The US tax code doesn't take race into consideration, but should it? In this episode of Talking Tax, Georgetown Law professor Dorothy Brown argues the case for why the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service should make race a factor in tax policy. Brown, author of the 2021 book, "Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax System Impoverishes Black Americans—and How We Can Fix it," sits down with Bloomberg Tax editor Yuri Nagano. Brown discusses how her book inspired a recent Stanford...

To help reduce poverty, many states have modeled their own versions of tax relief for lower and middle-income workers on an enhanced federal earned income tax credit that expired last year. Rising inflation, pandemic hardships, and increasing economic disparities have intensified calls to create or expand these credits along with child tax credits in both Democratic and Republican-led states. To date, 11 states have enacted their own child tax credits and more than 30 now have an earned...

Looking forward to a mint julep on Kentucky Derby Day? You might be interested to know that a bit of each bourbon-soaked cocktail funds school districts, police departments, and other local services in the Bluegrass State. The money flows through Kentucky’s one-of-a-kind bourbon barrel tax, a levy on spirits aging in barrels. It’s a big deal for distillers, who must pay the tax, and municipalities, which derive significant revenue from the roughly 11 million barrels of bourbon inventoried...

California cities have made deals with retailers—Best Buy Co. Inc., Apple Inc., QVC, Walmart Inc., and others—to be the point of sale for statewide e-commerce purchases in exchange for a cut of the sales tax proceeds. But who really benefits? On this episode of Talking Tax, senior reporter Laura Mahoney sits down with Bloomberg Law editor Bernie Kohn to talk about her closer look at Dinuba, a small city in California's Central Valley, and its tax-sharing deal with Best Buy. Dinuba gives half...

Tax practitioner Tifphani White-King is strongly invested in increasing diversity and equity in the world of tax. "I don't lose sight of the fact that I don't see many people that look like me in this field," she said. White-King, principal at Mazars USA, has over two decades of experience in tax, and as a Black woman, has extensive experience navigating a historically white male-dominated profession to become a leader in tax. She chatted with Bloomberg Tax reporter Jeff Leon to share more...

State sales taxes are now a fact of life for online buyers and sellers, since the US Supreme Court's 2018 Wayfair decision created a framework for remote-sales tax collection. It might look simple to customers, but for remote sellers and sales platforms—especially small businesses—the massive patchwork of state and local sales tax regimes can be daunting. How much of an "undue burden" on interstate commerce is the patchwork, and should Congress intervene to reduce the inconsistencies across...

Tax transparency is on the rise, and companies are figuring out how to adapt. Large multinationals will soon have to publicly report their tax information in the EU. The pressure for more information isn't just coming from governments. Investors, too, are pushing for greater disclosure of companies' tax arrangements. Companies have long worried that reporting their tax information could set them up for a reputational hit. But now, with public reporting requirements on the horizon, some are...

Though never popular with neighboring state officials, New York's tax on the income of out-of-state residents working for Empire state companies is being scrutinized more closely. A post-pandemic shift to remote work — as a choice by either the employee or employer — has meant that many former commuters rarely if ever set foot in a New York workplace. There are winners and losers in the current situation and billions of dollars at stake. Officials in both New Jersey and Connecticut have...

The $80 billion in new funding the IRS will get over the next decade offers a chance "to bring US tax administration into the 21st century," according to National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins. Collins leads the Taxpayer Advocate Service, an independent office within the agency that provides taxpayer assistance. She's written multiple blog posts about modernization efforts and sent a report to Congress discussing her vision for a revamped, paperless tax enforcement agency. On this episode of...

The IRS and Treasury pushed back the effective date for brokers forced to report client transactions to the IRS, giving the cryptocurrency industry some relief as they wait for more guidance. There are still a lot of unknowns about how to report and what exactly is required—answers the industry anticipates in new guidance. On this episode of our Talking Tax podcast, Bloomberg Tax reporter Erin Slowey speaks with Deloitte's Jonathan Cutler, a senior manager, and Rob Massey, global and US tax...

All eyes are on the IRS in 2023, as the cash-strapped agency is finally getting an $80 billion infusion, with potential big implications for the tax world. Bolstered by the additional multiyear funding in the Inflation Reduction Act, the agency plans to upgrade its outdated systems, staff up, and take bolder steps toward enforcement, aiming largely at big companies and high-wealth taxpayers. Bloomberg Tax reporter Jeff Leon talks about the prospects with Niles Elber, a tax professional at...

Congress was busy on tax policy in 2022, and that means the IRS will have work to do this year. The agency has issued some guidance clarifying the Inflation Reduction Act's tax provisions, but it has lots more that needs to get out in the coming weeks and months. On this episode of our weekly podcast, Talking Tax, we hear about the big-ticket items the IRS needs to get out the door from three Bloomberg Tax reporters: Erin Slowey, Lauren Vella, and Naomi Jagoda. We also discuss the IRS's plans...

