Corporate Taxes

S corporations now account for two-thirds of U.S. corporate tax returns (see NTA report) and while designed for simplicity, they’ve become increasingly complex and harder for regulators to standardize and monitor.

As the number of small businesses has exploded, the number of S corporations formed has more than quadrupled since the last review (of 1984 returns) while the number with assets exceeding $10 million has increased 10-fold. Today’s S corporations are not necessarily small, and not necessarily easy to classify… more

Two great concerns leading to calls for tax reform are (1) that changes in the world economy are reducing the likelihood that the U.S. will be assured of a dominant role and (2) inordinate complexity that leads to disrespect for the tax system, economic inefficiencies and increased costs of tax compliance. Yet, despite numerous calls for tax reform, the major changes we have seen to the system recently have actually increased its complexity. Examples include the addition of Schedule M-3… more

The best way for a business to simplify its nexus determination for sales tax purposes is to set up a sales office in the state in question. Then, it clearly has nexus and must collect sales tax there. But, this approach isn’t the business reality or plan for Internet-era businesses. Businesses without an obvious physical presence in a state, but with customers there, may be challenged to know if they should collect sales and use tax. This article looks at… more

If Los Angeles business leaders were looking for somebody to carry the torch on one of their most important causes, it’s a safe bet that Wally Knox wouldn’t rank very high on the list.

The former Democratic assemblyman acknowledges that he had a reputation in the state capital as a "wild-eyed, union-loyal liberal." He is perhaps best remembered for his authorship of the 1999 law that secured overtime pay for Californians who work more than eight hours a day --… more

Annette Nellen is a professor in the department of accounting and finance at San José State University, where she teaches graduate-level tax courses. She speaks and writes frequently on tax policy matters, tax reform, tax accounting, and high-technology tax issues. In 2000, she served on the academic panel that advised… more

Jodie Allen Introduced the panel by highlighting the growing mainstream awareness of class-based issues, as evidenced by the recent New York Times and Wall Street Journal series on the topic.

Al Checchi identified five areas which need to be addressed to improve the plight of the middle class: technology, immigration, public education, the strength of the labor movement, and functioning of the political system. Also advocated increasing the minimum wage to the level of the living wage. The gap between the… more

The corporate income tax has always had enemies. Introduced in 1909 as an effort to close the country's worst budget gap since the Civil War, economists and capitalists almost immediately began to argue that it was inefficient and slowed down business. More recently, Presidents Reagan and Carter, as well as conservative economist Milton Friedman and liberal economist Lester Thurow, have all recommended that the country scrap it. In May 2001, then-Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill called the tax… more

Republicans are smiling and high-fiving at the prospect of Howard Dean being elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee, which seems like a sure thing this Saturday. But as Oscar Wilde said, "When the gods wish to punish us they answer our prayers." In other words, Dean may not be temperamentally fit to be elected president of the United States, but he might well be fit to be an effective leader of the Democratic Party. And so Republicans might yet… more

We have become accustomed to thinking that taxes, like hemlines, can only go up or down. This isn't true. Over the centuries changes in the form of U.S. taxes have been at least as dramatic as changes in the rate of taxation.

For instance, most federal revenues now come from personal and corporate income taxes, and from the payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare. But most government revenues originally came from excise taxes on luxury items such as… more

The midterm elections ended the misconception that proposing changes to Social Security leads to a swift political death. President Bush has repeated his support for voluntary personal retirement accounts, and the moderate Democratic Leadership Council also leans toward the idea.

But how to pay for it? Reformers had targeted budget surpluses to fund the transition of Social Security from government collections and disbursements to personally directed investment accounts. But the war on terrorism and the recession-induced decline in tax revenue… more