tax moratorium. Politico reports (paywall) that Treasury is working to get the international community to agree to not levy digital services taxes (DSTs) that target US tech companies until at least 2025. This comes as Canada is set to implement its DST starting on January 1, 2024. The hope is to instead build support for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD’s) proposed global corporate tax reform plan. A Treasury official told Politico, “We’re working with the inclusive framework to try and formalize a new timeline."
OECD, German lawmakers passed legislation implementing the global corporate tax framework. Reuters reports that the plan passed the parliament with support from several different political parties and is expected to raise €1.7 billion over the first three years the law is in effect, starting in 2025.
IRS scrutinizes Malta-based tax shelters. Bloomberg Law is out with exclusive details on an alleged tax evasion scheme where wealth managers had clients move funds to retirement accounts in Malta. The IRS has since issued criminal summonses on both investors and promoters of the tax shelters. “Every one of us knew this was a sham as it lacked any economic substance,” one adviser told Bloomberg. “Because of the large fees, we played audit roulette and hoped that the IRS would never challenge it.”
Santa Fe voters overwhelmingly back a “mansion tax.” About 73 percent of voters in the New Mexico city said yes on Tuesday to the tax, with the revenue going to Santa Fe’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund. The city will now impose a 3 percent excise tax on home sales over $1 million, which tax could generate $6 million annually.
Baltimore coalition wants some tax-exempt institutions to make bigger contributions to the city. A group of local unions and advocacy organizations wants Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland Medical Center, and other nonprofit institutions in the city to boost their annual combined $6 million “payment in lieu of taxes.” Those institutions own over $5 billion worth of property in Baltimore The proposal would establish a new Community Wealth Building Fund to manage about $26 million in property tax revenues or voluntary contributions from medical and educational nonprofits.
Will the EU revisit the €13 billion tax case against Apple? Two years ago, the European Union’s (EU) General Court overturned a decision that Apple pay €13 billion in back taxes, due to alleged unfair tax breaks from Ireland. Now some want the European Court of Justice to overturn the decision. Per Bloomberg, a European Court of Justice legal adviser argued the General Court failed to “assess correctly the substance and consequences of certain methodological errors.” Apple maintains that it received no illegal aid from Ireland.
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