Finance

Democratic lawmakers in the House have introduced legislation to extend unemployment benefits for three months until the end of February.

The meeting on the Bush tax cuts between President Barack Obama and congressional leaders that was scheduled for Thursday has been postponed until Nov. 30 at the request of Republican congressional leaders, who cited “scheduling conflicts.”

Senate Finance Committee ranking member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has asked the Government Accountability Office to analyze who benefits from the federal Build America Bonds program, and the proportion of tax dollars that go to Wall Street banks for fees rather than for the infrastructure projects themselves.

The American Institute of CPAs has written to Congress urging lawmakers to repeal the controversial new 1099 information reporting requirements in the health care reform bill.

Charles Rangel, the former chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, abruptly departed a House ethics panel hearing on Monday, claiming that he could not afford to pay for legal counsel.

The unfinished business awaiting Congress during the lame duck session this month includes the expiring 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, the normal extender items, the estate tax, and, many tax professionals believe, a ban on tax strategy patents.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said Friday he would introduce legislation to repeal the controversial requirements for businesses to file forms that would report payments made for goods and certain services to the IRS.

The bi-partisan panel appointed in February by PresidentObama and charged with reducing the mammoth U.S, deficit, has released a draftproposal calling for billions in spending cuts as well as overhauling the taxcode in an effort to cut U.S. debt down to 60 percent of GDP by 2024.

A bipartisan pair of U.S. senators has written to the co-chairmen of the federal deficit commission asking them to consider raising the gas tax to finance highway construction nationwide.

A bipartisan group of key congressional committee chairmen pledged to patch the alternative minimum tax this year and wrote to IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman telling him to plan for AMT relief.

President Obama and congressional Republicans are laying out their positions more openly on the fate of the expiring Bush tax cuts as they prepare for negotiations later this month.

President Obama urged Republicans in Congress to agree on a compromise on the soon-to-expire tax cuts, even as the prospects for an agreement remained uncertain.

Understandably buried beneath the news of last Tuesday'sRepublican onslaught in the House and to a lesser degree the Senate came thelatest earnings release from mortgage concern Freddie Mac.

Six Texas-based CPAs won elections on Tuesday for seats ranging from the U.S. House of Representatives to the Texas Railroad Commission, while other CPAs around the country both won and lost.

President Obama, chastened by Democratic losses in the midterm elections, said Wednesday he would work with Republican leaders in Congress on the Bush tax cuts and other issues after a “shellacking” in the midterm elections.

Republicans will gain greater leverage in Congress now that they have won control of the House and captured more seats in the Senate, giving them more influence over tax policy and financial regulation.

The balance of power shifted in Washington as Republicans captured enough seats in the midterm elections to win a majority in the House, but Democrats managed to hang on to a more evenly divided Senate.

As one of the unfortunate household casualties of the current contract imbroglio between East Coast cable and professional sports titan Cablevision and FOX Network, I've resigned myself to the inevitable fact that I'll not only miss all my beloved Giants' games for the foreseeable future, but the World Series and "House" as well.

President Barack Obama reiterated his proposals for cuts in business and individual taxes and called on Republicans and Democrats to work together after the elections.

President Barack Obama visited a Maryland factory Friday and promoted his proposal for allowing businesses to deduct the entire cost of their purchases of new equipment through the end of next year.