If the White House goes through with its plan to phase out the current federal disaster relief program, states will have to cover more costs of storm damages, like those in Keaton Beach, Florida, when Hurricane Helene made landfall there on Sept. 25, 2024. (Photo: Florida National Guard) Forecasters from both the federally-funded National Hurricane Center and private weather services predicted the 2025 hurricane season would be active. That might well happen since the tropical season that started June 1 runs through Nov. 30. But so far, we’re off to a quiet start. Fewer than forecast storms always are welcome.... Read more →
Shout Out
Elon Musk and Donald Trump in happier days. (Photo by Office of Speaker Mike Johnson - X.com, Public Domain) It’s been, let’s say interesting, watching the world’s highest-profile bromance flame out so spectacularly. But while Donald J. Trump and Elon Musk are kaput personally — for now; with Trump, you can’t ever say never — Musk’s controversial unofficial government agency created to ferret out waste, fraud, and abuse in federal agencies will continue. The persistence of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is the subject of this weekend’s Saturday Shout Outs. So as not to upset DOGE types by wasting... Read more →
Photo by Tara Winstead Even before Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staff started messing around in government agencies, one targeted for overhaul already was making changes to improve its operations. In fact, the Internal Revenue Service was proactively using artificial intelligence (AI) before the first Trump administration’s executive order in December 2020 “Promoting the Use of Trustworthy AI in the Federal Government.” “Artificial intelligence (AI) is a transformative technology that holds substantial promise for improving the IRS’s examination efforts,” notes the report on its introductory page. And with added funding from the Biden Administration's Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, TIGTA... Read more →
This long holiday weekend offers us Americans an opportunity to officially, and in as unified a way as we can nowadays, remember and honor those who fought and died for the freedoms we hold sacred. That somber acknowledgment also is why I’m a bit ticked off today. Last week, a man who was part of the private sectors that’s supposed to support our troops pleaded guilty to tax crimes. And he used the military defense firm to which he formerly belonged to commit the felonies. Douglas Edelman founded and owned half of Mina Corp. and Red Star Enterprises (Mina/Red Star),... Read more →
Pope Leo XIV during an audience with the media on May 12. (Photo by Edgar Beltrán, The Pillar/Wikipedia Commons) On May 8, history was made by the Catholic church. Chicago native Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected to succeed the late Pope Francis. Pope Leo XIV, the name Prevost chose as the new Bishop of Rome and leader of Catholics worldwide, is the first American to be pope. There’s been much pride in and curiosity about the man who now is the supreme pontiff. But I must admit that one of my favorite comments about the election of Pope Leo XIV... Read more →
A recent Ways and Means Committee hearing. (W&M Republicans YouTube channel screen capture) The Republican-led House Ways and Means Committee had a late Friday surprise for the tax community. It released the tax portion of Donald J. Trump’s mandated "one big, beautiful bill," which also is slated to deal with immigration and energy. The first thing everyone noticed is that the 61-page document leaves out some of the tax provisions that the GOP has had trouble convincing all of its slim House majority to support. There’s no mention of at least increasing the state and local taxes (SALT) federal tax... Read more →
The Small Business Administration’s annual National Small Business Week kicks off on Sunday, May 4, and runs through Saturday, May 10, 2025. As is tradition, the Internal Revenue Service participates in the annual celebration of entrepreneurs and small business owners. That’s why this weekend’s Saturday Shout Outs go to the official plans for the week dedicated to those employers who are lauded as examples of the American business spirit. SBA support for smaller firms: Let’s start with Uncle Sam’s official host, the Small Business Administration (SBA). For more than 60 years, the U.S. Small Business Administration has sponsored National Small... Read more →
Photo by olia danilevich Tax Day always is illuminating, but not necessarily in a good way. Too often taxpayers discover how little they know about not only our U.S. tax system, but how it affects them personally. That unfamiliarity can be quite costly, which is the subject of this weekend’s Saturday Shout Outs. It's also the headline of the first shout out item, Tax and Financial Illiteracy Are Costing Americans, by Daniel Bunn, who is president and CEO of the Tax Foundation. His post at the Washington, D.C.-based tax policy group’s website points out some alarming findings about our overall... Read more →
Spoiler: Tax cheating is not going away, and likely will increase thanks to recent Trump administration/DOGE actions. Roman portraiture fresco of a young man with a papyrus scroll, from Herculaneum, 1st century AD (Image by Olivierw/own work, Public Domain/Wikimedia) Tax cheating is a big topic every filing season. This year it got added attention. Many in the tax world are worried that cuts to the Internal Revenue Service by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), championed by the Trump administration, will hamper the agency’s ability to effectively enforce tax laws. But tax cheating is not new. It’s been around as... Read more →
Photo by cottonbro studio April is federal tax filing time. In case it’s slipped by you, Tax Day is next Tuesday, April 15. (Here are some tips if you’re working on your return this weekend.) For most Americans, this month also is home to state tax filing and paying deadlines. It’s also when the hubby and I get our annual home appraisal that will determine the next property tax bill we’ll get from Austin and Travis County. So, like a lot of U.S. residents, this collection confluence always makes me contemplate whether moving to a state with lower taxes —... Read more →
