Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Immigrants facing civil fines as high as $1.8 million are now challenging the Trump administration in federal court, arguing that the government weaponized an obscure penalty statute to pressure them into leaving the country. Their lawsuit turns a little-known enforcement tactic into a test of how far a president can go in using financial sanctions…
The new tax break on tips and overtime has been sold as a windfall for workers who stay late, pick up extra shifts, or live off gratuities. In reality, the fine print decides whether a server, nurse, or warehouse worker actually sees more money in their bank account or just a talking point in a…
President Donald Trump has put the idea of fresh stimulus-style payments back on the table, and for households still squeezed by higher prices and lingering debt, the obvious question is how large a check might actually land in their mailbox or bank account. The answer depends on what kind of plan, if any, Congress ultimately…
Older Americans are heading into tax season with a rare piece of good news: a fresh $6,000 deduction designed to shrink how much of their Social Security ends up taxed. The new break, created as part of a broader federal tax overhaul, applies only for a limited window through 2028, but it has the potential…
Congress is turning its attention to the quiet figure who kept Jeffrey Epstein’s books, probing how his work intersected with a major Wall Street bank’s red flags. Lawmakers now see Epstein’s longtime accountant as a potential key to understanding how large cash movements and internal warnings at JPMorgan Chase failed to stop a client already…
The $600 reporting threshold has become a flashpoint for anyone who earns money through side gigs, payment apps, or freelance work. I want to unpack how that old limit is being reshaped, what the new rules look like in practice, and why the changes matter whether you drive for Uber, sell on Etsy, or pay…
Real estate can quietly generate one of the largest tax bills most people ever face, because the IRS treats profit on property as a capital gain. With the right planning, however, I can often reduce, defer, or even eliminate that tax hit by using a mix of exemptions, timing strategies, and specialized transactions that are…
Ron DeSantis has turned a wonky gripe about local levies into a sharp populist line, arguing that property taxes function less like civic contributions and more like rent payments to the state. By casting homeowners as perpetual tenants of government, he is trying to reframe a familiar bill as a fundamental threat to ownership, and…
Alt5 Sigma, a partner in President Donald Trump’s World Liberty Financial (WLFI) crypto venture, may have violated SEC rules by failing to properly disclose a CEO suspension in its filings. The issue centers on the suspension of Alt5 Sigma’s CEO, which was not reflected in required SEC documents, raising questions about transparency in the Trump-linked…
Parents who want to help a child financially often worry that generosity will trigger a tax bill. The rules are more flexible than many people assume, but there are clear limits on how much you can transfer before the government starts tracking those gifts. Understanding the thresholds, and the exceptions that sit alongside them, is…