Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Your paycheck may look unchanged in 2026, but the rules that decide how much of it you keep are shifting under your feet. The One, Big, Beautiful Bill and its companion provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act are quietly rewriting key pieces of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, altering inflation adjustments, deductions,…
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is treating the drive to erase property taxes as a five-alarm fire, not a routine policy fight. He has warned that wiping out this revenue could force something like a 20 percent sales tax, a shift that would land hardest on everyday shoppers rather than on wealthier homeowners. The clash is…
Los Angeles shoppers are still adjusting to a county sales tax that already jumped to 9.75 percent in many communities, yet local leaders are now weighing another half‑cent increase that would land squarely on everyday purchases. The proposal is framed as a lifeline for a health care system facing deep federal cuts, but for families…
Tax filing season is underway, and the agency at the center of it is operating with far fewer people and far more political baggage than it had just two years ago. The Internal Revenue Service has shed more than 20,000 jobs, faces a $10 billion lawsuit from President Donald Trump, and is being asked to…
President Donald Trump has promised that the 2026 filing season will deliver the biggest tax refunds in history, powered by his One Big Beautiful Bill and new breaks for workers. On paper, many households really are in line for larger checks because withholding stayed high even as the law cut taxes for 2025 income. In…
Tax season is arriving with an unusual combination of good news and anxiety. The White House is signaling that average refunds could jump by roughly $1,000 for many households, even as taxpayers brace for processing changes that could slow the money hitting their bank accounts. The key to navigating that tension is understanding how the…
Several of the most familiar write-offs in the federal code are being reshaped or erased as 2026 rules lock into place. The Internal Revenue Service is implementing a package of changes tied to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the newer One Big Beautiful Bill framework, and some of the quietest shifts will hit…
The federal tax calendar, usually one of the few fixed points in American life, is suddenly in play again. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has signaled that he is open to pushing back this year’s filing deadline, raising the prospect that Tax Day could slide for the second time in a decade. For households trying to…
Millions of households entered this filing season steeling themselves for thinner Internal Revenue Service checks, even as Washington touts a wave of new tax breaks. The fear is simple: withholdings have not kept up with shifting rules, so the surprise at the end of the process could be a smaller cushion than families are counting…
California’s fight over how to pay for its roads has turned into a proxy war over trust in government. Democrats are backing a shift from gas taxes to a per‑mile charge, arguing that electric vehicles and fuel efficiency are blowing a hole in the state’s transportation budget. California Republicans, in response, say the plan treats…