Tax Code

The report of Apple avoiding corporate income taxes the past four years signals it's time to overhaul the U.S. corporate tax code. Like many multinationals with strong intellectual property, Apple legally earns nearly all of its income offshore. The U.S. tax code requires payment of corporate income taxes on domestic operations, but foreign earnings are not taxed until they are returned to the U.S. parent company, an act called repatriation. According to Senate investigators, Apple has structured its foreign operations to avoid a foreign income tax liability as well.

The report of Apple avoiding corporate income taxes the past four years signals it's time to overhaul the U.S. corporate tax code. Like many multinationals with strong intellectual property, Apple legally earns nearly all of its income offshore. The U.S. tax code requires payment of corporate income taxes on domestic operations, but foreign earnings are not taxed until they are returned to the U.S. parent company, an act called repatriation. According to Senate investigators, Apple has structured its foreign operations to avoid a foreign income tax liability as well.

It has been reported that House Speaker John Boehner is backing a compromise on taxing those "rich" Americans who make over $1 million a year. Unfortunately, that threshold, as well as President Barack Obama's proposal to increase taxes on those making over $250,000 at the Clinton era tax rate, is not going to solve the long term deficit problem, especially while spending remains out of control as it has been during Mr. Obama's presidency....

May 29 has been dubbed 529 College Savings Day -- get it 5/29 and 529, as in the part of the tax code that allows the savings plan? -- and the College Savings Plans of Maryland (CSPM) is teaming up with the Maryland Zoo to promote awareness of the plans.  Here's what they say they have in store:  "First, on Wednesday, May 29, CSPM will be hosting a free, interactive webinar at 12:00 p.m. for anyone who is interested in learning more about Maryland's two tax-advantaged 529 plans - the Maryland Prepaid College Trust and the Maryland College Investment Plan.

WASHINGTON -- Junk the current tax code. Eliminate the Internal Revenue Service. Create a tax system that is fair to everyone and encourages investment, saving and entrepreneurial capitalism.Such is the plan of the National Commission on Economic Growth and Tax Reform, created with private funds at the behest of Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and House Speaker Newt Gingrich.For more than 50 years we have been subsidizing behaviors we once discouraged, such as sloth and indolence, irresponsibility, unaccountability and sexual promiscuity.

Nearly half of taxpayers have yet to file their federal tax returns, although the deadline is just about two weeks away. Many of them are holding off to the last minute because they owe taxes, of course. But some likely are waiting for answers. The U.S. tax code grows more complicated each year, often leaving taxpayers uncertain about whether they qualify for deductions or not. And a bumpy economy has left many taxpayers yearning for bigger refunds. So this year tax professionals say they are fielding more questions than ever about debt, the homebuyer credit, Roth IRA conversions and any obscure deductions filers could be overlooking.

The midterm elections that gave control of Congress to the Democrats also brought widespread predictions of paralysis in Washington. But is divided government a recipe for inaction? Not necessarily. Divided government can produce good policy, especially on the budget, while one-party rule does not guarantee positive results. We learned these lessons firsthand while working inside the budget machinery of the White House under two different administrations. During the Clinton years, a Democratic president and a Republican-led Congress exchanged frequent rhetorical fire but ultimately produced some of the best federal fiscal policies in decades - balancing the budget, limiting spending, and still investing more in education, research and other priorities.

ATLANTA -- As they devote the precious weekends of early spring to searching for tax records and filling out forms, millions of Americans share a single sentiment about our tax code: There must be an easier way. A flat income tax or a national sales tax are much-discussed alternatives to our annual filing agony. But while those options may sound attractive, especially around April 15, millions of taxpayers would be furious if Congress were to make the one change essential to implementing either plan: elimination of the home mortgage tax deduction.

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman proposed an overhaul of the federal tax code yesterday that would lower tax rates on middle-class families while raising taxes, sometimes substantially, on wealthier Americans. Speaking to about 250 supporters and onlookers at a presidential campaign rally, the Connecticut Democratic said his plan would "restore integrity and fairness" to the code by shifting more of the burden to wealthy individuals and corporations. The plan calls for lower tax rates on individuals earning less than about $70,000 and families earning less than $115,000.

The Philadelphia Inquirer said in an editorial Thursday:THE dumbing down of American politics continues apace.Now we have "Kill the code," not just as a slogan sneered at the tax system, but as an empty-headed bill that might actually pass Congress this election year.The bill would kill the current federal tax system by 2001. It is silent on what ought to replace it.The supposed rationale is that national leaders won't reform the system unless they have a deadline.In fact, what really appeals to congressional leaders about this time bomb against the status quo is that it makes them look like bold reformers in time for the election -- without forcing them to decide on a new system.

