If you ever needed proof the IRS is held together with duct tape and caffeine, here it is. From a recent article in Government Executive magazine: “The Internal Revenue Service is asking seasoned employees without any direct tax experience to perform entry-level tasks of answering phones and processing tax returns, a step impacted staff call unprecedented as the agency scrambles to prepare for filing season.” These include employees from departments like human resources and IT, which means people who normally reset passwords and process onboarding paperwork will be untangling the tax code.
taxes
The Ultimate Celebrity Flex – Your Own Tax
Getting something named after yourself usually means you’ve accomplished something, good or bad. Charles Ponzi didn’t invent fraud, but he was so good at it that his name lives on in infamy. Ernesto Miranda had no idea that confessing to kidnapping and rape would establish a new Constitutional right. Edward Murphy had no idea that his offhand remark about a technician wiring sensors incorrectly would lead to the law that if anything can go wrong, it will.
A Billion Dollars Later, Now What?
Los Angeles recently celebrated a milestone that sounds impressive until you read the fine print: its mansion tax has now raised roughly $1 billion since voters approved it. Champagne all around, right? Well, maybe hold the cork. Because according to reporting, less than 1 percent of that money has actually gone toward affordable housing — the very reason voters were told this tax existed in the first place. And now California is considering a new “billionaire tax” on assets over $1 billion, which is already driving wealthy residents like Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page to prepare out-of-state moves.
The Weirdest Tax Deductions That Actually Worked (No, Your Dog Is Still Not One of Them)
Every tax season, Americans ask the same hopeful question: “Can I deduct that?” Sometimes the answer is “no, sorry.” Sometimes the answer is “absolutely not, please stop talking.” But every once in a while, the answer is: Shockingly . . . yes. Welcome to the wild side of the tax code, where deductions roam free, logic occasionally takes a lunch break, and the IRS reluctantly admits, “Fine. We’ll allow it.”
When “Fair Share” Sounds Like “Find the Exit”
Raising taxes on the rich is usually a party trick politicians pull out when they want applause, not when they actually plan to do it. Lately, though, some of them are dusting it off again, and high earners are reacting the same way people do when the waiter raises an eyebrow and says, “So . […]
Fetch is Not Going to Happen
This time of year, most tax pros are gearing up for yet another season preparing returns. But it looks like Tax Season 2026 might come with a new kind of tail-wagging drama. A New York attorney named Amanda Reynolds has taken a big bite out of the Internal Revenue Service, asking a federal court to […]