Will Congress make it harder for the IRS to seize some taxpayers’ assets? Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are reintroducing a bill that would bar the IRS from seizing assets in structured transactions cases unless taxpayers are suspected of laundering money from illegal sources or to hide another crime. These financial transactions, such as bank deposits, are designed to stay below $10,000 to avoid triggering bank-reporting requirements The seizure policy has been in place since 2014 to crack down on money laundering but has come under fire from small-business owners who claimed their assets were taken in error and that they could not get their money back.
With successes like these, who needs failure? TPC’s Rudy Penner explains the current state of federal budgeting: Utter dysfunction. “We are in trouble when we have to define keeping the government open as a major success.”
California dreamin’, or nightmare. Last June’s House GOP tax plan would nix the federal deduction for state and local taxes. That would have reduced federal taxable income of Californians by $101 billion in 2014, or one-fifth the total value of the deduction nationwide. The tax break largely favors residents of states with high income taxes and high earners, which tend to be “blue” states.
Will a dispute between farmers and business groups derail Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts’ tax plan? The governor wants to gradually lower the state’s top income tax rate from 6.84 percent to 5.99 percent in years state revenue growth tops 3.5 percent. The plan has the support of some business groups. But farmers would rather cut the state property tax and finance the revenue loss by eliminating sales tax exemptions or raising the sales tax rate.
His own private Idaho… GOP Governor Butch Otter has yet to indicate whether he will veto, sign, or allow passage without his signature an effort to repeal the Idaho’s 6 percent grocery sales tax. He had asked the state legislature to leave the tax alone, but grocery tax repeal passed both chambers. Governor Otter has until April 10 to decide.
Probably not lovin’ it. The European Union is nearly done with its investigation into McDonald’s tax deals in Luxembourg, and may issue its ruling before it decides the fate of Amazon, another multinational with tax deals in the country. McDonald’s announced in December that its new non-U.S. tax base would be in the United Kingdom.
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