Finance

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.

Reports have surfaced that the federal debt commission (officially known as the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform) is considering the heretofore unimaginable elimination of popular tax breaks, including deductions on mortgage interest, as part of its report due on December 1.

The Internal Revenue Service’s comparative study of its private debt collection program was not designed soundly enough to support its decision to discontinue contracting out debt collection to private companies, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.

President Barack Obama accused the Republican leadership in Congress of vowing to repeal the financial reform bill as the midterm elections approach next week.

It’s been five years since Connie Mack, as chair of President Bush’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, said that it would “take a fresh look at the existing Tax Code and will formulate options for making the tax system simple, fair and productive.

Vice President Joe Biden indicated that the White House could be ready to make a deal with Republicans on expanding the level of income that would qualify for the Bush tax cuts extension.

Tax forms and other government documents will now be subject to a kind of literacy test, under a new government law that so far has not attracted a whole lot of attention.

With only weeks to go before next month’s game-changing midterm Congressional elections, the accounting profession is in position to make record-breaking contributions to the campaigns of key House and Senate candidates.

The tax debt relief industry is searching for loopholes in a Federal Trade Commission rule that could eliminate its main source of revenue.