For this episode of our weekly podcast, Talking Tax, we're revisiting interviews with some of the biggest tax policy makers in the news this year. The OECD's two-pillar plan to reshape the global tax framework, the Inflation Reduction Act, and getting the court system back to a sense of normalcy amid the pandemic were among the biggest tax stories this year. Kathleen Kerrigan, the new chief judge of the US Tax Court, talks about pushing for more electronic filing of petitions and other...

Most state tax stories are about legislation, regulation, and litigation. Too often lost in the headlines are the people who develop and manage state tax policies, and their motivations for pursuing careers in tax advocacy and tax administration. On this episode of Talking Tax, we talk with Alan Lindquist, a special assistant attorney general with the Illinois Department of Revenue. Lindquist has had an unusual career, representing taxpayers as a partner at Chicago-based Winston & Strawn...

Starting with Ronald Reagan in 1981, every Republican president at some point has made tax cuts a centerpiece of his economic agenda, often with scant evidence that these policies have produced economic benefits that touch all Americans. Delving into some of the more notable moments in this history offers a roadmap to this inequality. How did a tax designed to discourage multigenerational inherited wealth come to be known as the "death tax?" Why are qualified dividends—which most taxpayers...

Technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence are quickly reinventing how auditors test corporate accounts, but these innovations also may require a reimagining of auditing standards. Christina Ho, a member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, has called technology the “audit quality challenge of the 21st century." She's leading a working group of technologists, data scientists, and more traditional finance leaders to help the regulator plan for the future of...

Clean energy developers and investors trying to make the most of the credits in President Joe Biden's tax-and-climate law are evaluating how new requirements to get the boost are impacting projects. The tax-and-climate law devotes $374 billion to support climate and energy measures, including adding more and expanding on existing tax credits for the clean energy industry. One of the energy credit adders in the law, also known as the Inflation Reduction Act, is the domestic content...

On this week's episode of Talking Tax, we bring you two discussions that focus on some of the biggest developments facing multinationals' tax departments. First, OECD tax head Grace Perez-Navarro shares with Bloomberg Tax reporter Isabel Gottlieb a glimpse into what's coming next from the global tax deal: the transfer pricing simplification plan known as Amount B, details on which unilateral measures will be revoked, and more guidance on the global minimum tax. Next, the acting commissioner...

Calls for regulation and global standards for the cryptocurrency industry have taken on fresh urgency recently, with the stunning collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange and its sister trading house Alameda Research. One important regulatory proposal already in progress is the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Crypto Asset Reporting Framework—CARF—which would standardize how global tax authorities regulate and share information on cryptocurrency assets and still...

The polls have closed on the midterm elections, but with many races left undecided, it's still unclear which party will lead the next Congress. Though there was no "Red Wave" as some prognosticators predicted, Republicans appear to be closing in on a narrow majority in the House. In the Senate, the balance of power remains up in the air as the Nevada and Arizona races remain uncalled, and the Georgia contest between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker heads...

State policy makers and budget officials are facing a period of greater economic uncertainty as forecasts increasingly point to the likelihood of at least a mild U.S. recession in 2023. Over the past year many states have sought to stay ahead of any downturn by managing their budgets more prudently. Roughly 30 states took some type of permanent tax policy action in 2022 through their legislatures—rate cuts for income, corporate, or both, plus some sales tax holidays—to offer relief to...

Tax professionals are racing to advise companies on two laws passed this year—the tax-and-climate law and the CHIPS Act—both providing tax credits that can be claimed as soon as Jan. 1. Guidance from IRS and Treasury can't come soon enough as companies try to decipher how they would be affected. On this episode of our weekly podcast, Talking Tax, we discuss one Big Four accounting firm's strategy for working with companies as they eagerly await guidance. Bloomberg Tax's Erin Slowey speaks...

Companies have rushed to apply for an expiring Texas program that offers hefty school district property tax abatements for new manufacturing and renewable energy projects. The Chapter 313 incentive has drawn big investment through its 20-year history, but has been criticized as too expensive and harmful to some schools and populations. It wasn't renewed, and policy makers are determining whether and how to redesign it. In the meantime, applications for it leaped to more than 400 this year as...

Over the past decade, some of the biggest changes to the international tax framework have come out of the Paris-based OECD—from the worldwide crackdown on base erosion and profit shifting to the two-pillar plan to overhaul global tax rules. Pascal Saint-Amans, the man at the helm of the organization's tax division through those years, recently announced he would be stepping down from his role at the end of October. Bloomberg Tax's Isabel Gottlieb sat down with Saint-Amans to talk about what...