Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Republican lawmakers in several states are rallying around a bold promise: wipe out local property taxes within a few years and replace them with other revenue streams. The most aggressive version would phase out taxes on homes entirely by 2029, turning a long-running complaint about rising assessments into a defining fight over schools, county services,…
The Trump-era promise to shield service workers’ tips and overtime from federal tax has finally arrived in the form of detailed Internal Revenue Service rules, and the fine print matters as much as the slogan. The IRS is now spelling out who qualifies, how much income can be written off, and what documentation workers will…
The Internal Revenue Service’s decision to haul a sitting Republican senator into court over a multimillion dollar tax bill has now ended in a costly surrender, but not a clean slate. Sen. Jim Justice of West Virginia has agreed to pay roughly $5 million to resolve a long running dispute over his personal taxes, turning…
The federal judiciary has delivered a sharp rebuke to President Donald Trump’s litigation tactics, leaving in place nearly $1 million in sanctions tied to his failed conspiracy lawsuit against Hillary Clinton. By upholding the penalty, an appeals court signaled that courts will not indulge sprawling political grievances dressed up as legal claims, even when they…
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…
High taxes can quietly erode paychecks, home equity and long-term nest eggs, especially in states where property levies and income brackets stack on top of steep living costs. I focus here on 15 high-tax states that can drain your savings, and on how recent policy moves and financial-planning guidance might blunt, or fail to blunt,…
For investors sitting on big gains, donating appreciated stock can turn a routine charitable gift into a powerful tax strategy. By giving shares directly instead of selling them first, I can potentially sidestep capital gains tax and still claim a deduction for the full market value, creating a kind of two-for-one benefit at tax time….
Homeowners looking for tax breaks often hear conflicting advice about whether interest on a home equity line of credit still qualifies. When a high-profile money coach like Dave Ramsey flatly tells callers there is “no tax write-off” on a HELOC, it cuts through the noise but also risks oversimplifying a rule that changed after the…