David Cay Johnston vs. Tax Girl on Twitter: PLACE YOUR BETS
Twitter fights are always good, especially when they involve people we've come to know and love (or, as is the case with one of the participants in the following exchange, know and troll). Apparently, our "pal" David Cay Johnston decided he didn't like a Tax Girl article and wanted to make his dissatisfaction known. Which […]
David Cay Johnston Sticks Up for Tax Nerds Being Picked on By the Romney Campaign
The Romney campaign isn't crazy about the Tax Policy Center's critique of their tax plan presumably because it casts a bit of an unflattering light on it (i.e. isn't mathematically possible, leaves out a lot of details). Yes, some people with the campaign or the Wall Street Journal editorial board might tell you different, that […]
David Cay Johnston Would Just Like to Confirm That Mitt Romney Isn’t Like Richard Nixon, That’s All
And he's so excited to do it, he's throwing digits in Willard's face! Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy [via TaxProf]
David Cay Johnston’s Plan to Save Social Security Has Some Really Big IFs
David Cay Johnston has a story with the counterintuitive headline "Social security is not going broke." How does that work? With the coming bulge in retirees, Social Security will start to pay out more than it takes in 2021, according to projections in the latest annual report. Under current law the program would be able […]
David Cay Johnston Has a Plan to End Tax Fraud
If you thought that tax hack David Cay Johnston was going to idly stand by while the country's tax system spins into a ferocious web of inexplicable rules and soaring criminal deceit, you'd be wrong! Oh, so wrong. The bearded man has a plan and in his Reuters column, he explains that it's really pretty […]
David Cay Johnston: Mitt Romney Is Going Through the Wringer Unless He Releases Tax Returns From His Bain Years
DCJ lays it out for Willard: Unless he releases the tax returns from his Bain Capital years he will surely be pressed about how much, if any, of his fortune has yet to be taxed and how long he deferred paying on the portion that has been taxed. He will be asked about Bain accounts […]
David Cay Johnston Wonders If It’s Time We Threw the Income Tax on the Scrap Heap
Income tax pontificator David Cay Johnston can't help but think that maybe this particular revenue generation policy has run its course. It’s time to consider whether to get rid of income taxes, personal and corporate. What are the strengths and weaknesses of our current system? Should we tax individual and corporate income — or something […]
Steel Cage Death Tax Match: David Cay Johnston vs. Grover Norquist
Yesterday we called attention to the 60 Minutes interview of tax hatchetman Grover Norquist. Norquist haters nationwide were no doubt gritting their teeth while GGN yukked it up with Steve Kroft and spread the gospel of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge (aka “THE PLEDGE”). This may have inspired today’s column by the Godfather of Tax Journalists, David Cay Johnston. It explains first, how the utter failure of the Congressional Supercommittee actually will result in tax increases:
[B]arring a mad scramble to pass new laws in the next six weeks, workers will pay around $110 billion more in payroll taxes next year and they will not get a $55 billion tax cut proposed two months ago by President Barack Obama. Absent another last-minute fix, more than 22 million families will be required to pay higher income taxes due to the Alternative Minimum Tax, some only because a parent or child has cancer or some other costly medical need.
DCJ is of the opinion that these tax increases would violate THE PLEDGE and thus, should put every signer of THE PLEDGE directly in the tax assassin’s crosshairs. In short, THE PLEDGE is bullshit, says DCJ and its signers should really thinking about another pledge they took and act accordingly:
Pledge signers cannot serve two masters, Norquist and the Constitution. Politicians who do not renounce their pledge of allegiance to Norquist do not deserve to hold office as it prevents them from doing whatever is in the country’s best interests.
You have a choice to make, GOP lawmakers. This plea comes from another bearded man, so it should be taken just as serious.
GOP inaction means higher taxes [DCJ/Reuters]
David Cay Johnston Has A Few Questions
Why do we let corporations pick their auditors? Why do we have only four big firms instead of a dozen, a score or more? Why doesn’t government do the audits, as the IRS does tax audits? Why is law enforcement handcuffed by inadequate budgets and rules that hinder investigations? Why are auditors allowed to quietly resign instead of being required to blow the whistle? Auditing needs a shakeup, fundamental restructuring and the accounting firms need a serious debate about their failings, practical and moral. [DCJ/Reuters]
David Cay Johnston Has a Reading Assignment For Anyone Not Sold on Government’s Role in Stimulating the Economy
Those who said after President Barack Obama’s speech last week to Congress that government does not create wealth, does not create jobs and cannot stimulate the economy spoke nonsense. So do those who say that only private business creates wealth, as if any revenue going to taxes destroys wealth. Adam Smith, who figured out market capitalism in his 1776 book “The Wealth of Nations,” could set them straight. We have plenty of equally competent economists who understand these issues today. They just do not get the attention that the news media lavish on high-profile politicians and pundits who speak with absolute certainty on matters about which their words show they know nothing. [DCJ/Reuters]