Bush says tax cuts responsible for growing economy – Lower tax rates have always encouraged more economic activity, in spite of what DemonRats and RINOs say.  They are as incompetent at understanding basic economic principles as they are at dealing with national security. 

 Democrats believe the tax cuts have done little more than drain the U.S. budget and even some Republicans doubt the wisdom of extending them.

The better possibility:

In his radio address, Bush renewed his call for making permanent the tax cuts he pushed through Congress in his first term.

 

When I first started in the tax prep business 30+ years ago, the first extension (Form 4868) we filed on April 15 was only for two months, until June 15.  Some years back, that was changed to the four months that we now obtain from the 4868.  According to this IRS announcement, the 2005 4868 will be for six months.  This will save us a ton of time filing the 2688s that are due in by August 15.  

New Form 4868 Planned to Provide a 6-Month Extension Period

A draft of the revised IRS Form 4868 is now available on IRS.gov.  This revision will give taxpayers a 6-month extension without the need to file an intervening form. For Tax Year 2004, a taxpayer filing a Form 4868 had until Aug. 15 to file the return. The taxpayer needed to file Form 2688 to get an additional 2 months and had to supply a reason for needing the additional time. Provided the necessary regulations are approved taxpayers will be able to use the revised form for Tax Year 2005. It is estimated that this change may save 9 million hours.

 

It is interesting that so many people are ready to scrap the space shuttle because it was designed in the 1970s; yet refuse to allow anyone to touch their sacred 1930s Social Security program.

We need a complete overhaul of the tax code – Understatement of the century.  Actually, a better approach would be to scrap it entirely rather than continuing the Frankenstein monster approach that has always resulted in the same kind of mess that we’ve always received from our imperial rulers in DC.

From Ron Braun

IRS to Put Focus On S Corporations – Tom Herman of the Wall Street Journal covers the upcoming IRS study of S corp tax returns that I covered last week.

There is something to be said for investing in real tangible things instead of in imaginary assets, such as internet stocks.

From Cheapskate Monthly