Tax brief: IRS lost email investigation continues, while gas tax could be phased out
Deja vu all over again, and then some.听IRS Commissioner听, who began his tenure at IRS in December,听听before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee for听about four听hours on听the loss of former Treasury official Lois Lerner鈥檚 emails and the听. House GOP members believe that the hard drive was intentionally destroyed. They accused the Commissioner of lying and hiding the 鈥渟poliation of evidence,鈥� and also tested his knowledge of criminal statute, statistics, and vocabulary. Representative Elijah Cummings likened the hearing to 鈥渉ell.鈥� Its sequel begins听听White House attorney听听and National Archivist David Ferriero听will appear.
The federal Highway Trust Fund? Some want to call the whole thing off.听Last week saw the release of听听to raise the federal gasoline tax and replenish the near-broke Highway Trust Fund. But this summer, stay tuned for听听on last year鈥檚 House and Senate GOP bills to phase out the federal gasoline tax and turn over most of the federal transportation program to states. The听听and听听proposals would reduce the tax from 18.4 cents per gallon to 3.7 cents per gallon over five years.
But the Child Tax Credit could be expanded.听Kansas Republican Representative Lynn Jenkins听听that would index the $1,000听听and income cutoffs to inflation and remove a听. The House Ways and Means Committee plans to vote on听.
Your life insurance benefits could cover your former colleagues鈥� pensions.听As much of 20 percent of all new life insurance policies are听. The cash surrender value of policies Bank of America has taken on its employees is nearly $18 billion. The听, investment returns on the policies, and death benefits are tax deductible. Companies and banks say those dollars cover the costs of long-term health care, deferred compensation, and pension obligations. But companies and banks can听use the tax-free gains however they want.
There鈥檚 a new tax sheriff in town, in Greece.听After the country鈥檚 top tax official abruptly resigned after barely a year. Katarina Savvaidou, a lawyer and听 senior manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers, has been听. Greece has committed to reform its tax system and raise tax revenues as a condition of its $326 billion bailout by the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
