NEWS
October 25, 1987 | By Kenneth R. Harney, Special to The Inquirer
With the ink barely dry on last year's Tax Reform Act and thousands of homeowners bewildered about their correct mortgage deductions for next April, Congress stepped into the breach last week. The bottom line: You may get still another major change in the federal tax law governing your home mortgage write-offs. Or - if President Reagan does what he vows he'll do - the 1987 tax bill will be vetoed into oblivion, and you'll be stuck with last year's byzantine mortgage rules. Here's a quick overview of what's happening on Capitol Hill, and how it could directly touch you by Thanksgiving: The House Ways and Means Committee's Democratic majority wrote and passed a $12 billion tax bill last week.
NEWS
February 24, 1987
This new tax law is a joke, and anyone who's had to struggle with the new W-4 forms knows what I'm talking about. You practically need a Ph.D. in math to figure your new withholding. And then, once you do figure it out, you realize that all that talk about less taxes was a bunch of lies. I say the new tax law is a nasty piece of business, and I say we vote the bums out of office. Patience Merriman Clifton Heights.
BUSINESS
January 11, 2013 | By Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The nation's tax law is so thick and complicated that businesses and individuals spend more than six billion hours a year complying with filing requirements. That's the equivalent of three million people working full time year round. As a result, about 90 percent of filers will either pay a tax preparer or use a computer software service to help with their federal tax returns this spring, according to a report Wednesday by an independent government watchdog. "The existing tax code makes compliance difficult, requiring taxpayers to devote excessive time to preparing and filing their returns," says the report by Nina E. Olson, the National Taxpayer Advocate.
NEWS
December 21, 1986 | By Kenneth R. Harney, Special to The Inquirer
Thousands of small-scale real estate investors could be hurt by the elimination of certain tax benefits on installment sales of real estate in the 1986 Tax Reform Act. Though the new federal "installment-sales" rules affect a wide range of business and investment activities beyond real estate, the effect of this may well be most jolting to people who invested in small rental homes, duplexes, condominiums and similar properties. Installment sales are among the most popular techniques of transferring real property in the United States.
NEWS
November 2, 1986 | By Kenneth R. Harney, Special to The Inquirer
With President Reagan's signature still fresh on the new tax-overhaul legislation, legal and accounting experts have already identified a major boon to real estate investors. It is an an investment that: Bypasses the deduction restrictions imposed on limited partnerships and other forms of real estate ownership under the new tax law. Offers tax-sheltered annual income in the 9 to 12 percent-per-year range. Requires you or your spouse to get away to a resort at the beach, on the ski slopes or out in the country periodically.
NEWS
April 13, 2003 | By Louise Harbach INQUIRER SUBURBAN STAFF
Besides Richard Flaster's hippos - four ceramic jungle beasts, including three that are nearly life-size, guard the entrance to his office and seven more lounge on his office desk - the Cherry Hill lawyer's passion is tax law. "My family doesn't have any problem thinking of a gift to give me for Father's Day, and they know that no hippo will go unappreciated," said Flaster of the more than 1,400 of the mammals residing in the Cherry Hill law...
NEWS
September 20, 1991 | By Ralph Cipriano, Inquirer Staff Writer
Louisa D'Orazio McShea, 51, a housewife and mother who went back to school at age 33 and became a lawyer, died Tuesday of cancer at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. She was a resident of Washington Crossing. Mrs. McShea, who was born in South Philadelphia and raised in Northeast Philadelphia, graduated from St. Hubert's High School in Torresdale in 1958. She got married in 1961, and devoted herself to raising her two daughters. At age 33, when her daughters were in junior high school, Mrs. McShea decided to go back to school.
NEWS
February 4, 1988 | By David M. Giles, Inquirer Staff Writer
The April 15 tax return deadline is a comfortable 71 days away, but tax preparers are bracing for lots of questions from clients confused by tax changes that took effect this year. Some preparers also expect clients to get their finances in order earlier this year so they know how much they owe before the deadline. "People are coming in early," said Susan E. Cohen, a tax manager at Schiffman Hughes in Blue Bell. Cohen said she has received a lot more calls than last year at this time.
BUSINESS
November 27, 1986 | By Andrew Cassel, Inquirer Staff Writer
Philadelphia Electric Co. customers will get no immediate break on their electricity or gas bills from the recently passed changes in the federal tax law, according to a plan proposed by the utility yesterday. But the State Consumer Advocate challenged the company's calculations, predicting "a major controversy" before the Public Utility Commission. Although regulators and consumer advocates have been predicting a drop in utility bills around the nation as a result of the new tax law, PE officials said yesterday that their company's particular financial circumstances offset the effects of the changes.
BUSINESS
February 11, 1987 | By MARC MELTZER, Daily News Staff Writer
Joe Mohen used to feel wanted. Now he says he feels like a leper. Mohen is one of one million high-technology specialists whose livelihood is threatened by the new tax law passed last fall, according to the Technology Consultants National Association. The trade group held a meeting last night at the Dunfey City Line Hotel to discuss ways to change the new law. The law eliminates the independent contractor status that has been used by computer specialists, engineers, systems analysts, designers and drafters, all of whom work for themselves.