Angel investing has been on the rise over the past few years (see Crunchbase chart below), and this year is no exception. A quirk in the tax laws is helping. Any “qualified small business stock” purchased between September 27, 2010 and January 1, 2012 and held for at least five years is 100 percent exempt from capital gains. After January 1, the tax exemption reverts to the normal 50 percent. → Read More
The second most senior Democrat in the U.S. Senate, Dick Durbin, will propose a new scheme that would force online retailers like Amazon and iTunes to collect local taxes for each and every transaction. He’s expected to make the proposal the day after Tax Day, and it’s expected to be controversial within two seconds of having been announced. → Read More
What are the three guarantees in life? Death, taxes, and people saying that “death and taxes” are the only two guarantees in life. It’s fun. But this Amazon situation? Who knows. The company has been fighting off having to collect and pay local taxes across the U.S. for years now, with Connecticut becoming the latest state to push it for the collection of local taxes. One Connecticut lawmaker… → Read More
The Cousins were mulling over a broadband tax, but the new Government has put a stop to that. (Now they’re considering using some of the BBC license fee to fund broadband development.) The idea was to charge people 50p (around $0.70) per month to fund the expansion of broadband into rural areas. Would such a move work here in the U.S.? Would you be willing to pay, say, $1 per month, paying toward… → Read More
I did my taxes recently, and this is the first year that I actually bothered to deduct for all those things that I buy over the year for my job. It was confusing frankly, and I wish I’d read this article before I did it. Hopefully you’ll read this in time to do your deductions correctly, and not make the same mistakes I did (which caused me to miss out on several things I could have claimed). → Read More
Yay, taxes! It looks like more and more states are considering forcing the likes of Amazon and Overstock.com (note: I’ve never bought anything from there!) to pay taxes. This is good and bad: it helps, however little, state governments balance the books, but it also raises the cost of “doing business” in those states. It also makes it more expensive to buy things online. Boo! → Read More
They’re trying to balance the books over in the UK, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer has proposed a tax that may interest you. The proposed budget for the next year includes a broadband tax! The name is a bit misleading in that it’s not a tax on broadband, but a tax on telephone landlines (POTS), the money of which will go to making sure people in rural areas have sufficient access to… → Read More
Wow, you can totally tell when Drudge links to a news story. Take this one, which details a Colorado plan to give free cellphones to low income people. Similar programs, using landline telephones, have existed for some time, paid for by a federal tax on telephones. So it’s not like this is new money we’re talking about, you know, being used to help people. But check out these comments, alluding to… → Read More
Another potshot aimed at the working man, friends. The IRS is looking to collecting more taxes on your work-provided cellphone, something the wireless industry—think CTIA, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, etc.—will fight tooth and nail. The industry thinks that if companies and/or employees have to pay more for their phones, they may cancel the service altogether. → Read More
Good for Microsoft, kicking the American worker when he’s down. President Obama means to close a loophole in the taxcode that allows corporations to “deduct… cost at a high tax rate and report… profits at a low tax rate.” In other words, win-win for the corporation at the expense of the United State Treasury. You know how Microsoft’s Steve Balmer said he’s deal with the closing of this… → Read More
Once again it’s Tax Day here in the United States of America. (Unless, of course, you’re with the Anti-Tax Tea Party brigade. Have fun you guys, and don’t do what the French are doing in this picture. Violence only begets violence!) This is the part where we ask you if you intend to spend your tax rebate, provided you get one, on any “cool” tech. A monitor? A couple of video games? One or two… → Read More
Tea party! Yes, in the spirit of all those completely artificial tea parties that have been annoying Tweeple from Maine to Hawaii, the New York Post wants to let its readership know that New York State has the fourth highest cellphone taxes in the country. Fourth! That’s almost high enough to give a damn. → Read More
So there’s a longish—the better ones are always longish—post over at Fast Company that details the perils of using Google to find tax documents. (International readers: April 15 is Tax Day in the U.S. It’s a time that drives normally serene men, if I may, batshit crazy.) If you’re pinched for time, the moral of the story is to actually go to http://www.irs.gov for all tax forms and whatnot… → Read More
Itunes users in New York state who complained about President Obama’s OMNIBUS SPENDING BILL should pipe down, since Gov. Patterson has dropped plans for that “iPod tax” that upset so many people. Some of the stimulus money will be used to make up the budget shortfalls that the “iPod tax” was supposed to cover. → Read More
Oh, North Carolina. The state, which is home to Ric Flair (pictured here), is now considering a tax on downloadable items. This, in a time when people are losing their jobs left and right. Download an eBook, get taxed. Download a song, get taxed. Download a movie, get taxed. Download a game, get taxed. You get the idea. → Read More
