The Internal Revenue Service's audits of individual income tax returns in fiscal 2013 reached a decade low. Less than one of every one hundred returns (0.96% to be precise) was audited. The agency has lost $1 billion in funding and 8,000 employees over the past three years which may help explain fewer audits. Similarly there [...]
Last week President Obama chided businesses for discriminating against the long-term unemployed. Today the Congressional Budget Office announced the results of a projection that Obamacare will reduce the number of hours worked to be the equivalent of two million full-time jobs. Just can't make this stuff up!
On Sunday America will celebrate its unofficial national holiday - the Super Bowl. Somewhere between the GoDaddy and Bud Light commercials the Broncos and Seahawks will battle to see which team can score the most points over a span of 60 minutes. Rumors abound the NFL will introduce a new rule this year. At some [...]
Uncle Sam bailed out the auto industry. Huge financial failure. The American taxpayer lost billions of dollars. Uncle Sam bailed out the banking industry. Huge financial success. The American taxpayer earned billions in profits. Next in line is the health insurance industry. Poorly drafted legislation, poor implementation and now a rewrite without legislation will once again [...]
1962's The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance starring John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart gave us this gem: Stewart (as "Ransom Stoddard"): "You're not going to use the story, Mr. Scott?" Carleton Young (as "Maxwell Scott"): "No, sir. This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." In a surprising twist Big Government has decided to dump the myth in [...]
The frustration about regulations is often the (needless) complexity. Can't we have a CliffsNotes version? Yes we can - Kaiser Family Foundation to the rescue! This simple flow chart explains who will be required to purchase coverage or be subject to the "remember it's not a tax...oh, wait, The Supreme Court said it is" penalty. This calculator helps in understanding premium assistance / [...]
CCH has released a new briefing analyzing President Obama's fiscal year 2014 budget. The $3.77 billion plan includes approximately 160 individual and corporate tax provisions intended to raise revenue and reduce spending.
The Orator in Chief wants to play a shell game with American taxpayers. He's about to pull a bait and switch that would be the envy of even the most unscrupulous salesman. Barely three months removed from the fiscal cliff deal that made "permanent" the inflation-adjusted $5 million exemption and set the top rate at 40% [...]
In response to this report about assistance for homeowners in the wake of Hurricane Katrina David Montoya (Inspector General - Department of Housing and Urban Development) admitted the program was little more than a complete and utter failure. "I'd give it a very low D," he said. More than 24,000 Louisiana homeowners received grants of up to $30,000 [...]
In an attempt to fix America's broken housing market Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at the direction of The White House previously authorized short selling - transactions allowing homeowners to sell their properties for less than what's owed on the mortgage. Instead of lenders pursuing to recoup the difference sellers are permitted to cancel the debt. In another gift [...]