Federal Taxes

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney reportedly paid about $3 million in federal income taxes in 2010 on income of $21.7 million. Romney's tax returns show most of his income came from investments. He also gave nearly $3 million combined to charitable causes and the Mormon Church, helping reduce his effective tax rate to less than 14%. The former Massachusetts governor agreed to make public his 2010 federal tax returns, and his estimates for 2011, after opponents on both the left and right charged that he was hiding his income and assets.

WASHINGTON - Apple Inc., one of the most successful and valuable companies on the planet, will be tested Tuesday when Chief Executive Tim Cook testifies about the company's controversial tax practices before a hostile Senate subcommittee. Should the company, as Apple and Cook argue, be applauded for creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and paying $6 billion in federal taxes last year, among the most of any U.S. corporation? Or should Apple be reviled for stashing a hoard of cash overseas so it could legally skirt an additional $15 billion in taxes over four years, making it potentially one of the country's biggest tax avoiders?

Re "GOP Inherits Momentum to Reduce Federal Estate Tax," April 19: For those readers who have the attitude of "soak the rich," I have some news for you. The rich employ gardeners, maids, throw parties, take cruises, buy cars and boats, donate to charities, eat at restaurants, etc., and keep their businesses running. Their dollars create jobs. Through their lavish lifestyle, they buy goods and services and benefit the rest of the "working stiffs." For those working in family-owned businesses, your working days are numbered.

WASHINGTON -- President Obama's income continued its recent creep downward in 2012, along with his effective federal income tax rate, according to the tax returns released Friday by the White House. The president and first lady reported a joint adjusted gross income of $608,611, down from almost $790,000 in 2011. The Obamas paid $112,214 in federal taxes in 2012, for an 18.4% effective income tax rate. In recent years, the president's income has slipped as sale of his books appear to have tapered off. On a form noting his profession as “author,” the president  reported $273,000 in income from book sales, a 40% drop since last year.

Money and property transferred during a lifetime or after death are subject to federal taxes under an estate and gift-tax system. But there are exceptions. All assets left to a surviving spouse are exempt from the tax. Individuals can give anyone else up to $600,000 in gifts and bequests tax-free, or $1.2 million per married couple. The tax rates for transfers exceeding $600,000 range from 37% to 55%. Some states also levy taxes, though often on amounts smaller than $600,000.

President Clinton and his wife, Hillary, paid $55,313 in federal taxes on an adjusted gross income of $263,900 during his second White House year, according to tax returns released Friday. The tax represented 21% of the couple's combined income. The return shows that because of overpayments, the Clintons are due a refund of $14,418. They have elected to apply $7,500 of the overpayment to their 1995 income taxes and will accept an actual refund of $6,918.

U.S. corporations have enjoyed a two-year bull run on Wall Street. They are sitting on a record amount of cash and are back to paying bonuses that are the envy of executives around the world. And the icing on the cake for many of them might be just around the corner: a tax cut that has bipartisan support in Congress. As part of their budget plan passed last week, House Republicans want to cut the corporate tax rate to 25% from 35%. The Obama administration and many Democrats also are looking to slice the current rate, but not as much.

Los Angeles City Council candidate Stephen Box did not pay thousands of dollars in taxes on time in 1994, 1995 and 1999, according to liens filed against him with the L.A. County registrar-recorder. According to the liens, Box failed to pay a total of $11,813 in federal taxes in 1994 and 1995, and $2,691 in state taxes in 1999, some of which may have been subsequently paid. Another lien was filed against him in 2008 in connection with a small-claims-court case over an alleged nonpayment of $2,618 to Capital One bank.

Brisk book sales lifted President Obama's income to $5.5 million in his first year in office, an amount that dwarfs that of his recent predecessors while in power and reflects the public's continued willingness to pay to read his writings. On tax day, the White House released 2009 returns showing that the Obamas' income more than doubled from the year before. They collected $2.7 million in 2008, and $4.2 million in 2007. Obama paid nearly $1.8 million in federal taxes and $163,000 in Illinois state taxes.

Our political leaders trot out new and more creative excuses for their failure to get the state's fiscal house in order every day, but one hardy perennial was recently aired again by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. This is the notion that California is running a budget deficit because we pay more in federal taxes than we get back in federal spending. Schwarzenegger and the legislative leaders made a pilgrimage to Washington on this theme last week. The governor's claim was that the state receives only 78 cents back for every dollar of federal tax we generate, so somehow we're "subsidizing" the states that get more and incurring red ink in Sacramento in the process.

