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  • The American Shareholders Association represents the 50% of households and 70% of voters who own shares of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs.

    These shareholders are the rank and file of the "new investor class." They hold their investments in 401(k) plans, IRAs, taxable brokerage accounts, and other vehicles.

    What unites all these investors is a desire to see public policies that encourage growth and discourage economic contraction. ASA was founded to represent shareholders in their quest to grow the economy, reward risk, and increase the value of everyone's nest egg.

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Tax Links

  • 529 Plan Comparisons
    The best site to learn about 529 plans and compare state plans.
  • American Shareholders Association
    Wealth of information on capital gains, dividends, tax-advantaged savings accounts, and much more.
  • Americans for Prosperity
  • Americans for Tax Reform
    The arm of the tax reform movement. Headed up by Grover Norquist
  • Club for Growth
  • HSA Bank Calculator
    See for yourself how superior an HSA plan is over traditional health insurance.
  • Independent Contractor "Twenty Points"
    The question of whether someone can reasonably be classified as an independent contractor is an important one. The above link is the safe-harbor the IRS and the SSA uses in making these determinations. If you want someone to be an independent contractor, comply with as many of them as possible.
  • Internal Revenue Service
    The belly of the beast. All you need is here, from publications to instructions to forms
  • Rollover Chart
    What the rules are for rolling over accounts into one another
  • Tax Foundation
    These are the folks who produce "Tax Freedom Day" and have been tracking tax issues since the Great Depression
  • Tax Foundation "Tax Policy Podcast"
    This tax podcast is hosted by Scott Hodge and features a great guest list of policymakers and tax experts
  • Tax History Project
    Dedicated to noting the history of taxation. This has the links to Presidential tax returns going back to FDR
  • Tax Notes
    The premier tax publication available
  • Tax Policy Center
    They're lefties, but they have a wealth of information on tax stats at all levels
  • Tax Talk Today Podcast
    Continuing Professional Education (CPE) Podcasts for Tax Pros
  • Tax Update Podcast
    Arizona CPA Ed Zollars has a weekly "Tax Update" podcast geared for tax pros, focusing on a different tax topic every week
  • TaxAlmanac
    This premier tax wiki has real-time Internal Revenue Code/Title 26, real-time Treasury regulations, and a very helpful message board
  • Understanding Your W-2
    A lin-by-line guide to the most common tax form people get in the mail, the W-2
  • Vanguard Diehards
    A message board for the "Vanguard Diehards," a group of guerrilla warfare passive investment true believers (like me)

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Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Are Corporations (and Their Shareholders)
Paying Enough Taxes?

You might have heard about the GAO study that came out yesterday which said that 23% of large U.S. corporations paid no income tax from 2001 to today.  A few thoughts on this:

  • Many of these companies were paying foreign income tax on foreign operations.  It's unfair to expect a U.S. company to pay income tax to two countries on the same income.  We should adopt what the rest of the world does and move to territoriality
  • According to the GAO study, the lion's share of the deductions against corporate profits were not any accounting trickery, but bread-and-butter items like wages, interest, and other ordinary and necessary business expenses.  Does anyone propose denying corporations the ability to deduct regular expenses of running their businesses?  How about the fact that wage earners, corporate bond owners, and other businesses face a concomitant tax liability on the other side of this corporate tax deduction?
  • The latest CBO data shows that corporations paid $370 billion in income tax in 2007.  This doesn't count the hundreds of billions of dollars in payroll tax and excise tax.  To put that number in perspective, total tax revenues were that level back in the Carter Administration.  I think corporations (and their shareholders) are doing their part (especially when one considers the double taxation of capital gains and dividends)

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