Income Taxes

The federal government ran up a budget deficit of nearly $780 billion in the first half of the fiscal year amid more spending on TARP, Social Security, Medicare and more, according to the Congressional Budget Office. But the shortfall is actually $53 billion less than it was in the same period last year. From Oct. 1, 2011, through March 30, 2012, the government pulled in $29 billion more in corporate income taxes -- a 53% increase -- due to businesses making higher payments and getting smaller refunds.

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown defends his soak-the-rich tax proposal as just. And besides, he says, it's popular with the non-rich. Never mind that it's the opposite of reform, that it would make California's roller-coaster tax system even more volatile. But maybe things do have to get worse before they get better. The state treasury is starved for more revenue. The governor is trying to avoid massive cuts to K-12 schools and more swats at the universities. It's probably not practical to wait for reform.

Many of the nation's most profitable companies are paying far less than the government's 35% corporate income tax rate, with dozens paying no taxes at all, according to a controversial new report. Left-leaning advocacy and research groups Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy examined 280 companies and concluded that they paid an average rate of 18.5% from 2008 through 2010 — about half the official rate. Several firms mentioned in the report lashed out at the findings.

Gov. Jerry Brown is testy. He's defensive. He's very frustrated. He's only human, after all - not a demigod, not the all-wise, powerful supergov he portrayed himself to be when running for the office. It's hard to know who believed that portrayal the most: the voters, the Sacramento insiders or the candidate himself. Regardless, it hasn't panned out the way most people had hoped, and certainly not the way Brown had envisioned. So on Monday, he was in the governor's press conference room - built by his father, incidentally - trying to explain why the state budget hole had grown 71% deeper since January, expanding from $9.2 billion to $15.7 billion.

Today is the deadline for filing your federal income tax return. Internal Revenue Service help lines are open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. today to help last-minute filers. To have questions answered or to find in-person help, call the IRS at (800) 829-1040. Twenty-seven post offices in Southern California will be open until midnight to accept returns. To get the address of the nearest location, call the U.S. Postal Service's toll-free help line at (800) ASK-USPS (275-8777).

Senate leader David A. Roberti indicated Saturday that he would oppose increasing income taxes, even if a newly enacted tax reform law is found to be the cause of a surprise budget shortfall of as much as $1 billion. In a radio speech, the Los Angeles Democrat pinned the blame on last October's stock market crash, and charged that Deukmejian Administration tax officials failed to take it into account and make corrective adjustments.

China will introduce an income tax next year in a bid to narrow the rapidly widening gap between rich and poor in this Communist nation, the official New China News Agency said Thursday. The "Provisions on Individual Income Regulation Tax," issued by the State Council, will apply to all Chinese citizens with residence and income in China, the agency said. The tax, to take effect Jan.

A former San Diego police officer pleaded guilty Wednesday to evading $63,000 in income taxes from 2001 to 2003 on his salary and money he made selling property stolen from the police evidence room on EBay. James Estrella, 46, faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced Dec. 5 in federal court. He has also pleaded guilty in Superior Court to four counts of receiving stolen property.

The governors of Connecticut and Tennessee--two of 10 states with no income taxes--have proposed adding them. In separate announcements Wednesday, Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. of Connecticut and Gov. Ned McWherter of Tennessee also proposed cutting other taxes, including their states' sales taxes. Weicker said an income tax is needed to help erase a $2.4-billion budget shortfall. Tennessee Finance Commissioner David Mannig said his state won't be able to grant raises to teachers without one.

Evelyn Jenkins, 61, who joined her husband, radio talk show host Bill Jenkins, in arguing that income taxes were unconstitutional. In 1986, Jenkins and her husband were ordered to perform 200 hours of community service and to pay back taxes for 1979, 1980 and 1981. They charged that federal and state income taxes are unconstitutional on the grounds the 16th Amendment providing for taxes was never properly ratified.

In March, when I wrote that the tax increase proposals by Gov. Jerry Brown and civil rights attorney Molly Munger were unimaginative if not doomed, I got an email from Munger. She did not agree, at least with regard to her initiative. "Unimaginative?" she wrote, inviting me to meet with her. This week, I decided to take her up on her offer after watching Brown admit that the financial mess he told us about in January was nothing compared to the mess we're in now. Frankly, I don't know how the January estimates were so far off the mark, with a $9-billion hole turning into a $16-billion hole in less time than it takes to grow tomatoes.

WASHINGTON -- Taking another jab at his favorite punching bag, President Obama on Tuesday offered Congress a "to-do" list for the year, drawing attention and gently mocking lawmakers in the unpopular and gridlocked Congress. "It's about the size of a Post-it note. So every member of Congress should have time to read it -- and they can glance at it every so often," Obama said of his list of five measures. He added that lawmakers could check off the list as they pass legislation, "just like when Michelle gives me a list, check it off. " Unlikely.

The "Buffett rule" proposal appears to be dead for this session of Congress. The president characterized increasing taxes on wealthy people as a matter of fairness, but the Republican Congress didn't agree - not to mention that they weren't willing to support any tax increase in the current economic times. There is a middle road on taxes, though. Congress could have increased taxes on capital gains and dividends (which really is what is at stake in the Buffett rule) but lowered personal income taxes by the same amount.

WASHINGTON -- People who still haven't filed their income taxes probably shouldn't get distracted watching YouTube videos. But the Internal Revenue Service is pointing last-minute filers to the site for tips on how to avoid busting Tuesday night's filing deadline. The IRS said it has several videos on its YouTube channel to help people scrambling to file their taxes. One titled "Last-minute tax tips -- 2012," narrated by an IRS employee named Eric, calmly tells procrastinators, "Please, don't worry, you still have options.

As the Senate considers President Obama's “Buffett rule” to require that millionaires and billionaires pay at least 30% income tax, a new poll suggests the proposal is quite popular with the American public. Nearly three-quarters - 72%  -   of Americans say they support the idea, according to a CNN survey of 1,015 Americans, including 910 registered voters. While the proposal was favored more heavily by Democrats (90%), people who make less than $50,000 a year (79%)

Sean Larkin was a Cal State Northridge accounting grad trying to break into the entertainment industry when he met a hip-hop act that performed in local clubs. The Black Eyed Peas didn't need high-level financial advising in the mid-1990s, when they were often broke and handed out fliers to fill their shows. Larkin signed on as their business manager anyway and remained at their side as they became international superstars who routinely pulled in $1 million a night. What seemed a rare story of loyalty rewarded in the music industry has revealed itself as a cautionary tale in recent years.

High-profile criminal defense lawyer Anthony Brooklier has admitted that he willfully failed to pay federal income taxes for 10 years. The delinquency is much longer than was indicated when the Beverly Hills attorney's tax problems surfaced last month. Rather than stand trial, he agreed at that time to plead guilty to two misdemeanors stemming from his failure to pay taxes for 1993 and 1994. Federal prosecutors on Monday released a copy of the plea agreement.

Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney asked for an extension Friday to file his 2011 tax return. The former Massachusetts governor and his wife Ann expect not to owe any further taxes, having estimated $3.2 million in liability and made $3.4 million in payments, according the documents filed. Romney will file his return prior to the November election, according to a spokeswoman. Romney's taxes have been a continual cause of controversy in the 2012 presidential campaign because of his reluctance to release details.