Hiking, camping, hunting and fishing, among other outdoor activities, help generate $85.4 billion in annual spending in California, more than any other state in the country, according to a new study. Spending on outdoor recreation in the state also helps support 732,000 jobs and generates $6.7 billion in state and local taxes, according to the study by the Outdoor Industry Assn., the trade group for outdoor retailers, manufacturers and others. The report represents the first time that the organization has broken out the spending by individual state.

Americans hit the stores in February - but with only the barest of enthusiasm as they worried about bad weather, delayed tax refunds and the federal mix of tax increases and spending cuts known as sequestration. Three separate measures of sales at stores open at least a year showed revenue dampened by economic factors such as higher gas prices, stubbornly high unemployment and a payroll tax boost. Pasadena student Elisa Jimenez, 21, said her paycheck as a sales associate mostly went for school and fuel last month.

WASHINGTON -- President Obama's limousine will display the District of Columbia license plate reading "Taxation without Representation" during inauguration activities and through the remainder of his term to call attention to the district's lack of voting power in Congress. The decision, announced by a White House aide, comes in response to a resolution unanimously passed by the D.C. Council calling on Obama to display the slogan during the inaugural ride down Pennsylvania Avenue to highlight what the resolution calls the "fundamentally unfair and undemocratic condition of district residents.

The richest Americans might find lumps of coal in their stockings on Christmas morning and, if not that, then they can definitely anticipate big hangovers on New Year's Day. The metaphorical coal lumps and hangovers will be thanks to President Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner, who are either going to strike a deal in the next few days to allow taxes to go up for the wealthy or let it happen automatically when the George W. Bush-era tax...

You may be unaware of the local ramifications of one of the proposals currently at play in the danse macabre that passes for fiscal negotiations in Washington. This is the plan to cap federal tax deductions at either a set figure or a percentage of income. Either way, it would strike deepest and hardest mostly at residents of California, as well as other populous states with high levels of government services, high state and local taxes, and relatively expensive housing. The mortgage interest and state and local tax deductions are among the most important tax breaks that would be capped under this sort of proposal.

Are we about to go over a fiscal cliff? It's looking more likely, but it may not be as alarming as it sounds. Here are three things you need to know about the impending crisis over the so-called fiscal cliff, the combination of tax increases and automatic spending cuts due to kick in at the turn of the year: First, it's not really a cliff; it's merely a steep, scary slope. If Congress doesn't act, federal taxes will increase by more than $500 billion next year and federal spending will be cut by about $200 billion.

WASHINGTON - As President Obama mounts an aggressive campaign on what he calls tax fairness, his own tax burden has fallen to the lowest of his time in the White House, lower than many who make far less - including his secretary. The president and first lady reported a joint adjusted gross income of $789,674 last year and paid $162,074 in federal taxes, or about 20.5%, according to the tax return released Friday by the White House. That income keeps the Obamas in the top 1% of taxpayers.

How much will Eduardo Saverin save by ditching his U.S. citizenship? At least a cool $67 million in federal taxes according to analysis by Bloomberg. The financial news service came to that number by comparing the value of the Facebook shares Saverin had when he renounced his citizenship sometime around September ($2.44 billion) with the value of those same shares now (an estimated $2.89 billion). Then they applied the 15% capital gains rate to the approximate $448 million spread between the two numbers and voila -- $67 million.

WASHINGTON -- Six in 10 Americans support a tax increase on annual income of more than $250,000, according to a nationwide poll released Wednesday. Such a hike is the centerpiece of President Obama's efforts to avoid the large automatic tax increases and spending cuts, collectively known as the fiscal cliff, that are coming at the start of next year. The Washington Post/ABC News poll showed 73% of Democrats and 63% of independents back raising taxes on incomes over $250,000, while just 39% of Republicans support it.  The poll results show the divide in Washington between Democrats and Republicans over reaching a major deficit-reduction package that would avoid the fiscal cliff.

The Rev. J. Edgar Boyd delivered his inaugural sermon Sunday as the new pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church in L.A., seeking to unite and heal a congregation that had become fractured over the troubles of its former leader. Addressing worshipers, a seemingly nervous Boyd used parables to talk about forgiveness. But to the thousands in the packed room, the message was clear: A new leader was at the helm to restore the image of the oldest black pulpit in Los Angeles.