Taxpayers most likely to foot bill for Huckabee's highway designs – Plenty of higher taxes in store for us here in Arkansas, from our GOP governor.

Principled Giving in Times of Crisis – There are so many scams surrounding charitable donations, that it is difficult to be certain your donations are going to the right place. 

Congress Passes Law Extending Tax Deductions on Tsunami Aid – I don’t mean to be too Scrooge-like here, but as someone who has to prepare actual income tax returns, I hope this doesn’t start a trend of allowing taxpayers to essentially keep their books open for all kinds of certain deductions made after the normal year has ended.  Besides the differences this will create between federal and state returns that I already mentioned, it will lead to double counting of these expenditures when they are also accidentally included in the totals for 2005. While receiving double deductions for the same payments may seem like a good thing from the taxpayers’ perspective, I am just as interested in honesty and accuracy in the tax calculations as is IRS, and this kind of thing can do nothing but mess that up.

Tax Reform Panel – If I come across as overly skeptical of the current tax reform projects, it’s because I have been in this business 30 years and have heard and seen these lofty promises countless times before, with the exact same results.  I would be more than glad to assist in any truly sincere efforts to make taxation simpler and fairer in this country.  However, based on the roster of people chosen as members of the official President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, I don’t see how this time will be any more effective at doing anything but screw the tax code up even more.  While they claim to have a diverse mix of members, I can’t help but notice the glaring absence of any real life tax practitioners.  While politicians and academicians have their different viewpoints, there is no substitute for the real life world of doing actual tax returns and fighting with IRS on behalf of real people.  Contrary to popular belief, there are countless huge differences between the theoretical and real world applications of the tax system.  Ignoring the real world aspects is ridiculous and shows an utter lack of sincerity in this year’s stab at fixing the tax code.  I am surprised and disappointed that our first MBA president would establish such an incomplete panel and truly expect it to do any better than  the dozens of similar ones previously.

- posted by Kerry M. Kerstetter, MBA~CPA~ATP~ATA @ 1/09/2005 06:31:00 PM Send this post: