Taxes | featured news

Proposals to end the tax breaks for corporate jet ownership is less about dollars and cents than it is about political imagery and a bit of class warfare.

Amazon.com Inc., the world’s largest Internet retailer, said it will sever ties with its affiliates in California if the state enacts a new law that requires the company to collect taxes on online purchases. California Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation yesterday mandating sales-tax collections by Web retailers, including Amazon, on purchases by state residents. The state’s pending budget plan counts on $200 million from the law. In an e-mail before the bill was signed, Amazon said the legislation was “unconstitutional and counterproductive.”

President Obama meets with Senate leaders, but no one wants to back away from tough stances on taxes. Debt-reduction talks between congressional leaders and the White House entered a crucial phase Monday, with no clear framework for resolving the deadlock over taxes and spending and a deadline for a potential federal default fast approaching.

State governments across the country are laying off teachers, closing public libraries and parks, and reducing health care services, but there is one place they could get $23 billion if they could only agree how to do it: Internet retailers such as Amazon.com.

Democratic lawmakers passed a rare on-time state budget Wednesday over Republican objections, but the plan — balanced with a blend of taxes, cuts and clever accounting — faces an uncertain fate at the hands of Gov. Jerry Brown.

New York isn't North Korea, but it's the closest thing you'll find in the U.S. -- at least according to a new report from a libertarian think tank.A Mercatus Center study has pegged New York as the country's "least free" state, 49 slots behind "Live Free or Die" New Hampshire. Its authors gave the state particular abuse for its taxes, "by far the highest" in the country, according to their methodology.

The Internal Revenue Service has announced that it has now passed the one billion mark for individual tax returns processed through its electronic filing (or e-filing) program.

Top congressional Republicans on Sunday suggested they could compromise on the two biggest issues -- healthcare and taxes -- that stand in the way of a deal to get the United States' debt under control.

The Senate majority leader says budget reductions must be accompanied by tax reform. He predicts that negotiations on the nation's debt limit will drag until the 11th hour. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says tax loopholes must be addressed ...

Republicans planned sharp cuts to foreign aid and education on Wednesday, while Democrats weighed a tax hike on millionaires, highlighting the yawning divide between the two parties in the budget debate.