Tax Exemptions

Expressing concern about the 1st Amendment rights of clergy, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) and two Republican colleagues called Thursday for an investigation by the U.S. Government Accountability Office into the IRS' recent probes of alleged "campaign intervention" by churches, including Pasadena's liberal All Saints Church.

Eager to maintain the city's increasingly tenuous hold on the entertainment industry, the Los Angeles City Council took the first step Wednesday toward offering a major tax concession that could save multimedia companies tens of thousands of dollars. The near-unanimous decision signaled the council's growing wish to be more business-friendly and its sensitivity to the city's slipping profile as the movie and entertainment capital of the world.

President Bush on Tuesday embraced a range of issues dear to family and children's advocates, including creation of a Commission on America's Urban Families and new tax exemptions for dependent children. In his State of the Union address, Bush said the nation must "strengthen the family--because it is the family that has the greatest bearing on our future."

Gov. Gray Davis is one of the most incompetent governors we've had in scores of years and, unfortunately, we are stuck with him for another four years ("Legislators Letting Davis Lead on Budget," Nov. 24). He took a state budget awash in surplus and, with lack of foresight and proven incompetence, reduced the surplus to a $21-billion deficit. And our elected legislators are going to leave it to this same man to solve the problem? How hard will that be for him to accomplish? He'll cut costs by $5 billion and increase taxes and fees by $16 billion.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to give significant tax breaks to developers of low-cost rental housing, an incentive that came under scrutiny because of concerns about the county budget. In an effort to encourage construction of housing for the working poor, Orange County for years has offered to make developers of such projects exempt from property taxes.

When the Earth was threatened by an asteroid in the movie "Armageddon" a couple of years ago, the U.S. government asked a team of crack oil drillers to plant explosives in the asteroid to knock it off course. When asked what reward the drillers sought for accepting the risky job to save the world, their leader, played by Bruce Willis, made a quick reply: "They don't want to pay taxes again. Ever!"

Responding to fears that a new newspaper tax could force many small publications in California to fold, the State Board of Equalization found a legal escape hatch Tuesday that could spare most free-circulation newspapers from the additional financial burden. Chairman Brad Sherman, acknowledging that the solution was not the ideal way to administer tax law, suggested that the board make free newspapers eligible for the same tax exemption that now applies to junk mail.

Top conservatives are suggesting that super-committee Republicans are considering raising revenue by doing away with certain tax loopholes and personal deductions in exchange for keeping individual tax rates at or below the levels enacted during the President George W. Bush era. A GOP congressional aide said such proposals are in the realm of possibility as Republicans continue discussing options for meeting the committee's Thanksgiving deadline of...

For-profit hospitals in California provide free care to indigent patients at rates equal to nonprofit hospitals that receive income and property tax exemptions, according to a report released Thursday by the state auditor's office.

Wealthy California Indian tribes that use millions of dollars in federal tax breaks to finance expansion of gambling resorts are gathering support for similar tax breaks from the state. The tax benefits are at the center of lobbying battles in Washington and Sacramento. In Washington, the tribes are fighting the IRS over their use of tax-exempt bonds to pay for expanding hotels and other resort facilities on their reservations.