Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
High-income earners across the United States are using rental real estate losses to offset six-figure salaries, turning a little-known provision buried in the Internal Revenue Code into one of the most effective legal tax reduction strategies available, and the mechanism hinges on qualifying as a “real estate professional” under Section 469(c)(7) of the tax code,…
California voters could face a ballot measure this November that would impose a one-time 5% tax on the wealth of billionaires living in the state, with the vast majority of the revenue directed toward health care services including Medi-Cal. The proposal, formally titled the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act, targets residents whose net worth exceeded $1…
Thousands of taxpayers face the prospect of refiling their federal returns after a series of IRS processing failures, social media-driven filing errors, and e-file rejections created a backlog that federal watchdogs say is affecting millions of people. With the 2025 filing season set to begin on January 27 and the April 15 deadline looming, the…
The Treasury Department and IRS released guidance confirming that workers who earn tips can deduct up to $25,000 in qualified tip income from their federal taxes for tax years 2025 through 2028. The new deduction, created under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act, is retroactive to 2025 but will not change paychecks right away because…
The White House declared the 2026 filing season the “biggest tax refund season ever,” projecting that refunds would rise by $1,000 or more thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law on July 4, 2025. Early IRS data shows average refund checks climbing 10.9% compared with the same point last year, but…
Federal law draws a hard line for anyone paying cash for gold: when a dealer receives more than $10,000 in cash in a single transaction or a series of related payments, the dealer generally must file IRS Form 8300, reporting identifying information about the buyer. While the dollar threshold is fixed in law, with gold…
The IRS reported that the average tax refund for the 2025 tax year stands at $2,290 as of early February 2026, a 10.9% jump from the $2,065 average recorded at the same point last year. The increase arrives during a filing season shaped by new federal deductions and growing questions about whether the agency has…
The IRS now requires dealers to verify every electric vehicle’s eligibility for the $7,500 clean vehicle tax credit through a federal portal before closing a sale, creating a system where a single Vehicle Identification Number can make or break a deal. The requirement, tied to the New Clean Vehicle Credit under Section 30D of the…
Oregon legislators have introduced a bill that would more than double the state’s estate tax exemption to $2.5 million, removing thousands of families from the tax rolls while raising the top marginal rate to 19.90% on estates exceeding $8.5 million. Senate Bill 1511, filed in the 2026 Regular Session, represents the most significant restructuring of…
Davidson County’s 2025 countywide reappraisal is hitting lower Broadway’s honky-tonks, souvenir shops, and restaurants with sharply higher assessed values, and the commercial properties lining Nashville’s most famous strip face a steeper tax formula than homes do. The Nashville Assessor’s Office has set April 21, 2025, as the public release date for new property values, but…