Daily Deduction No Trump, No Problem.
Renu Zaretsky
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Last night’s Trump-less debate left nobody speechless. There was little spoken, however, on the tax front. Good thing TPC has a cheat sheet on all things tax-related for the 2016 election. Google might owe taxes in Italy, too. Italian authorities believe that Google owes $247.5 million in back taxes between 2009 and 2013 and may assess hefty punitive fines. At issue, says Italy: Google didn’t declare revenues of around 100 million euros—revenues which Italy would have taxed at 27 percent. Google also didn’t disclose about 600 million euros in royalties, about a third of which should have been paid in Italian tax. Google says it’s obeyed Italian tax law. Feminine hygiene products may no longer be a “luxury” in three states. California, Utah, and Virginia each have bills in their legislatures that would exempt the products from taxation. But as The Washington Post’s Catherine Rampell explains, it’s not always a good idea to have product-specific exemptions in the tax code. If a tax on feminine hygiene products seems too regressive, she argues, it would be better to “increase cash transfers to the poor — or to whichever group you think needs money the most.” Ohio’s tax season this year features lower tax rates, a new business deduction, and fraud protection.  GOP presidential candidate and Ohio Governor John Kasich signed a budget last year that lowered tax brackets across the board by 6.3 percent—the lowest in 30 years. Business owners can deduct 75 percent of their first $250,000 of business income (most businesses fall below that income threshold). And once again, Ohio will offer taxpayers a chance to complete an “ID quiz” designed to combat tax return fraud. Last year, a third of taxpayers took the quiz. This year, Ohio expects to ask half of filers to take the quiz. Next week on the Hill: Ways & Means holds its first hearing of the year. On Tuesday, the House panel will focus on ideas and policies designed to help create jobs, increase paychecks, and expand opportunity. Unless Washington closes for another snow storm. And this morning on the Hill: A forum on tax credits for low-wage workers. The Corporation for Enterprise Development and Tax Credits for Working Families host a Capitol Hill Policy Forum for legislators, advocates, scholars and taxpayers. They’ll share their knowledge and first-hand experience with refundable tax credits, address the latest policy developments, and explore how lawmakers can further improve the programs. Among the panelists: TPC’s Elaine Maag. Interested in subscribing to the Daily Deduction, the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center summary of the day’s tax news? Sign-up here to get the Daily Deduction delivered to your inbox every morning. If you’d like to tell us about a new research paper or have any comments about our feature, write us at dailydeduction “at” taxpolicycenter “dot” org.