Taxable Talk

As a member of the National Association of Enrolled Agents, every Friday I get an email with a summary of tax news. Today, I received the Ways & Means Committee's Version of the new Highway Bill. You can find this document here. On the good news front, the requirement of prepaying offers-in-compromise has been eliminated.

Did you know that there's up to a $10 excise tax on fishing rods? Yep, and it's mentioned in the summary. I have no idea what the funds are used for.

On the other hand, the energy bill is also about to pass Congress. As Roth Tax Updates notes, "Pork is Good." I know there are ethanol provisions in the legislation (ethanol mandates for gasoline), and who knows what other provisions are included in this mammoth, $14.5 billion legislation.

Hat tip: Roth Tax Updates

According to a wire service story, Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) plans on introducing legislation this week that would add a 25% federal excise tax on pornography and additional requirements on adult websites. Lincoln's spokesman wouldn't comment on the bill's provisions, stating, "We prefer to wait until the bill is introduced to discuss it." As of this morning, the legislation has not been introduced.

I'm naturally skeptical about efforts to regulate sin. Sure, child pornography is bad, children viewing pornography is bad, etc.; however, if this legislation were to pass and it was effective, wouldn't pornographic websites just move across the borders away from the US?

Today's Wall Street Journal also reports that Senators Grassley (R-IA) and Baucus (D-MT) have introduced a "technical corrections act" to fix errors in last year's tax law and other recent legislation. The Tax Technical Corrections Act of 2005 was also introduced in the House.

While this act, if passed, may fix problems, unfortunately these acts have, in the past, been used to add pork and other problems to the Tax Code. Time will tell.

Hat Tips: The TaxProf Blog