Taxable Talk

As most of you know, a second federal court judge has ruled the Health Care Law that passed last year is unconstitutional. Judge Rodger Vinson didn’t just rule that the mandate that health insurance must be bought is stricken; rather, he struck down the entire law. While the Obama Administration is publicly stating the law will continue to be enforced (and, in theory, either Judge Vinson or the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals could issue a stay to Judge Vinson’s ruling), as of now the law is void.

What next for the tanning tax? Or the numerous other tax provisions in the legislation that impact individuals? How about the business tax provisions?

I’m not an attorney, but the Volokh Conspiracy has some good posts up on this, though they aren’t really looking at the tax consequences (but do look at the constitutional issues in depth). As I was writing this, I noticed that Joe Kristan was asking the same questions.

My best guess is that the 11th Circuit will stay the decision until they review it. And it sure looks like this case is bound for the Supreme Court (perhaps in 2012 or 2013).

So if you’re a tanning salon should you stop collecting the 10% excise tax on tanning? I’ll probably have an answer in a couple of weeks but that answer could easily change between now and 2013.

What will the impact be of the elimination of the Bush Tax Cuts? Proponents of eliminating the cuts note that only 3% of small business owners will be impacted. Well, that’s true…but it’s anything but the whole story.

As Joe Kristan has noted, the real number is the amount of income that will be pushed up into higher tax brackets, and it’s a lot more than 3%. It’s 48%, as noted in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed.

Joe has plenty more to say about it (here and here).

There’s still time to claim your (up to) five-year carryback on a Net Operating Loss (NOL). You have until October 15th to claim this for losses from either 2008 or 2009. Joe Kristan has more.

Take one man, his wife, and his mistress, throw in a 30,000 square foot mansion, add a dose of federal charges (bank and wire fraud, tax conspiracy, money laundering, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice) and you get the latest novel from author—actually, you get the trial of Thomas Parenteau in Columbus, Ohio. The Department of Justice has obtained guilty pleas from 11 other individuals in this case; however, Mr. Parenteau is defending himself.

So far we’ve found out that the mistress, Pamela McCarty, is the mother of Mr. Parenteau’s two daughters; that all three lived in the same mansion; phony jobs and phony paychecks; allegations of $18 million in fraudulent loans…and the trial should last a couple more weeks.

Joe Kristan has more.

Taxes are always tough to stomach. A group of doctors in North Platte, Nebraska thought they found the perfect solution: A California CPA’s phony Nevada Corporations to shield taxes. This was definitely a case where the prescription was worse than the illness. Joe Kristan has more.

There’s an old saying, “All publicity is good publicity.” Sometimes, though, it’s not. Especially if you’re a Bozo.

Take Scott Mitchell, the owner of Central Iowa Amusements. Mr. Mitchell’s company got some good words in the Des Moines Register; his company had $464,676 of revenues from touch screen lottery terminals in Iowa. Unfortunately, Mr. Mitchell neglected to tell his accountant about that income. Even more unfortunately for Mr. Mitchell, the IRS does read the newspaper. Mr. Mitchell is likely heading to ClubFed after being found guilty of tax evasion.

Joe Kristan has more.