Finance

Cindy McCain, the wife of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has refused to release her tax returns.

The New York State Senate has agreed to suspend the gasoline tax for the summer, as the topic continues to be the talk of presidential candidates.

Senate Democrats have proposed legislation that would roll back $17 billion in tax breaks for oil and gas companies and impose a 25 percent windfall profits tax on the companies.

With the current estate tax regime set to expire in 2010, it’s time to consider what comes next, say the nation’s tax experts.With that sunset date fast approaching, the Tax Division of the American Institute of CPAs has taken its comprehensive reform proposal and boiled it down to a top-seven priority list of suggested reforms that it urged Congress to pass prior to the expiration date.

The Treasury Department has released a blueprint for overhauling the regulation of financial markets to forestall future crises in the mortgage and credit markets.Under the blueprint, there would be a “conduct of business regulator” to monitor the business conduct of financial firms. The agency would assume many of the roles of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and insurance and banking regulators. The blueprint also envisions a “corporate finance regulator” that would encompass the SEC’s oversight of accounting regs.

The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures held a hearing to discuss tax incentives for post-secondary education.

IRS Narrows Tax Gap

The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on the tax aspects of a cap-and-trade program to control carbon emissions.

The Senate Finance Committee proposed a new tax bill that seeks to prevent the alternative minimum tax from spreading to more taxpayers next tax season.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has released his 2006 and 2007 tax returns.

Right on time for the conclusion of tax season, the House has passed a bill that promises to make tax preparation easier, while also repealing the IRS Private Debt Collection Program.

Presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., released the 2007 tax return for himself and his wife Michelle.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, defended the Internal Revenue Service's outsourcing of tax collections to private firms by pointing out the thousands of disciplinary actions taken against IRS employees.

The Senate Finance Committee heard testimony about U.S. tax policy at a hearing on tax fundamentals in advance of reform efforts that Congress plans to undertake.

The Senate has overwhelmingly passed a housing relief bill that includes a $7,000 tax credit for purchasers of foreclosed homes in addition to $4 billion in grants for local communities to buy and repair foreclosed properties.

Racing to find political common ground on estate tax policy before the Bush administration tax cuts expire, congressional leaders are urging Republicans and Democrats to “think outside the box” when considering reforms.Among the alternatives placed on the table for discussion during recent Senate Finance Committee hearings: proposals to tax the beneficiaries of inheritances, rather than estates, as well as options under which estate taxes would be levied based on the heir’s “access to sophisticated tax advice.”

The House Ways and Means Committee has approved a bill that would equalize the disclosure standards of tax preparers and their clients.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., has introduced a bill to help struggling homeowners with a refundable tax credit, even as a bipartisan Senate bill faced a threatened veto from the Bush administration.

The Senate passed an amendment to the compromise housing bill that will allow money-losing businesses to elect to use accumulated alternative minimum tax credits and research and development credits early.

Treasury Inspector General Faults IRS Security