Tax strategies

The House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing to weigh the pros and cons of two different consumption tax models: the value-added tax and the FairTax.

As the battle continues in Washington over how to avert a default on the government’s debt obligations, the possibility of imminent tax increases seems to be fading.

President Barack Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, made the case for their rival approaches to controlling the nation’s spiraling budget deficit as the clock ticks down to the August 2 deadline for raising the debt ceiling to avoid an unprecedented default on the national debt.

The so-called “cut, cap and balance plan” legislation that passed the House would require the passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would mandate a two-thirds supermajority to approve any future tax increases.

Senator Tom Coburn, R-Okla., has proposed a deficit reduction plan estimated to save $9 trillion over the next 10 years by slashing hundreds of government programs, but also increasing taxes in some areas.

Credit Suisse said it has become a target of a Justice Department investigation into its private banking business.

A new bill from a pair of Democratic senators would eliminate a tax break on corporate stock options.

Congress’s two tax-writing committees convened a rare joint hearing Wednesday to consider whether the Tax Code is providing too many incentives for accumulating debt as opposed to equity.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and several other senators have introduced a bill to close offshore tax loopholes and strengthen offshore tax enforcement.

Amazon.com is trying to get a referendum on the California ballot to get the recently enacted online sales tax law reversed.

Congressman John Tierney, D-Mass., has introduced a bill that would eliminate about 27 different tax expenditures, including tax breaks for energy companies.

President Obama challenged Republicans on Monday to offer him their tax reform proposals for resolving the debt ceiling dilemma as he pushed for a deal that the two parties could agree to before the August 2 deadline on raising the debt limit.

A bipartisan pair of lawmakers have introduced a bill that aims to ensure better tax compliance on the part of professional employer organizations and protect small businesses.

The Internal Revenue Service has been updating its assessment of the extent to which underreported employment taxes are contributing to the tax gap, but it may not be using the right methodology to revise its numbers.

A bipartisan pair of senators have announced a compromise on ending the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit at the end of this month.

President Obama took to Twitter for the White House’s first-ever Twitter Town Hall, answering questions from his “tweeps” about taxes, the economy and other subjects.

President Barack Obama plans to meet with congressional leaders on Thursday to try to strike an agreement on raising the debt ceiling through a combination of spending cuts and revenue increases.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., offered 18 proposals to cut $1.29 trillion from the federal budget deficit over 10 years, including closing corporate tax loopholes and eliminating special tax breaks for wealthy Americans and big companies.

President Obama used his weekly address to say it was necessary to raise taxes on the wealthy to help close the budget deficit.