Because Oregon doesn’t have enough taxes (like personal income tax and really high property taxes), the governor is proposing a mileage tax, based off of a GPS unit installed in your car. → Read More
What a time to be alive, friends! New York’s governor David Patterson (above), who owes his job to Elliot Spitzer’s private stupidity, has proposed a budget that includes 88 new fees and taxes. Among the newly taxed items is the iPod (and other portable media players) as well as “digitally delivered entertainment services.” Should the budget pass, expect lawmakers to interpret that… → Read More
Oh, Europe. It seems the European Commission is still trying to figure out if it wants to impose a customs duty of up to 14 percent (a tax, essentially) on imported multifunction devices, most notably cellphones. While such a move may be beneficial to European Taxmen, it’s not exactly something that consumers, or non-European manufacturers, want to hear. Reason being, obviously, that… → Read More
The Chevy Volt, Detroit’s answer to the Toyota Prius, just became a lot more advantageous, tax-wise. That is, of course, provided you can afford the $40,000 price in the first place. Tucked in that bailout package that Congress passed last week is a $4,000 tax credit for cars that have a 4 kWh (or greater) battery. Right now, the only car that meets that is the Volt. Such tax credits top out… → Read More
So CNET has a scare-you-to-bits piece about states beginning to tax digital downloads like iTunes. Nine states “have considered” such a tax this year alone, while the great state of Tennessee will tax “the retail sale, lease, licensing, or use of specified digital products transferred to or accessed by subscribers or consumers.” Then CNET brings up something called “nexus,” which is… → Read More
Following last week’s announcement by Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, that he wants to end unfair taxes on wireless products and services, Verizon Wireless issued a statement “applauding” the senators work. And sounding like a-know-it-all. Steve Zipperstein, vice president and general counsel at Verizon Wireless, said in a statement: “Verizon Wireless has always said wireless customers should… → Read More
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden has taken up the crusade of cutting the taxes we pay on wireless phones and services, according to a press release issued by the Senator, the average U.S. tax rate for most goods is about 7% but after combining state, local and federal taxes on cell phones and service the average rate more than doubles. That’s more than taxes on tobacco and alcohol, Senator Wyden says. → Read More
Online retailer Amazon has some ‘splaining to do. Texas officials are investigating whether or not the online retailer has a distribution center in Irvin, Texas. If they do, Amazon will owe millions of dollars in back taxes. The Supreme Court ruled in 1992, that states can collect sales from out-of-state retailers, if they have physical presence in the state. Somehow the Irving center… → Read More
It’s April 15, Tax Day here in the U.S. and unless you’re Wesley Snipes, you’ve no doubt paid your fair share to The Man. But, but! what did you/will you do with your tax refund? Stash it in the bank? Blow it on Johnny Walker? Travel? Or, relevant to us here, buy some tech toy that you really don’t need but want anyway? I think I’ll put some of my rebate toward a… → Read More
All told, most of the CG team has to pay $10K+ out of pocket thanks to foolish freelancing planning. This post is for you to bitch about your own tax woes or to rub in your proper planning and rebates. Feel free to try to make me cry. → Read More
Warner Music is proposing a $5 “music tax” that will be tacked on to your ISP bill monthly, ensuring you will hate the labels even more. The tax would generate $20 billion a year in revenues, enabling industry executives to maintain their diet of gold-dipped quail eggs and the blood of supple young virgins while paying the industry back for all the piracy that is going on. The tax is… → Read More
Poor Canada, no one cares about you, hockey or the fact that you very well might have to pay additional taxes every time you buy an iPod. It seems like the Copyright Board of Canada has green lighted the tax on DAPs and flash storage cards. (It can’t be any worse, ideologically at least, than the $1 Microsoft pays Universal per Zune sold.) If the tax actually goes into effect, the price of a… → Read More
Virtual worlds like Second Life are strange creatures. The people who participate in them won’t admit to it, but they’re huge dorks. Bar none. They got picked on in school or couldn’t cut it in the Real World. So they hop online, armed only with an avatar and their keyboard. Perhaps some sort of fat-based snack as well. But online they’re kings, demigods among virtual men… → Read More
Before you get all excited about paying your taxes with your cellphone so you can get back to eating Cheese Doodles and watching World Series Poker, note that this is only happening in the Philippines currently. The country’s Internal Revenue Bureau has struck a deal with major telecom and banking groups that will allow personal income taxes to be paid via SMS. Unfortunately, this new PAYBIR… → Read More
As you may or may not have noticed on your normal phone bill, there’s a federal excise tax on long-distance phone service. Not only do consumers loathe it, but the government does as well. So as an incentive to use VoIP services, you can earn up to $60 back from federal charges. Here’s how it works: → Read More
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