, Author at The S Corporation Association

Small Business and Tax Rates — The Debate Continues

The advocates over at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) issued a new study last week demonstrating, once again, how few “real” small businesses would be adversely affected by raising the top two income tax rates back to their old 39.6 and 36 percent levels. As their study states:

“Some critics of the President’s budget charge that his proposals to roll back tax breaks for taxpayers with incomes over $250,000 would harm small businesses. In fact, only 8.9 percent of people with any …

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admin2019-02-06T17:22:35+00:00March 4, 2009|

Obama’s Tax Plans Take Shape

President Obama released a 140-page outline of his budget today that reflects his revenue and spending priorities for the next couple of years.

Chief among these is a major change in federal health care policies. As made clear in his speech to Congress the other day, health care reform is first among the several big reforms on the table and his budget sets aside $634 billion of the estimated $1 trillion he plans to spend on the plan.

To raise the $634 billion, Obama calls for: 1) limiting itemized deductions for …

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admin2019-02-06T17:22:35+00:00February 26, 2009|

Estate Tax Fix Poses Threat for Family Businesses

As we have noted, the stars appear to have aligned for a big estate tax compromise later this year, most likely to be focused on freezing the 2009 rules for at least a year. This means the current top tax rate of 45 percent and $3.5 million exclusion will stay the same for a while. But there’s lots of mischief that can take place under those broad levels.

As tax reformers will tell you, the base is just as important in determining your tax burden as the rates.

With that in mind, several S-Corp allies have pointed out legislation introduced by Congressman …

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admin2019-02-06T17:22:35+00:00February 20, 2009|

Congress Reaches Deal on Stimulus

Sometimes, Congress meets a deadline. Six weeks ago, congressional leadership and the new Obama Administration had set out the Presidents’ Day recess as the deadline for getting the economic stimulus package to the President’s desk.

With the House’s vote on final passage today and the Senate expected to consider the bill as early as this evening, all indications are they’ll make it. Here’s a quick summary of the $789 billion package as outlined by the conferees:

$301 billion in family and business tax relief (down from $350 billion in the Senate bill).
$70 billion in renewable and energy efficiency provisions.
$140 billion in higher …

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admin2019-02-06T17:22:35+00:00February 13, 2009|

Stimulus Update

The Washington Post reports that the Senate Stimulus bill is short of the 60 votes needed for it to move through the chamber. As the Post noted:

Senate Democratic leaders conceded yesterday that they do not have the votes to pass the stimulus bill as currently written and said that to gain bipartisan support, they will seek to cut provisions that would not provide an immediate boost to the economy.

The vote in the House did not help, with all Republicans and 11 Democrats opposing the House version of the package. The unified …

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admin2019-02-06T17:22:35+00:00February 4, 2009|