[T]he Texas Supreme Court on Friday gave state officials the go-ahead to continue collecting a special $5-per-customer tax on strip clubs. The so-called “pole” tax, collected upon entrance to any club that features nude dancing and alcohol consumption, was ruled unconstitutional by a state district judge in Austin and the 3rd Court of Appeals. The law was passed by the Texas Legislature in 2007, and so far about $15 million has been collected. The money has not been disbursed because of the earlier court rulings. [HC via DMWT, Earlier]
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Alternative Career Paths for Disgruntled Accountants (or You’d Probably Be Really Good at Tax Fraud)
Your bonus sucked. Your raise didn't meet your expectations. You're tired of working for the […]
A Multitude of Big 4 Auditors Can Confirm This
[J]ust because a person has the initials CPA after his/her name does not mean that he/she knows his/her arse from a hole in the ground when it comes to preparing 1040s.
That comes courtesy of the Wandering Tax Pro, Robert D. Flach. It got the attention of Joe Kristan, who came to the defense of CPAs everywhere but did admit that some CPAs have no business being near tax forms:
[Robert] then spends his next 10 paragraphs elaborating on our shortcomings. And that’s fine, to a point. Not all CPAs are qualified tax preparers. By the same token, not every lawyer is capable of defending you on a murder charge. But the guy you want by your side when the state wants to send you to the chair is definitely going to be a lawyer. And while not all CPAs should be your tax advisor, many of the best tax advisors are CPAs.
Case in point: many relatives and clueless friends of auditors still ask said auditors to prepare their tax returns. In most cases, a) this is a HUGE mistake and b) they don’t want to help you anyway.
Herman Cain’s Economics Advisor Was Trained in the Arts of Debits and Credits
As we mentioned, former Pizza Godfather and current GOP Presidential candidate Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan hasn’t impressed a lot of people. Bruce Bartlett called it “a distributional monstrosity” and that it “stands out as exceptionally ill conceived.” When Bloomberg’s Julianna Goldman told Cain that the ‘Berg found that his plan wasn’t revenue neutral, Cain simply said, “that analysis is […] incorrect.” Despite the haters, Cain’s plan seems to have captivated the media psyche, it has helped boost him in the polls and he says that it will be delivered in 30 minutes or less (i.e. “[it] will pass”).
Who is the mastermind behind this plan? Is it a young economics policy wonk? Is it a Ivy League economist known the world-over? Is it one of Cain’s former delivery boys who came up with the plan after sharing a jay with an extra friendly customer? NOPE! It’s Rich Lowrie. Rich Lowrie of Cleveland? No? He went to Case Western Reserve University and got an accounting degree. Still nothing?
Herman Cain says his much-touted 9-9-9 plan is the product of extensive testing and thinking, but the only man he cited as involved with its research — Rich Lowrie of Cleveland — is not a trained economist.
Instead, Lowrie — who’s the only economic adviser Cain has been willing to mention by name — is a wealth manager for a division of Wells Fargo and according to his LinkedIn page holds an accountancy degree from Case Western Reserve University. Lowrie also spent three years on the advisory board of the conservative third-party group Americans For Prosperity.
Now that we’re clear about the credentials behind one of the masterminds behind 9-9-9, don’t you feel better about it?
Herman Cain’s economic adviser is not an economist [Politico]