Taxes

Holds roundtable discussion with Florida realtors, urges Legislature to reduce property-tax burden

April 15, 2009 -- TALLAHASSEE – Florida Governor Charlie Crist today met with Florida realtors to discuss Florida’s housing market. Governor Crist encouraged first-time home buyers to take advantage of the tax credit made available through the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The $8,000 tax credit applies to primary residences as long as they are purchased before December 1, 2009.    » read more »

April 13, 2009 -- WASHINGTON - The Department of Justice Tax Division today announced highlights of its work during the past year to defend and enforce the nation’s tax laws.

The Tax Division has assisted the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in tracking down tax cheats who use offshore accounts, combating abusive tax shelters, stopping tax defiers and shutting down tax schemes and scams. During FY 2008, the Tax Division also successfully defended refund suits against the United States representing claims of nearly $803 million, and collected, through affirmative litigation, over $178 million. The Division’s budget in that period was less than $93 million.    » read more »

New Version Provides Transparency & Accountability to Taxpayers

WASHINGTON, April 13, 2009 – Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack today unveiled an updated version of USDA's Research, Education and Economics Information System (REEIS), which allows the public to measure the impact and effectiveness of the Department's research, education and extension programs. The latest version adds additional data sources, opens data to Google Search and provides for extended data analysis.    » read more »

Gaming Revenues Provide $1.7 Billion In Tax Relief Over Past Three Years

April 13, 2009 -- PITTSBURGH – Pennsylvania homeowners will receive nearly $770 million in property tax relief in 2009 under the latest installment from the historic Taxpayer Relief Act, Governor Edward G. Rendell announced today.

All Pennsylvania homeowners in 66 counties can receive reductions in the school property tax bills they will receive this summer. Approximately 110,000 Pennsylvania seniors will pay no school property taxes again this year, thanks to state-funded property tax relief, and many more will receive rebates of up to $975 in addition to the property tax relief that all homeowners receive.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, DC, April 7, 2009 — Credit card or debit card convenience fees charged for paying federal individual income taxes electronically are deductible for some taxpayers who itemize, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

Federal law bars the IRS from paying any fees associated with these credit or debit transactions. Card processors normally charge taxpayers for convenience fees when they use their credit or debit card to pay taxes. Fees vary but average about 2.5 percent of the tax payment.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, March 31, 2009 -- The number of visitors to IRS.gov is up more than 24 percent compared with last year, and more taxpayers rely on the Internal Revenue Service’s online resources to get answers to tax questions on the economic recovery legislation and to prepare and file tax returns accurately and timely.

More than 138 million taxpayers already visited the IRS Web site this year, up from about 111 million from the same period last year.    » read more »

Monday, March 30, 2009 -- State government tax collections totaled $781.8 billion in fiscal year 2008, a $24.5 billion (3.2 percent) increase from 2007, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today. According to data from the 2008 Annual Survey of State Government Tax Collections, taxes on individual income were $280.7 billion, up 5.1 percent; general sales taxes were $240.6 billion, up 0.9 percent; and corporation net income taxes were $51.8 billion, down 2.5 percent. These taxes made up 73.3 percent of all state tax collections nationally.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, March 30, 2009 — The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today that taxpayers who buy a new passenger vehicle this year may be entitled to deduct state and local sales and excise taxes paid on the purchase on their 2009 tax returns next year.

“For those thinking about buying a new car this year, this deduction may give them a little more drive to make their purchase this year,” said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. “This deduction enables taxpayers to buy now and get cash back later on their tax returns.”

The deduction is limited to the state and local sales and excise taxes paid on up to $49,500 of the purchase price of a qualified new car, light truck, motor home or motorcycle.    » read more »

March 24, 2009 -- WASHINGTON - Edward B. Bartoli, a Clearwater, Fla., resident and former attorney, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Charles R. Norgle of Chicago, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

Bartoli is the last of six defendants to be sentenced after they were convicted of various tax crimes in May 2008. Prior to his conviction, Bartoli was a founder of Aegis and its legal director. Bartoli and his co-defendants were found to have carried out a nearly decade-long scheme to market and sell sham domestic and foreign trusts through the Aegis Company to some 650 wealthy taxpayer clients.    » read more »

March 23, 2009 -- BAYVILLE – New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine sat down today with a group of senior citizens at the Berkeley Municipal Building to give a helping hand in filling out paperwork for Senior Freeze Rebate applications. Representatives from the Division of Taxation’s Taxpayer Services Outreach Bureau were also available to provide assistance.

“So many of our seniors and disabled citizens are struggling to make ends meet during this national recession,” Governor Corzine said. “The expansion of the Senior Freeze program is aimed at providing property tax relief to thousands on fixed incomes who may not have qualified previously. I really encourage our seniors to take advantage of this program and file their rebate applications as soon as possible.”    » read more »

March 19, 2009 -- TRENTON – New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine today adjusted his $29.8 billion budget proposal to include the restoration of the property tax deduction for all New Jersey taxpayers earning up to $150,000. The original proposal retained the deduction for all senior taxpayers, and this adjustment will restore the deduction for all other taxpayers earning up to $150,000.

“I've been listening to New Jerseyans and think we need to preserve this deduction to continue our fight to ease the burden of property taxes,” Governor Corzine said. “To that end, I will adjust the budget proposal I made to the Legislature by restoring the property tax deduction to nearly 1.5 million working families.”    » read more »

Promotes financial transparency, allows Floridians to track how their taxpayer dollars are spent

March 17, 2009 -- TALLAHASSEE -- Florida Governor Charlie Crist and Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink today announced a new Web site that will allow Floridians to track how state government spends their taxpayer dollars. The launch of the Sunshine Spending Web site comes during Sunshine Week, the annual celebration of Florida’s dedication to making state and local government more accessible to the public.    » read more »

NEW YORK -- Mar. 15, 2009 -- American International Group, Inc. (AIG) recognizes the importance of upholding a high degree of transparency with respect to the use of public funds. As a result, after close consultation with the Federal Reserve, AIG is disclosing information identifying certain credit default swap counterparties, municipal counterparties and securities lending counterparties. Before disclosing this information, AIG consulted with the Federal Reserve about the potential public benefit of counterparty disclosure and the potential that such disclosure would cause competitive harm to AIG or its counterparties.    » read more »

Partially Restores Local Aid and Averts Reductions to Critical Social Programs

March 11, 2009 -- Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri today released his FY 2010 budget, as well as amendments to the Governor’s FY 2009 Supplemental. The Governor’s revised FY 2009 budget is $3.064 billion in general revenue, a $204 million reduction in general revenues expenditures as compared to FY 2008, excluding the impact of funds from the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. General revenue expenditures for FY 2010 are $3.079 billion.    » read more »

Federal Economic Recovery Funds to Help Everyday New Yorkers in Difficult Economic Climate

March 11, 2009 -- New York Governor David A. Paterson, Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver today announced an agreement to eliminate $1.3 billion in tax increases included in the proposed 2009-10 Executive Budget.    » read more »