Whether you’re hosting a party, waging a bet on your favorite team or actually attending Super Bowl XLVII , there may be a way to qualify for a score of tax deductions. Just be sure to keep your receipts!
Mark Steber, chief tax officer at Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, Inc., writes in The Huffington Post:“If you're throwing a party for the Super Bowl, there is a possibility that your party may have deductible components. How would it qualify? You must be gathering for the purpose of discussing business and you must discuss business during the meeting. If this happens, you may deduct a portion of the food and drink and possibly the supplies as a business expense.” The same goes for tickets. As long as you purchased tickets for yourself and someone you do business with or hope to do business with, you may be able to deduct all or part of the ticket costs. - Read more at The Huffington Post
DO HIGHER TAXES FORCE PEOPLE TO MOVE? There is anecdotal evidence that some people vote with their feet and flee states that raise their taxes, but some experts and economists are highly skeptical of this. “On the whole, taxes do not have a material impact on where people choose to live,” Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics, told Reuters. Indeed, two new studies conducted by Stanford's Cristobal Young and Charles Varner of Princeton University found there is little evidence to prove high taxes drive people out of states. The studies examined California and New Jersey after each state enacted a tax on millionaires and found no sign of millionaires abandoning those states. Young and Varner concluded that there are many other factors that go into location choices, including the relative strength of a state’s economy, commute times, community attachments and real estate costs. Read more at Reuters
IF YOU’RE LOOKING TO ESCAPE A HIGH-TAX STATE ….You might want to cross New York, New Jersey and California off your list of places to turn to. These states ranked among the top ten worst places to live for taxes, according to The Tax Foundation’s 2013 State Business Tax Climate report.
- Read more at The Fiscal Times
SENATE REPUBLICANS TO BLOCK CONSUMER ADVOCATE Dejavu anyone? Senate Republicans are planning to try to block President Obama’s nomination of Richard Cordray to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau -- again. . Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and 42 other Senate Republicans sent the president a letter Friday, threatening to block Cordray or any other CFPB nominee until Congress passes a law to revamp the agency. Last year, t Obama used a recess appointment to bypass the upper chamber after Senate Republicans stood in the way of Cordray’s confirmation. Read the letter here
