Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
The Trump administration’s decision to halt federal childcare payments to Minnesota has turned a technical fraud probe into a political and human flashpoint. What began as a conservative allegation of up to $100m in improper billing has now left parents, providers, and state officials scrambling to understand how long they can keep caring for children…
Federal tax rules do not leave much room for improvisation, and 2026 is packed with filing and payment cutoffs that can quietly trigger penalties if you miss them. The core date is the April deadline for 2025 returns, but quarterly estimated payments, business forms, and disaster extensions create a full calendar of obligations. I will…
The fight over who gets to own tax season in the United States is no longer just about software features or slick ads. The IRS is trying to normalize truly free filing, while TurboTax and its parent Intuit are working just as hard to keep paid products at the center of the experience. Whether free…
Millions of retirees are about to get a rare piece of good news from the tax code. A new federal deduction worth up to $6,000 per eligible taxpayer is designed to shrink how much of their Social Security benefits ever gets taxed, and the break is locked in through 2028. For seniors who live on…
As the calendar flips, the New Year’s tax deadline is colliding with a fragile moment for gold, silver, and the Dow, turning routine portfolio housekeeping into a potential market shock. Investors racing to lock in losses or gains before the Internal Revenue Service cutoff could unleash a wave of selling that hits everything from blue…
Working Americans are being told to brace for an unusually big cash bump, with federal tax changes and special deposits combining into refunds that could reach roughly $2,000 per household. That kind of money can plug holes in a strained budget or jump‑start longer term goals, but it will not stretch far if it disappears…
Older taxpayers now have access to some of the most generous standard deduction rules on record, and the stakes are high for anyone trying to stretch retirement income. The federal tax code offers an extra deduction once you reach age 65, and recent law changes have layered on a new “senior bonus” that can sharply…
American households are being told to brace for something unusual next filing season: a wave of much bigger tax refunds than they have seen in years. The shift is being driven by a new tax law, changing withholding patterns and a White House that has explicitly promised a historic payout moment for filers. At the…
The Trump administration is dangling a new round of direct payments, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promising that any fresh stimulus would focus on households earning less than $100,000. The proposal, framed as a dividend from higher tariffs, is pitched as a way to cushion Americans from rising prices while turning trade policy into a…
A worker with a strong professional career can hit a point where a paycheck starts to feel like a penalty. Someone earning a $600,000 salary can see roughly half of every extra dollar siphoned away in combined federal, state and payroll taxes, while a fortune measured in the hundreds of billions can legally grow with…