Taxes | featured news

Tax reform sounds like a good idea to lots of people, but where to start? Eliminate the popular deduction for home mortgages? End the write-off for charitable contributions? How about expanding the Social Security payroll tax?

A U.S. government crackdown on suspected identity thieves filing false tax returns stopped $1.4 billion in bad refunds from being sent out in calendar 2011, the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service said on Tuesday.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich beat his main GOP presidential rival, Mitt Romney, to the punch by releasing his most recent tax return. But Gingrich still hasn't revealed how he earned most of his $3.1 million.

On a separate issue, Gingrich told reporters that he paid 31 percent of his 2010 income in taxes, more than double the 15 percent Romney said he pays. A Gingrich spokesman said the 31 percent was the effective federal rate on his income. Gingrich declined to criticize Romney on the tax issue, saying instead that it made the case for his own proposal to put in place an optional 15 percent flat income tax. "My goal is not to raise Mitt Romney's taxes, but to let everyone pay Romney's rate," he said.

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney told reporters on Tuesday he currently pays taxes "close to the 15% rate" and that most of his income comes from investments... His net worth is estimated to be between $190 million and $250 million, according to his personal financial disclosure report.

A new independent study says Republican Mitt Romney's tax plan would increase taxes on low-income families while cutting taxes for the middle-class and the rich....

College students clash with administrators over steeply rising tuition. Public employees shut down statehouses amid cuts to pay and retirement benefits. Teachers and social welfare advocates protest budget cuts. Lawmakers struggle to cope with sharp declines in tax revenue.

Republicans in the House on Tuesday rejected the Senate's two-month extension of an expiring payroll tax cut, and moved toward initiating formal talks with Democrats on a final deal.

As President Obama wrestles with congressional Republicans over an extension of the payroll tax cut, a new poll suggests that Obama is winning ...

President Obama's aides are seeking to pressure House Republicans in the hours leading up to a vote tonight on a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut, saying an adverse decision will subject nearly 160 million Americans to a tax hike next year.