Internet Tax Lawyers

The left would have you believe that 1 percenters like Warren Buffett and Mitt Romney are the poster boys for a tax system that favors the rich. Enter James Ross, a 1 percenter who paid 102% of his 201o taxable income in federal income, state income local taxes. James Stewart of the Associated Press has the story: [...]

One of the first rules of debate is that you should endeavor to understand your opponent’s argument – both the strong and weak points – better than he does. The pro-tax left is, apparently, unaware of this rule. Count left-leaning economist Robert H. Frank among those who simply do not understand why many conservative Americans, the [...]

Please bear with me on this one. If Warren Buffett really does pay taxes at a lower rate than his secretary does, it is a fairer result than if he paid taxes at a higher rate.¹ Here’s why: Warren Buffett employs his secretary. Debbie Bosanek employs no one Warren Buffett, directly and indirectly, employs hundreds of thousands of workers. Debbie [...]

In his post Lying About Tax Myths Professor Maule responds point by point to my recent post More Lies About Tax Lies. I have published Maule’s entire post below. After each of his assertions, I give my rebuttal. 1.  Maule’s Assertion: Peter Pappas is at it again. My Rebuttal: I agree, I am at it again. “It” being the [...]

In today’s WSJ, Stanford economics professor Ronald McKinnon makes what he calls a “conservative” case for a wealth tax (the emphasis is mine): In order to have a fairer tax system, we should implement a new federal wealth tax in addition to the federal  income tax. Unlike the current income tax, the wealth tax would not rely on how [...]

Tax law professor and blogger Linda Beale chimes in on the Inequality Tax: I’ve often argued here that vast inequality is harmful to democracy, and that the kind of unequal society that we have today, reflected the Gilded Age of yore, is especially worrisome.  Much of what is happening in this country that threatens freedom [...]

If you had any doubt about the socialist objectives of the progressive left, read Professor James Maule‘s approval of a new-fangled mechanism of class-warfare called The Inequality Tax and they will be assuaged: Ian Ayres and Aaron Edlin have come up with an interesting tax idea. In Don’t Tax the Rich. Tax Inequality Itself, they propose that [...]

I have said many times before that the goal of the pro-tax left is not to raise the dinghies of the poor, but rather to sink the Yachts of the rich. Kay Bell sums it up in her post Taxes as a tool of economic equality (emphasis added): Americans are quite proud of, among other things, [...]

There was a time when if you called a left-winger a socialist he’d sock (slap?) you in the face. But now, in these days of abject class warfare, he wears the label on his sleeve for daws to peck at. From the New York Times, by way of Paul Caron, it seems a blatant money grab is afoot: [...]

Once again the left gets hoisted with its own petard in the tax debate. Alan Reynolds of the Cato Institute wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal today in which he noted: A recent report from the Congressional Budget Office says, “The share of income acquired by the top 1% grew from about 8% [...]

The tax-the-rich rantings of multi-billionaire Nick Hanauer are proof that you don’t have to be a genius in America to get rich. Here’s Hanauer writing for BloombergBusinessweek (emphasis added): I’m a very rich person. As an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, I’ve started or helped get off the ground dozens of companies in industries including manufacturing, retail, medical services, [...]

The pressures of having to write a daily column can cause perverse results and nobody demonstrates this phenomenon better than the New York Times’ Paul Krugman. William Anderson of Krugman-in-Wonderland has the latest manifestation of Krugman Cloven Foot-in-Mouth disease: In his latest column, Krugman demands higher taxes on “the rich” (of which category multi-millionaire Krugman resides), Krugman calls for a financial transactions tax, [...]

WebCPA reports that a group of millionaires visited the halls of Congress in an effort to convince lawmakers to raise tax rates on incomes of $1 million a year or more: The group, known as the “Patriotic Millionaires,” made the visit as the November 23 deadline approaches for a congressional “supercommittee” to come up with a [...]

PJ Media reports that seven of the top ten wealthiest members in Congress are Democrats: Yes America, there is a wealth gap. Seven of the top ten wealthiest members in Congress are Democrats. The results are based on a new study released today by the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics. The Center did an analysis [...]

Paul Caron reports: Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla) has released Subsidies of the Rich and Famous: Federal Programs and Tax Breaks That Help Millionaires: From tax write-offs for gambling losses, vacation homes, and luxury yachts to subsidies for their ranches and estates, the government is subsidizing the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Multimillionaires are even [...]

David Logan of Tax Policy Blog writes in The Income Tax Burden of the Top 1%:  A Geographical Perspective: In 2009, the top 1 percent of taxpayers—1,379,822 of them—paid more than the bottom 90% combined.  Geographically, this is equivalent to a city the size of San Antonio, TX paying more in income taxes than every person living [...]

Courtesy of Paul Caron, here is a must-watch interview of New York University Law School Professor Richard Epstein: Richard Epstein: The Income Inequality Myth Watch Does U.S. Economic Inequality Have a Good Side? on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour. The Daily, Don’t Mind the Gap:  Occupiers Blast Economic Inequality but Fail to Notice Growing [...]

David Logan of Tax Policy Blog has another reality check for the 99 percenters occupying Wall Street: An Overlooked Two-Year Trend: Incomes of the Top 1 Percent Decline While Effective Rates Increase It’s true.  In 2008 and 2009, the average taxpayer in the top 1 percent made less money than they did in the prior [...]

The irony is richer than Warren Buffett’s secretary. Reuters reports that the Occupy Wall Street mob, after two short weeks of relatively peaceful occupying, has gone violent in a global day of rage (emphasis is mine): Hundreds of hooded, masked protesters rampaged through Rome in some of the worst violence in the Italian capital for years Saturday, [...]

Now this is awfully unfair to the bottom 50% of Americans, don’t you think? I mean, what kind of a society treats its most vulnerable citizens this way? Surely, the Occupy Wall Streeters will start focusing on this horrifying inequity, right? Oh, wait. I almost forgot. The bottom 50% don’t pay any income tax at all. Nevermind. Bookmark [...]