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Received a mostly property inheritance. Had to sell off some to pay the inheritance tax. Inheritance is not taxable as income. Inheritance tax is not deductible as an expense. There were no capital gains on the sale. Does the sale count as income? Tax appointment in 3 weeks and it is just bothering me. I cannot stand the suspense. I think it would not count since it was part of the inheritance and the inheritance tax was paid.

The US officially adopted the federal income tax 102 years ago today. The Supreme Court had ruled in 1895 that the income tax violated Article I of the Constitution, so the amendment was necessary to empower the federal government to impose the income tax. But the story of the income tax goes back much further than 1913, culminating in some sneaky political maneuvering. Conservatives — who aren't the biggest fans of the income tax — actually introduced the 16th amendment. They figured it would never pass hoped its introduction would stop liberals from pushing for an income tax as part...

Hundreds of thousands of German Christians are formally renouncing their faith and leaving the church in order to escape a controversial change in the tax laws. Up to 200,000 Germans are believed to have filed official declarations last year renouncing their membership of the Protestant church, the highest number in almost two decades. A similar number are thought to have left the Catholic Church. Church members in Germany are required by law to pay tax to fund church activities, which is collected by the government. Under German law, anyone who was baptised as a child is automatically a member of...

Indiana University professor Fran Quigley urges, in the progressive Catholic magazine Commonweal, an end to deductibility of charitable contributions against federal income taxes. His argument rests primarily upon the twin beliefs that the U.S. social safety net is too thin and that lost revenues from charitable contribution deductibility would be better spent on governmental social welfare programs. His arguments, while couched in Catholic social justice language, pay virtually no attention to a key principle of Catholic social teaching: the principle of subsidiarity. Furthermore, he has a proclivity to regard as matters of “justice” programs that can also arguably be deemed...

If you decided to skip health insurance this year, consider this: Unless you can prove you have a valid excuse, you will be liable for a penalty during the coming tax season — and the time to start making your case is now. That’s not all. People who bought subsidized insurance through one of the marketplaces may have new tax forms to complete, while paying the penalty itself may demand some serious number-crunching. The Internal Revenue Service is gearing up to answer questions, but it warns that only half of the callers may get through — and those who succeed...

It sounds like these professors graduated from the redistributive school of economics.Christopher White of the College Fix reports. Ninety percent income tax rate would help the rich, economics professors claim Opposing economist asks why disincentives in carbon tax wouldn’t apply to income taxEconomists at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Bonn argue that the United States would be better off if well-heeled citizens paid the kind of high tax rates not seen since the Eisenhower administration.According to a working paper by Bonn’s Fabian Kindermann and Penn’s Dirk Krueger published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, going back...

Most voters in Tennessee pay no income or payroll taxes. Next month, they will decide whether they want that to remain that way. A state ballot referendum, Amendment 3, would write prohibitions of both income and payroll taxes into the state constitution, pushed by anti-tax advocates who are worried about previous government efforts to add an income tax. For the foreseeable future, there is little chance of either tax being added in the Volunteer State. The Republicans control both the statehouse and the governor's mansion, and no one expects them to endorse either levy. Nevertheless, anti-tax advocates are concerned that...

Despite struggling with the ongoing border crisis, Texas is the number three state in terms of job growth, creating more than 20,000 jobs in August alone, with an unemployment rate of just 5.3%. So, what is Texas doing right? […] (President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Richard) Fisher explained that Texas is way ahead of much of the nation economically largely due to its highly diversified economy, pro-business government and lack of income tax. …

A team of acclaimed filmmakers is spearheading “Unfair”, a ninety minute documentary motion picture intended for all audiences. It will be the first major theatrical documentary to shed light on the certain damage the Income Tax and the IRS have wrought on our liberties, our businesses, our families, and our religious, charitable and civic organizations, while empowering a political agenda contrary to America’s heritage. This film will be promoted to mainstream audiences based on its factual and dramatic content. In addition, the Picture will be marketed heavily to interested grassroots audiences that identify themselves strongly with any and all of...

Tax Reform: A new report finds several states that helped elect President Obama are doing something he won't — implementing pro-growth tax policies to get their economies moving. Is the White House paying attention? You wouldn't expect a solidly blue state like Maryland — which hasn't voted for a Republican presidential candidate since Reagan — to be cutting taxes for the rich. But in their last legislative session, Maryland lawmakers passed a plan to raise the estate tax exemption almost fivefold over the next five years, according to the latest annual "Rich States, Poor States" report from the American Legislative...

