Tax

EXCUSE ME for bringing up a bad subject, but Monday is when you pay Uncle Sam what you owe in taxes. And tax experts say too many entrepreneurs often leave legitimate small-business tax deductions on the table. According to online publication Small Business Trends , there are 10 key deductions entrepreneurs should not overlook. 1. Health Care Tax Credit If you provide insurance to your workers under ObamaCare, you may be eligible to claim a tax credit of up to 35 percent, if certain criteria are met. 2. Business Use of Personal Car Use your personal vehicle for business purposes?

WASHINGTON - Mixing modest curbs on spending with tax increases reviled by Republicans, President Obama proposed a $3.8 trillion budget Wednesday that would raise taxes on smokers and wealthy Americans and trim Social Security benefits for millions. Obama's 2014 blueprint combines a $242 billion infusion of new spending for road and rail projects, early education and jobs initiatives - all favored by Democrats - with longer-term savings from programs including Medicare and the military.

AVI HAS produced many high-profile changes. But it's also created a strange, overlooked quirk that, if not fixed, will give extra tax relief to those who already are getting huge discounts on their tax bills: owners of tax-abated houses. The 10-year tax abatement, created in 1997 to jump-start development, exempts homeowners from paying taxes on the improved value of their property. For new houses, this means that the entire value of the house is tax-exempt for 10 years. During that time, the owner pays taxes only on the value of the land on which the house sits.

Panic-stricken during tax time, many Americans dig out receipts for last year's charitable donations before filing by April 15 - only to discover the charity they gave serious money to either was a scam or wasn't eligible for a tax-deductible gift. If you're like me - meaning you routinely file your tax returns at the last minute - you can save yourself from being duped by a charitable donation gone awry. The American Red Cross and Goodwill are just two examples of well-known tax-exempt charities approved by the Internal Revenue Service.

NOT TO RILE anyone facing the duty of filing tax returns by next week's deadline (a/k/a that time of year one really looks at how much of one's money the government gets), but every time I turn around there's reason to be pissed off. I'm not talking about ongoing aggravations such as the pay and perks of City Council, the state Legislature and Congress, members of which collectively do more to us than for us while spending our money. (Digression: Can I get an eye-roll for President Obama "sacrificing" 5 percent of his $400,000 salary because of sequestration?

  Robert R. Batt, 93, the ultimate tax lawyer who spent his entire career at Ballard Spahr, serving as managing partner and head of its tax practice, died of cancer Tuesday, April 2, at Bryn Mawr Hospital. Mr. Batt joined the Philadelphia law firm in 1948, fresh out of Harvard Law School, after obtaining his bachelor's in history and English literature from Harvard. His keen intellect and deft people skills, immediately spotted by those around him, catapulted Mr. Batt to prominence as the unofficial dean of the state and local tax bar in Pennsylvania, and helped raise the firm's profile.

TOPEKA, Kan. - Kansas legislators gave final passage to a sweeping antiabortion measure Friday night, sending Gov. Sam Brownback a bill that declares life begins "at fertilization" and would block tax breaks for abortion providers and ban abortions performed solely because of the baby's sex. The House voted, 90-30, for a compromise version of the bill reconciling differences between the two chambers, only hours after the Senate approved it,...

Need a reason to drink? How about improving the futures of Philadelphia's school kids? Mayor Nutter and City Council are rarely on the same page these days, but the possibility of increasing the "liquor by the drink" tax to help pay for the School Reform Commission request last week for $60 million seems to be gaining traction on both sides. City Council President Darrell Clarke has pledged support for increasing the tax, which now adds 10 percent to your bar tab (on top of the sales tax)

EIGHTY years ago this Sunday, the federal government enacted a law that targets beer drinkers with a mean-spirited tax on every bottle, every glass, every sip they take. In the decades that have followed this ignominious date, the law has taken billions of dollars out of our pockets, killed jobs, thwarted brewery expansion and threatened the middle class. Beer lobbyists today describe the law as "devastating" and "regressive. " They say it jeopardizes the entire industry. Just another example of greedy tax-and-spend politicians, right?

Thomas Knudsen, who spent more than a decade rescuing a nearly bankrupt Philadelphia Gas Works, was named Wednesday to a new position charged with wringing out every possible dollar owed to the city. The post, officially the city's chief revenue collections officer, will give Knudsen authority over all city departments that collect taxes, fees, fines, or any other form of payment, in an effort to improve the city's traditionally dismal collection rate. An Inquirer/PlanPhilly series of articles since 2011 has documented how Philadelphia has the least-effective delinquent property-tax collections among the nation's largest cities.