Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Estate and gift tax rules are shifting quickly, and the window to lock in today’s generous exemptions is closing as the 2026 changes approach. I focus here on eight concrete estate tax tactics that can be executed before year-end so families can use current rules to reduce future estate tax exposure. Each strategy is grounded…
Swiss voters are heading toward a landmark decision on whether to impose a 50% inheritance tax on the country’s richest estates, yet the political and polling signals now point clearly toward rejection. The debate has exposed deep tensions between climate funding, tax justice and the country’s long tradition of low levies on wealth, even as…
Cash is still king in plenty of everyday transactions, but once you walk into a branch with a thick envelope, the rules change in ways most customers never see. The real friction point is not a single magic number, but how banks quietly treat deposits that creep toward or past $5,000 as potential compliance headaches….
The federal judiciary has delivered a sharp rebuke to President Donald Trump’s litigation tactics, leaving in place nearly $1 million in sanctions tied to his failed conspiracy lawsuit against Hillary Clinton. By upholding the penalty, an appeals court signaled that courts will not indulge sprawling political grievances dressed up as legal claims, even when they…
Millions of taxpayers walk away from tax season every year without realizing the government may still be holding their cash. Unclaimed refunds, undelivered checks, and missed credits can quietly pile up when returns are filed late, addresses change, or people assume a small refund is not worth the hassle. I want to walk through how…
The United Kingdom is discovering that tightening the screws on its non-domiciled residents can raise more money even as some of the wealthiest pack their bags. The projected tax take from this globally mobile elite is rising, not falling, as the government replaces a domicile-based system with tougher residency rules and banks on a multi-billion-pound…
Several once-routine federal tax breaks are now gone for good, reshaping how many households and investors plan for 2026 and beyond. I will walk through six specific breaks that have disappeared, explain what changed, and highlight how the new landscape affects filers who had come to rely on these benefits. 1) First Popular Tax Break…
Senate Republicans are facing a rare and public break with President Donald Trump over his demand to more than triple the size of direct relief payments in the latest pandemic aid package. The clash over $2,000 checks has exposed deeper tensions inside the party about spending, political loyalty, and how to respond to economic pain…
Whether an extra round of federal relief hits bank accounts before the holidays will depend less on wishful thinking and more on how quickly Washington can move from talking points to signed legislation. The political debate over new direct payments is already colliding with the hard limits of how fast the government can legally approve,…
The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to lean on artificial intelligence to keep taxpayer services running even as its human workforce shrinks. The agency plans to roll out Salesforce-built AI agents to handle routine questions and case updates, positioning the technology as a way to maintain service levels after staff cuts and a wave of…
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