Tax Lawyer's Blog

Jacob Gershman  says that New York imposes a special sales tax depending on how you eat your bagel:
What’s the tax on a bagel? It depends how you slice it — or in the case of New York, if you slice it, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
State tax officials, under orders from cash-strapped Albany to [...]

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If Bill Gates daddy gets his way, low tax states like Florida are about to see an influx of rich coffee moguls and grunge rockers.
Paul Caron alerts us to a Weekend Wall Street Journal editorial titled Gates of Confiscation: Look Who Wants to Give Washington State an Income Tax:
The battle between taxpayers and government unions will define the fiscal future of the 50 states, [...]

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People are loyal to their family and their country, but few are loyal to their state, which is great news for my home state of Florida.
Hilary Johnson of Investment News gives us an update on the prevalence of interstate wealth flight in More Wealthy Migrate South to Avoid Tax Hikes:
For years, wealthy retirees from high-tax states in the Northeast and [...]

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Two weeks ago in a roundtable talk sponsored by The National Academy of Social Insurance Gary Burtless of the Brookings Institute said the unemployment payroll tax is a scandalously regressive tax on workers.
He’s right, except for one tiny problem: The unemployment tax is not a tax on workers at all.
Burtless glosses over this critical fact in his diatribe against what he calls the unemployment insurance payroll [...]

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Kay Bell reports that Theresa Heinz Senator John Kerry will pony up the Massachusetts’ use tax due on his $7 million yacht:
OK, Sen. John Kerry is tired of all the yacht tax questions.
Kerry announced this afternoon that he’s paying all Massachusetts taxes due on his new $7 million yacht even though it’s docked in Rhode Island, where he [...]

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Yesterday I wrote a column for Forbes titled Tax Advice for Lebron: Move your Domicile to Florida in which I point out that if Lebron does as he promised and keeps his home in Akron rather than move it to Miami, it will cost him several millions of dollars in state and city taxes:
[T]his could go down as one of [...]

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Bill Bradley (not the ex-Knick hoopster) of the Sacremento Bee says that sports franchises in low tax states like Florida and Texas have a decided edge in signing big ticket free agents:

The absence of state income tax in Florida and Texas is a big reason the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks can be active in free agency.
Compare [...]

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The Orange Country Register reports of yet another creative attempt by a cash-strapped state to raise revenues extra-legislatively:
“How do you put a value on air?”
Huntington Harbour homeowner Frank Singer asks that question after receiving a bill from the state charging him a fee for having a cantilevered deck extension hanging over the waterway behind his house.

Singer calls [...]

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From the Associated Press by way of Paul Caron:
Hip-hop star Method Man pleaded guilty to a tax-evasion charge Monday, writing a check on the spot for the final $40,000 restitution payment after owing about $106,000.
The former Wu-Tang Clan member was arrested Oct. 9 on charges he failed to pay state and personal income taxes. He [...]

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Well, maybe you can’t.
WebCPA reports that Robert Blake, the actor who played the title character in the 70’s T.V. series Baretta, is facing a $1.1 million tax lien from the state of California:
The state filed a tax lien for $1,110,878 on April 9 with the Los Angeles County Recorder of Deeds, according to the Detroit News.
Blake has been [...]

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