Taxes

Property Taxes

Property Rights and Property Taxes—and Countries That Don’t Have Them

This reminds me of the story of an an old sharecropper who was given the deed to a house free and clear with no mortgage.  He said he didn’t want it. Instead he wanted a mortgage. When asked why he said once his brother had the deed to a house and the bank had the mortgage […]

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The IRS’s Job Is To Violate Our Liberties

“What do you expect when you target the President?” This is what an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agent allegedly said to the head of a conservative organization that was being audited after calling for the impeachment of then-President Clinton. Recent revelations that IRS agents gave “special scrutiny” to organizations opposed to the current administration’s policies

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Income Taxes

The 100th Anniversary of the Federal Income Tax

1913 is a year that will live in infamy. On March 1st, 1913, the 16th Amendment took effect providing for a 1% Federal Income tax and on December 23rd President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act into law. Perhaps an effort to keep tabs on the Federal Reserve is what inspired the Department of Labor to begin tracking inflation that same year. Incidentally, that same year the department of Commerce and the department of labor split into two separate departments. Now 100 years later the average Federal Income Tax rate in 2011 was 11.8%. The top 5 percent of earners paid approximately 58.7 percent of federal individual income taxes while paying an average effective tax rate of 20.46%. The bottom 50% paid an effective Federal Income Tax rate of 1.85%.

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Business Taxes

New Factors Affecting Your Business this Tax Season

In the current tax season, one of the greatest challenges of business, especially in the US, is the inevitable tax increase especially since the government is likely to implement the increases hand in hand with government spending cuts. This situation is causing a high level of uncertainty in business taxes and could potentially have significant repercussions. In view of the uncertainty in this tax season, it is also important for you to understand how various factors may affect your business’ bottom line.

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FATCA

Protect Yourself from the Effects of FATCA

How will the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) impact you? In an attempt to wring every last tax dollar out of Americans the Obama administration enacted FATCA into law on March 18th, 2010. With its 30% withholding Tax, it sent shock waves throughout the world. It is estimated that this law would cost global banking institutions between

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‘Fiscal Cliff’ … an Illusion or Reality?

Fiscal Cliff- We do get these buzz phrases about the economy, don’t we? A special jargon of the financial press and the commentariat, shorthand expressions intended to suggest the speaker has an especially intimate understanding of economic events. Note: See Optio Money’s Financial Jargon directory and Mortgage Jargon Directory for help with the Jargon. Federal

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Tax Deferred Retirement- 401k, IRAs and More

Tax Deferred Retirement Income Being able to live a comfortable life once you retire is easier said than done in today’s economy. Many people who thought they were going to be able to retire were caught off-guard when the financial markets took a turn for the worse. While there are many different investing strategies that

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