Tax Strategies

The United States is now facing two deficits—a government budget deficit and a balance of trade deficit. These two deficits, together, will ultimately put the future of the United States in peril unless the government and its citizens take strong action.

House Republicans have passed the budget plan introduced by House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., for fiscal year 2014, which shrinks the number of tax brackets to two brackets of 10 and 25 percent.

In the world of trust and estate administration, where tax planning typically involves special attention to federal tax law compliance, it’s easy to lose focus on state income taxation issues. And while some states do not tax income related to trusts, states that do tax trust income have a variety of rules and criteria for which trusts are subject to tax.

The U.S. economy will be between 1.5 and 2.6 percent smaller over the long-term because other nations’ corporate tax rates are considerably more competitive, according to a new study by Ernst & Young and the RATE Coalition, a group lobbying for lower corporate tax rates.

Headquartered in a former Rothschild chateau in an affluent Parisian neighborhood, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is best known for earnest conferences on economic and social policy.

Europe’s drive to rescue Cyprus risks undermining a region-wide deposit guarantee plan, a key tenet in the battle to contain the debt crisis, and casts doubt on the ability of the weakest lenders to retain deposits.

The Tax Policy Center estimated Friday that the tax provisions of the budget plan introduced this week by House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., would reduce tax revenues by $5.7 trillion over a 10-year period, requiring a corresponding amount of tax increases and/or spending cuts to keep it “revenue neutral,” or risk a substantial expansion of the budget deficit.

A coalition of charities has expressed concerns about a Senate budget proposal that could potentially place a limit on charitable deductions.

Leaders of the Senate Finance Committee said Thursday they plan to begin developing a proposal for overhauling the nation’s Tax Code.

A majority of business leaders believe tax reform should be separated from reforms to government entitlement programs and deficit reduction, according to a new poll.