Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
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….
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…
Millions of borrowers are about to see their student loans reshaped by a sweeping overhaul from President Donald Trump’s administration, and the details will matter as much as the headlines. A Trump education official has framed the changes as a reset of how Americans borrow for college, repay their debt, and qualify for relief, with…
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…
The IRS has quietly set the rules that will shape how much of your 2026 income ends up in Washington, and the changes are more modest than many taxpayers might expect. Brackets are inching higher, key thresholds are shifting, and some temporary breaks are on track to disappear, creating a mix of small wins and…
California’s latest tax fight centers on a one-time levy aimed squarely at the state’s richest residents, with a union-backed proposal designed to pull in $100 billion from a few hundred billionaires. Supporters frame it as a last-ditch way to stabilize health care and schools without squeezing middle-class taxpayers, while critics warn it could rattle markets…
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…