Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
California’s latest push to tax extreme wealth has collided head‑on with a familiar Bay Area anxiety: what happens if the people who fund so much of the region’s economy simply leave. As state leaders float a new levy on billionaires, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan has emerged as one of the most prominent local voices…
California’s latest effort to tax extreme wealth has triggered a very specific warning from the state’s tech elite: a 5 percent levy on billionaire fortunes could prompt an exodus that pulls hundreds of billions of dollars in assets out of the state. The proposal, framed by supporters as a way to tap concentrated fortunes for…
The new federal break for older taxpayers is not a “retirement tax credit” at all, but a sizable extra deduction that trims taxable income for qualifying seniors. Instead of directly cutting your tax bill dollar for dollar, it lets you subtract up to $6,000 from the income the IRS can tax, on top of the…
Electric vehicles are starting to reshape the economics of American roads, not just the technology under the hood. As drivers buy less gasoline, the fuel taxes that have quietly funded highways for generations are eroding, leaving state budgets scrambling to keep pavement from crumbling. The race is now on to replace that money without slowing…
Millions of Americans who drive for work or recently financed a car are heading into tax season with a very different set of rules than they had just a year ago. The Internal Revenue Service has raised the standard mileage rate, tightened some reporting requirements, and started phasing in a new deduction for car loan…
Changes to how the U.S. mail is stamped are quietly rewriting the rules for anyone who relies on a postmark to prove they met a deadline. Instead of reflecting the day you hand a letter to the Postal Service, the official date on the envelope is shifting to when that piece of mail is processed…
The Trump administration’s decision to halt federal childcare payments to Minnesota has turned a technical fraud probe into a political and human flashpoint. What began as a conservative allegation of up to $100m in improper billing has now left parents, providers, and state officials scrambling to understand how long they can keep caring for children…
Federal tax rules do not leave much room for improvisation, and 2026 is packed with filing and payment cutoffs that can quietly trigger penalties if you miss them. The core date is the April deadline for 2025 returns, but quarterly estimated payments, business forms, and disaster extensions create a full calendar of obligations. I will…
The fight over who gets to own tax season in the United States is no longer just about software features or slick ads. The IRS is trying to normalize truly free filing, while TurboTax and its parent Intuit are working just as hard to keep paid products at the center of the experience. Whether free…
Millions of retirees are about to get a rare piece of good news from the tax code. A new federal deduction worth up to $6,000 per eligible taxpayer is designed to shrink how much of their Social Security benefits ever gets taxed, and the break is locked in through 2028. For seniors who live on…