Wisconsin Senator Robert La Follette and his supporters pioneered long-shot primary challenges, strong ideology, and populist rhetoric a century ago.

July 1 might go down in history as the beginning of the end of the comprehensive, progressive income tax. A progressive income tax, in which the government attempts to tax all labor income and capital income, such as interest, dividends and capital gains more than once, cannot help becoming so complex that it eventually dies of its own weight. This is particularly true when the government attempts to tax the worldwide income of its “tax persons” rather than the income located in its own territory. The complexity is caused by the never-ending attempt to define what income is and what...

CLINTON CAN’T STOP GAFFES ON CRONY CAPITALISM Can Hillary Clinton, who says she and her husband went on from being “dead broke” in 2001 to rake in an estimated $155 million, run for president as the nominee of a party that is obsessed with income inequality? No problem, she told The Guardian, because the Clintons pay their taxes. The Democratic 2016 frontrunner dismissed the idea that voters would see a corporate-connected candidate with a nine-digit income in the past decade as part of the problem: “‘But they don't see me as part of the problem,’ she protests, ‘because we pay...

Obamacare is hurting people. A lot of people -- and not just the ones who are wasting all day trying and failing to sign up for the dysfunctional 600 million dollar website. Millions of Americans are losing their insurance, losing their doctors, and taking huge hits to their wallets because of Obamacare. Here are some of their stories... 1) Man with leukemia loses his health insurance: Michael Cerpok is a high school drop-out, one of six kids born to a school teacher, and doesn't come from a wealthy family. He has run two businesses for more than 25 years and...

WASHINGTON – Those tax-free spending accounts that you and your co-workers use to help pay for dental work, insurance copayments or over-the-counter drugs face a hit under the health overhaul bills in Congress — unless a coalition that includes a powerful union, insurers and others can stop it. Bills in the House and Senate would cap at $2,500 an employee's allowable annual contribution to a health care flexible spending account. There is no federal cap on contributions now, though companies that offer the accounts — more than 80 percent of companies employing 500 or more workers do — typically impose...

In a final regulation issued Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assumed that under Obamacare the cheapest health insurance plan available in 2016 for a family will cost $20,000 for the year. Under Obamacare, Americans will be required to buy health insurance or pay a penalty to the IRS. The IRS's assumption that the cheapest plan for family of five will cost $20,000 per year is found in examples the IRS gives to help people understand how to calculate the penalty they will need to pay the government if they do not buy a mandated health plan. “The annual national...

Breaking Bad is the story of a seemingly well-intended but very misguided man who turned to cooking meth in order to amass enough wealth to provide for his family once he dies of cancer. The consequences of that unfortunate decision—not to mention the lies and deceptions to keep it on track—pyramid alarmingly over the course of five seasons, culminating in mayhem and a head-spinning body count. Obamacare isn’t a TV drama. But it will unleash its own tsunami of unintended consequences: more than a million jobs lost, an economy increasingly made up of part-time workers, higher health spending (at least...

Under the Affordable Care Act, someone making less than 138 percent of the poverty line qualifies for Medicaid, and someone between 138 and 400 percent of the poverty line is qualified to receive a federal tax subsidy for health insurance bought on a government exchange. But here is the problem: premiums will rise for millions of Americans because of requirements that policies provide certain benefits that they didn’t offer before. This means plenty of people will now have a pricier plan, and no way to defray the cost. My colleague Chuck Blahous sends me this piece from SFGate that gives...

Obama's Big Media mouthpieces are promoting the Dear Leader's latest talking point on Health Care: "Tax-free" health benefits from employers are actually a "tax break", and as such can be rescinded by The Leader and His Righteous Coven in the Congress.USA Today's Obama media sock puppet Richard Wolf "reports" in today's online rag:Lawmakers target health insurance tax break Congressscum appear to be ready to do a wilding on the health care you earned.

Guess Who Really Pays the Taxes By Stephen Moore From the November/December 2007 Issue Yes, income in America is skewed toward the rich. But taxes are skewed far, far more. The top 5 percent pay well over half the income taxes. STEPHEN MOORE has the numbers. 1. Are income taxes fair?That depends on who is offering the opinion. Democratic candidates for president certainly don’t think so. John Edwards has said, “It’s time to restore fairness to a tax code that has been driven badly out of whack.” Hillary Clinton laments that “middle-class and working families are paying a much higher percentage...