Tax Strategies

President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress on Thursday evening to present a jobs bill containing an expansion of the payroll tax cut, tax breaks for new hires and salary raises, and other tax reform measures.

The Senate approved a patent reform bill on Thursday containing provisions that eliminate patents on tax strategies.

Amazon.com has reportedly clinched a tentative deal with legislative leaders in California to begin collecting sales taxes in September 2012 in exchange for dropping a voter referendum drive aimed at repealing a recently passed law that would require online retailers to collect sales taxes.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney introduced a 160-page plan for generating jobs and economic growth, including reductions in the corporate tax rate, along with the elimination of taxes on capital gains, interest and dividends.

Labor unions representing registered nurses have organized protests outside the offices of 61 members of Congress calling on lawmakers to support a Wall Street transaction tax.

Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman described his plans for tax and regulatory reform during a campaign appearance in New Hampshire.

With a brief three months remaining in 2011 and a high degree of uncertainty surrounding any major tax changes, practitioners have begun stepping up the annual rite of year-end planning strategies for both their individual and business clients.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., called for cuts in corporate taxes and the elimination of capital gains and estate taxes in a speech last weekend as she campaigned for the Republican presidential nomination.

Former chairman and chief executive of American Express Harvey Golub took to the opinion pages of Monday’s Wall Street Journal in response to billionaire Warren Buffett’s “Stop Coddling the Super-Rich” New York Times op-ed.

IMGCAP(1)]If there ever were a “good year to die,” that would have been 2010.