10 Craziest Tax Deductions for 2011 –  Some wacky things that clients wanted to deduct.

Study Suggests Feds Could Recoup Billions in Unpaid Taxes by Withholding Passports –  Another way to exercise leverage over everyone except members of the 0Bama Regime.

Corporate Tax Crackdown Faces Big Obstacles From Lobbyists –  GE is just one example of the most lucrative investment for big business, bribing CongressCritters for special tax breaks.

Another Spending Cut Plan –  Some more excellent common sense advice from Thomas Sowell. He echoes one of my big problems with Social Security.  If it’s such a great deal for people, why does the government have to literally put a gun to everyone’s head to force them to pay into it.

Instead of attacking these programs as a whole, what is far more vulnerable is the compulsory aspect of these programs. If Medicare is so great, why is it necessary for the government to force people to be covered by Medicare as a precondition for receiving the money they paid into Social Security?

Eat the Rich – Walter Williams looks at the idiocy of the Soak The Rich mentality of too many of our rulers and their disciples.

Here is the video he refers to:

Tax-Time Miseries –  Tom Purcell discusses the following article:

People Would Rather Cut Their Own Hair than Do Their Own Taxes

 

As a staunch hold-out from the IRS’s pressures to force us to use electronic filing for income tax returns, I have been closely following the new stricter rules that are being phased in over this and next Tax Seasons.  The issue of who their new rules apply to is still being debated, as in this email I recently received from Ohio CPA Dana Stahl:

Mr Guru – Looks like the ballgame’s changing for you,
ds

New Rules Close Loophole for Tax Preparers Looking to Avoid E-Filing

My Reply:

Dana:

I had my suspicions that the preparing versus mailing issue was too good to be true.

I’m still sticking with paper returns and will see what IRS tries to do to enforce this idiotic rule.

Unfortunately, this rule doesn’t have as wide an impact on everyday people as the expanded 1099 rules did; so it’s not as likely to be repealed as the 1099 rules were.

Thanks for passing that article along to me.

Kerry

From Dana:

Kerry – So you did know that the Senate just voted to repeal that 1099 law. Our Glorious President is expected by most observers to sign the bill.  As to efiling, I’m doing that for most of my clients now anyway.  It actually helped my practice, so I don’t have any problems accordingly.

From the article:

However the final rules (T.D. 9815) clarified that the e-filing mandate will apply to any tax preparer who “prepares and/or files” a tax return.

“Don’t cheat on your taxes or someone close to you will turn you in.”

IRS Awards $4.5M to Whistleblower

“If we can nail rich celebrities, what chance do you mere mortals have against the awesome power of Big Brother IRS?”

Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne’s Massive IRS Tax Lien