Government taxation and revenue
Thousands of bridges at risk of freak collapse
Thousands of bridges around the United States may be one freak accident or mistake away from collapse, even if the spans are deemed structurally sound. The crossings are kept standing by engineering design, not supported with brute strength or redundant protections like their more modern counterparts. The consequence of that ...
Indy fires 2 officials in alleged kickback plot
Two city of Indianapolis officials have been fired amid allegations they took bribes and kickbacks in their roles in a city program that sells vacant and tax-delinquent properties. Reggie Walton, 29, the assistant administrator of abandoned buildings for the Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development, and John Hawkins, 27, the department's ...
Highlights from around the Capitol
Gov. Rick Perry wouldn't say Friday whether there is too much unfinished business at the Texas Legislature to adjourn next week as scheduled. His record the last 13 years says lawmakers aren't going anywhere. The regular 140-day session ends Monday. But with only the Memorial Day weekend left to work ...
Furlough Friday: Unpaid day off for many in gov't
No one answered the tax-help hotline at the IRS on Friday. And you could forget about getting advice on avoiding foreclosures at the 80 Housing and Urban Development field offices nationwide. It was "furlough Friday." Roughly 5 percent of the federal workforce — 115,000 people at six major agencies — ...
Ohio senator demands answers in IRS targeting
Ohio's Republican U.S. senator is demanding to know if any disciplinary action has been taken against Internal Revenue Service employees at the agency's Cincinnati office for targeting conservative groups and whether they were acting under orders from their supervisors. Sen. Rob Portman, who has been a vocal critic of the ...
Tax break weekend in Texas for Energy Star items
Texas shoppers can get a tax break this Memorial Day holiday weekend when buying certain power-saving appliances. The state comptroller's office says the Energy Star sales tax holiday begins Saturday and runs through Monday. Qualifying products display the Energy Star logo. Sales tax breaks are available for items including refrigerators ...
Top Swiss negotiator in tax disputes steps down
Switzerland's top negotiator in talks to resolve disputes over tax evasion with Europe and the U.S. is stepping down. The Finance Ministry said Friday that Michael Ambuehl will leave his post at the end of August and go into academia. The move comes at a crucial time for Switzerland, which ...
Former SIST CFO gets 4 years for tax evasion
The former chief financial officer for a Wisconsin-based religious group has been sentenced to four years in prison for tax evasion. Sixty-eight-year-old Kalmar Gronvall also will have to serve three years extended supervision after his prison sentence. He was ordered Monday to undergo a mental health evaluation and receive treatment ...
Statehouse memorial honors late Indiana Gov. Bowen
Top Indiana officials praised Otis Bowen's humble nature and political legacy as a tax reformer Thursday during a Statehouse memorial for the popular two-term governor who began his career as a small-town physician. Republican Gov. Mike Pence and three former governors — Democrats Evan Bayh and Joe Kernan and Republican ...
Indiana lawmakers to review ISTEP test troubles
Indiana lawmakers said Thursday they will spend the coming months reviewing computer troubles with a statewide standardized test, the use of land banks to sell vacant property and other problems uncovered around the state. Legislative leaders say they would like more answers from McGraw-Hill and the Department of Education about ...
Mary J. Blige faces $3.4M federal tax lien in NJ
Mary J. Blige and her husband have been hit with a $3.4 million tax lien in New Jersey. Court documents show the Internal Revenue Service filed a notice of a lien on the nine-time Grammy Award winner Feb. 7. That was two days before the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul was ...
Portage mayor orders police, fire hiring halted
The mayor of Portage has caught police and fire leaders by surprise by ordering a hiring freeze for the departments until the city's revenue picture is clearer. The Times in Munster reports (http://bit.ly/13NM52f ) the police and fire merit boards were moving forward with plans to hire additional staff when ...
Ind. lawmakers returning to consider veto override
Indiana lawmakers are returning to the Statehouse for one day next month to possibly override Republican Gov. Mike Pence's veto of a local tax measure. The General Assembly plans to return June 12 to consider Pence's veto of legislation authorizing Jackson and Pulaski (puh-LAS'-ky) counties to retroactively collect local option ...
Indy mayor suspends land bank after indictments
Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard on Wednesday suspended a city program that sells vacant and tax-delinquent properties, one day after federal prosecutors indicted two of its top officials for allegedly accepting bribes and kickbacks. Ballard said he learned of problems at the Indianapolis Land Bank "when I got the phone call" ...
Broke no laws, IRS official says - then takes 5th
At the center of a political storm, an Internal Revenue Service supervisor whose agents targeted conservative groups swore Wednesday she did nothing wrong, broke no laws and never lied to Congress. Then she refused to answer lawmakers' further questions, citing her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself. In one ...
Senate Democrats offer slew of Ohio budget changes
Democrats in the Ohio Senate suggested Wednesday that budget writers take millions of dollars from a proposed income tax cut for higher wage earners and direct it to schools instead, as work intensified on the state's spending plan. The idea is among roughly 200 amendments that Democratic senators are offering ...
2 Ore. timber counties reject public safety levies
Voters in two Oregon timber counties with the lowest property taxes in the state — Curry and Josephine — turned down tax increases Tuesday that would have funded law enforcement, but a jail levy passed in a third, Lane County. The outcome puts Curry County, population 22,000, closer to going ...
Cleveland fair-housing advocate facing tax counts
A fair-housing advocate in Cleveland has been charged with tax fraud for allegedly trying to avoid taxes on $500,000 in income and keeping $80,000 in federal taxes withheld from employees. U.S. Attorney Steve Dettelbach (DEHT'-ehl-bahk) said 62-year-old Edward Kramer was charged Wednesday with 10 counts in a court filing which ...
EU steps up fight against tax evasion by end 2013
The European Union's leaders took a major step in tackling tax-dodgers Wednesday by pushing to end bank secrecy across the bloc's 27 members by the end of the year. German Chancellor Angela Merkel hailed the agreement to set up an automatic exchange of bank information among the EU's tax authorities ...
GOP questions IRS scrutiny of anti-abortion groups
When a small anti-abortion group in Iowa sought nonprofit status, the Internal Revenue Service asked its board to promise not to organize protests outside Planned Parenthood and demanded to know how its prayer meetings and protest signs were educational. Although the Coalition for Life of Iowa's application was ultimately approved ...
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