Every year I see business owners make the lease-or-buy decision the same way: they tell a salesperson what they want to spend per month and let the salesperson engineer a deal around that number. The car dealership perfected this technique. It has since spread to equipment dealers, copier reps, and software vendors everywhere. ‘What does your budget allow per month?’ is a sales question. It is not a financial analysis.
TaxStrategy
Good Thinking Was a Bad Plan
Three Things Thursday | Episode 20 A Tax Court case from 2019 is worth your time this week. Not because the underlying law is complicated, but because the facts are instructive in a way that most tax cautionary tales aren’t. This one has a name for the scheme, a number you won’t forget, and a […]
The End of the Anonymous Cash Buyer
A practical explanation of the new 2026 FinCEN Residential Real Estate Rule and how federal reporting requirements affect LLC buyers, private financing, and investor transactions.
Law and Order, Tax Crimes Unit
In the criminal justice system, tax-based offenses are considered especially heinous. The dedicated detectives who investigate these costly felonies are members of an elite squad known as the IRS Criminal Investigations unit. These are their stories.
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.
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 . […]