Loyal readers of this page are likely aware that we have not been great supporters of the tea party movement. Too often, we have found those anti-tax crusaders who call themselves tea party patriots are simply rebranded John Birch Society members of an earlier time with all the extremist anti-civil rights, anti-immigration, and anti-United Nations rhetoric that comes with it. But the latest disclosure - gleaned from a draft inspector general's report...

The chemical and fertilizer plant in the town of West, Texas, where at least 15 were killed and more than 200 injured a few weeks ago hadn't been fully inspected by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration since 1985. (A partial inspection by a different agency in 2011 resulted in $5,250 in fines.) OSHA and its state partners have a total of 2,200 inspectors charged with ensuring the safety of more than 8 million workplaces employing 130 million workers. That comes to about one inspector for every 59,000 American workers.

Typical daily schedule for a member of the United States Congress: •8:30 a.m. - National Wind Energy Association: to discuss wind production tax credit. •10 a.m. - National Association of Manufacturers: to discuss accelerated depreciation schedules and corporate income tax. •11 a.m. - National Association of Realtors: to discuss home mortgage deduction and capital gains exclusion on home sales. •1 p.m. - The Alliance for Charitable Reform, National Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, American Cancer Society, Muscular Dystrophy Association: to discuss enhanced funding for National Institutes of Health and federal charitable deduction.

Every year around this time, the media are replete with stories, both serious and funny, about the density, complexity, and inanity of our tax code ("The Carson monologue" Feb 12). One has to wonder if maybe we've gone a little too far in punishing, rewarding, and buying votes via the tax code. A shout out to Steve Forbes, and a huge amen to Dr. Ben Carson, for their pleas for a flat tax akin to the Biblical tithe wherein God asks a fixed, flat 10 percent year-in and year-out with no loopholes, no deductions, no exemptions.

Republicans say they will not cooperate on raising the debt limit in mid-February unless Democrats agree to cut spending by an equivalent amount ("Trouble ahead," Jan. 2). What these trillions of tax dollars are allocated for is instructive. The Pentagon takes up more than half of all discretionary spending. Yet politicians wrangling about budget cuts - especially when they are busy amending the tax code so the wealthy contribute their share of the national tax burden - say very little about the military industrial complex.

I must disagree with letter writer Neil L. Bergsman's view that high taxes don't drive people out of Maryland ("Tax rates have a negligible effect on people's decision to move out of state," Dec. 29). My wife and I retired from the federal government, and it puzzles us why Maryland is taxing our retirement income when states like Texas and Florida do not tax retirement income or Social Security benefits. Maryland is not a tax-friendly state for retirees, even though Social Security benefits are not taxed here.

WASHINGTON -- In his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 1996, publisher Steve Forbes always evoked enthusiastic applause when he promised to abolish the tax code.But shooting off your mouth on the campaign trail is one thing and simply abolishing the code with a single stroke is quite another -- although that is precisely what the Republicans who control the House of Representatives have pledged themselves to accomplish. They have passed, 219-209, a mind-boggling bill that would require Congress to write a new tax system by July 4, 2002, then scrap the current code at the end of the same year.

If you are thinking about buying a second home this spring - or you bought one in the last couple of years - you are part of a major transformation under way in the real estate market. The annual number of second homes purchased in the United States doubled between 2000 and 2004, according to new research. The boom is being driven in part by demographics - mainly a flood tide of equity-laden baby boomers - and in part by a largely unexpected ricochet effect of tax law changes in the late 1990s.

It has been reported that House Speaker John Boehner is backing a compromise on taxing those "rich" Americans who make over $1 million a year. Unfortunately, that threshold, as well as President Barack Obama's proposal to increase taxes on those making over $250,000 at the Clinton era tax rate, is not going to solve the long term deficit problem, especially while spending remains out of control as it has been during Mr. Obama's presidency....

Maryland's Comptroller Peter Franchot this morning released a statement, refuting a report in the Washington Time's that same-sex couples won't be able to file joint returns in Maryland. Voters here recently approved same-sex marriage in Maryland, which takes effect next year. The story apparently was picked up by the Associated Press: “ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - The Maryland comptroller's office says same-sex married couples will not be permitted to file joint tax returns in the state.