Congress' Tax Chiefs Want You to Help Make the Tax Code Simpler
If filing your taxes makes you crazy, now's your chance to do something about it. Two key lawmakers are asking ordinary Americans for advice on improving the U.S. tax code.
tax reform
Obama's SOTU Economic Pitch: This Time, It's Personal
In Tuesday's State of the Union address, President Obama turned that old feminist rallying cry that "the personal is political" on its ear with a long list of proposals that argued that the personal is economic -- and the economic is political.
Six Upbeat Money Trends of 2012
Between the elections, the fiscal cliff, and the endless battles over taxes, expenditures, and budget issues both big and small, 2012 has been a difficult year. But, amid all the sound and fury, there have also been promising developments on the financial front. Here's a look at a few of our favorite money stories of this year.
Rick Santorum: An Average Guy with Ordinary Taxes
Rick Santorum has rarely shied away from controversy in his political career, but there's no controversy to be found in his taxes. Based on his recently released returns, Santorum appears to have been a conscientious taxpayer, and a fairly normal (if a little wealthy) guy.
Tax Reform in This Election year: It's Not Likely
Tax reform sounds like a good idea to lots of people, but where to start? Eliminate the popular deduction for home mortgages? End the write-off for charitable contributions? How about expanding the Social Security payroll tax? Not likely. Politicians of all stripes in this presidential election year are clamoring for simplifying the tax code and closing loopholes. But that would mean Americans would lose some of their prized deductions.
Time to Kill the Mortgage Interest Tax Deduction?
With proposals from both President Obama and GOP leaders to broaden the tax base, it seems likely that some cherished income tax deductions may be reduced or even eliminated, and one leading candidate for the chopping block is the deduction for mortgage interest.
Follow the Money to Real Growth, Not Tax Breaks
This week, David Cay Johnston published a thought experiment titled How Would You Invest $1 Billion Under the Current Tax System? Its premise is that if we use tax policy to boost demand, we can find more profitable ways to invest. It's a premise DailyFinance columnist and venture capitalist Peter Cohen rejects.
