Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Howard Schultz, the former head of Starbucks Corp., has left Seattle for Miami after more than four decades in Washington state, relocating his family office just as state lawmakers passed a first-of-its-kind income tax on millionaires. The timing of his departure, announced the same week the bill cleared its final legislative hurdles, has turned a…
Homeowners who pay thousands of dollars a year in property insurance premiums often wonder whether that cost can reduce their federal tax bill. The short answer is that a standard homeowner cannot deduct personal home insurance premiums, but taxpayers who use part of their residence for business or rent it out can claim a portion…
California Assembly Republicans introduced legislation to freeze the state’s motor vehicle fuel tax for a full year, targeting the $0.61 per gallon excise rate that hits drivers at the pump. Assemblyman Jeff Gonzalez and Republican coauthors introduced AB 1745, which would suspend the state excise tax on gasoline for one year. The bill arrives as…
California hits top earners with the nation’s steepest state income tax rate, topping out at 13.3 percent. Yet for middle-income homeowners, Texas may actually extract more through property taxes, despite its reputation as a low-tax haven. The gap between headline tax rates and what families actually pay each month is driving a quiet but consequential…
The IRS can freeze refunds on millions of returns each year through identity-verification holds that may delay payments for weeks or longer, leaving some legitimate filers waiting past the standard 21-day processing window. The agency’s Taxpayer Protection Program (TPP) flags some returns it considers suspicious, triggering letters that can halt refunds until the taxpayer verifies…
Tipped workers across the United States could see a new tax break under the No Tax on Tips Act, which creates an above-the-line deduction allowing eligible employees and self-employed individuals to subtract up to $25,000 in qualified tips from their taxable income. The deduction applies to tax years 2025 through 2028, meaning the first returns…
The Internal Revenue Service warned taxpayers about “ghost” tax return preparers in its 2025 Dirty Dozen list of tax scams, saying these paid preparers may lure filers with promises of inflated refunds, then disappear without signing the return or leaving traceable identification. The scheme shifts full legal liability onto the taxpayer while the preparer pockets…
The IRS enforces a set of overlapping deadlines that determine how far back it can review a tax return, assess additional tax, and pursue collection. Most taxpayers assume the agency has only three years to act, but specific exceptions can stretch that window to six years, ten years, or eliminate it entirely. With the IRS…
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…