Has your tax filing frustration got you thinking about getting, shall we say, creative when you fill in your return? Don't. Even with the current chaos, the Internal Revenue Service still has ways to track down tax cheats. (Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich) Tax Day is almost here, and millions of Americans are working on their 1040s. Generally, late filers tend to owe taxes. They want to put off the inevitable for as long as possible. Some of these still-to-file owing taxpayers are still searching for ways to trim this year’s tax bill. There are a few options available, such as... Read more →
Photo by cottonbro studio All of us with older cars, but not enough to buy a newer one right now, are watching Donald J. Trump's latest tariff move. What he sees at Liberation Day on April 3, could mean we drivers are stuck dealing with aging autos for a bit longer. Trump's convinced that his latest trade war volley, a 25 percent tariff on foreign-made vehicles and parts, will lead to a fundamental transformation of the U.S. economy. A lot of people, both economic experts and U.S. consumers agree, but not in the same positive reconfiguration that the 47th president... Read more →
The Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Finance Committee want to end, or at least reduce, taxpayer reactions like the one above. The bipartisan pair wants your comments on their proposed Taxpayer Assistance and Service Act by the end of March. The Internal Revenue Service and Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) are both dealing with outside forces this filing season. The IRS continues to be in Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) crosshairs. Meanwhile, the Trump administration wants to cut more than 20 percent of the staff at TAS, an independent component of the tax agency that was created to help... Read more →
Instead of my usual weekend watching of sports, I’m glued to the Weather Channel. There’s a dangerous and already deadly tornado outbreak rumbling across the south this afternoon. This year is turning out to be awful as far as severe weather and other disasters. We had Southern California’s wildfires in January. In February, a severe winter storm wreaked havoc and left parts of Kentucky and West Virginia deemed major disaster areas. Now, with spring officially here, the severe thunderstorm/tornado season is off to an unfortunately robust start. Billion-dollar disasters in 2024: All this is happening on the heels of a... Read more →
A related, and larger question, is what will happen to all federal student loans if, as the Trump administration also wants, the U.S. Department of Education is dismantled? And if your student loan already has been canceled, your celebration could be dampened if you live in one of 19 states that wants tax on the forgiven loan amount. The entrance to the National Museum of Education, located in the U.S. Department of Education headquarters in the Lyndon Baines Johnson Building, Washington, D.C. (Photo by Carol M. Highsmith for LBJ Building Architecture Gallery at GSA.gov) When the White House announced last... Read more →
When we file our tax returns, we’re assured that the information is private. Access to our filing data is limited, and the Internal Revenue Service employees who do get to see our personal information are prevented by law from sharing it. It is a felony for IRS personnel to gain unauthorized access to taxpayer data. That same legal restrictions apply to IRS contractors. Just ask Charles Littlejohn, a former IRS consultant who last year was sentenced to five years in prison for stealing and sharing Donald Trump’s (and others’) tax data. The billionaire Elon Musk was one of those others... Read more →
U.S. Capitol, Wikipedia Commons photo The Republican-led Congress is struggling to find a way to enact Donald J. Trump’s agenda. Even Trump seems to be waffling. After originally saying he supported the House’s plan for "one big, beautiful bill," Trump said during a radio interview Friday the GOP’s tax, border security, and energy legislative efforts may need to be broken up into smaller bills. So, where do we go from here? That’s what GOP Congressional leaders wany to know. Senates acts first: In the meantime, the Senate last week went with its two-part approach, and passed a $340 billion budget... Read more →
Tomorrow night, we’ll have a repeat Super Bowl winner. Both the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles have hoisted the NFL’s Lombardi Trophy before. As I type late Saturday afternoon, sportsbooks have the defending champion Chiefs as 1.5-point favorites to win their third consecutive professional U.S. football title. The bets on the game’s outcome, as well as the many possible prop bets mentioned in my Friday post, have gotten more attention as more states have allowed wagering within their borders since the gave them the go-ahead in 2018. So, for this Saturday Shout Out, I’m getting ready for tomorrow's game... Read more →
Regular readers of the ol' blog noticed last week that I mentioned tax scams and identity theft in a couple of post last week. If you missed them, they were on added Internal Revenue Service efforts this filing season to detect tax scams and return fraud and about how filing early helps beat tax ID thieves to the stolen refund punch. Well, here’s a third mention. And this time, it’s some good news from the National Taxpayer Advocate (NTA). The IRS is making progress in reducing the time it takes to help people who are victims of tax-related identity theft.... Read more →
We're still not sure what will happen with the tax code as we start the second Trump term, but here are some possibilities. Last weekend, one of my posts was on the long list of ways the Republicans might pay for extending this year’s expiring Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 provisions and other Donald J. Trump tax proposals. So, this weekend, it seems fitting to look at what those proposals might pay for. I’m giving Saturday Shout Outs to some articles on possible revived, tweaked, and/or new tax laws in 2025. The first is a slide show from... Read more →