More than 8,000 French households' tax bills topped 100 percent of their income last year, the business newspaper Les Echos reported on Saturday, citing Finance Ministry data. The newspaper said that the exceptionally high level of taxation was due to a one-off levy last year on 2011 incomes for households with assets of more than 1.3 million euros ($1.67 million). President Francois Hollande's Socialist government imposed the tax surcharge last year, shortly after taking office, to offset the impact of a rebate scheme created by its conservative predecessor to cap an individual's overall taxation at 50 percent of income. [Reuters via TaxProf]
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John Kerry May Be Having Buyer’s Remorse re: $7 Million Yacht
- Caleb Newquist
- July 27, 2010
Because people keep asking about it.
If pesky Boston reporters weren’t enough, the Wall St. Journal’s report is taking this to new hyperbolic levels with the headline: “John Kerry – A One-Man ‘Benedict Arnold’ Corporation”:
[T]here’s a smell of hypocrisy. In addition to sailing around the tax issue, Mr. Kerry chose to build his boat in New Zealand at a time when Bay State boat builders are having trouble keeping their work force employed. “I’m confident that anything constructed in New Zealand could be constructed here in the state,” Gregory Egan, who owns the Crosby Yacht Yard in Osterville, told the Boston Herald. Others noted that the Isabel was specially designed to be piloted without a crew — letting Mr. Kerry scrimp on employment costs and payroll taxes.
Jesus. A rich senator, married to a ketchup heiress, buys an expensive boat, does some not-so-fancy tax avoidance and all of a sudden he’s equated to, arguably, the most notorious traitor in the history of the United States? Yeah, that’s pretty much the same thing.
John Kerry – A One-Man ‘Benedict Arnold’ Corporation [WSJ]
Sen. Kerry Sails Around the Tax Issue [TaxProf Blog]
Earlier: John Kerry Saves $500k in Taxes By Dropping Anchor in Rhode Island
UPDATE: JK’s spokeswoman has said he will pay the tax if Mass. determines that he owes it.
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The IRS Is Ready For Five Million and One Amended Returns
- Adrienne Gonzalez
- April 28, 2014
Amended returns happen. The IRS is preparing for it: As of April 18, almost 46 […]
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GE Responds to Hoax Tax Press Release in Least Hoaxy Way Possible
- Caleb Newquist
- April 13, 2011
Earlier this morning, the Associated Press ran a story based on a hoax press release that stated General Electric had opted to give back its “refund.” You may recall there was a fair amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth after a New York Times article made the company look like huge international conglomerate attempting to minimize its legal tax obligation (talk about nerve). As you may be aware, the “refund” is actually a “deferred tax benefit” and we can’t think of any company that would simply give those back after some pesky article from the Times. Anyhoo, the AP has bit of egg on its face and GE is once again a punching bag and has re-reiterated the fact they DID NOT GET A REFUND.
Of course the last time GE went on a PR offensive, they got schooled by Henry Blodget. On Twitter. So instead of wading back into that scary end of the pool, they shuffled out a spokeswoman to simply say, “It’s a hoax and GE did not receive a refund.”
This is really a missed opportunity for GE, in our opinion. Jeff Immelt could have seized this opportunity to have a sense of humor about the whole thing, acknowledge the efforts of the Yes Men (the hoaxers) and say, “You know, we’re a big company with the best tax law firm right here, in-house, and sometimes people hate on us *cough*The Times*cough* because they do such a good job. And maybe we employ a bunch of Treasury Department alums too. I mean, we’ve got the money. Why wouldn’t we do it? These Yes Men guys, they’re okay. They’re trying to be funny in sort of an Onion sorta way and we’re cool with that. I read The Onion once. It seemed pretty humorous.”
Or something.
“Yes Men” claim hoax GE tax press release [Reuters]