IRS emails, student debt, and Spain's corporate tax: The week ahead in tax news
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will begin its two-part hearing on missing IRS emails today. Tomorrow, the Senate Finance Committee will examine the role of the tax system in reducing student debt.
Former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) official Lois Lerner speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington in March 2014. The Internal Revenue Service has lost more emails connected to the tea party investigation, congressional investigators said Tuesday.
Lauren Victoria Burke/AP/File
'My kingdom for a hard drive!'聽Tonight, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee begins its two-part hearing on missing IRS emails鈥攍ost after a hard drive crash. During a contentious House Ways and Means committee hearing on Friday, panel chair Dave Camp demanded an apology from IRS Commissioner John Koskinen and called for a聽聽to investigate what he believes may be a 鈥渃over up.鈥� Koskinen refused to apologize and said a special prosecutor would be a waste of taxpayers' money. So far the聽聽has not indicated it will appoint one.
How about a special prosecutor with an IT background?聽IRS email technology is聽: Its modernization program had been on the聽聽of 鈥渁gencies and program areas with vulnerabilities to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement, or are most in need of transformation鈥澛� from 1995 to 2013. The IRS missed an operating system upgrade deadline in April. Being聽聽can鈥檛 help matters.
On the Hill tomorrow:聽The Senate Finance Committee will hold a聽聽the role of the tax system in reducing聽聽load. The share of households with student loans rose from 9 percent in 1989 to 19 percent by 2010. Inflation-adjusted median student debt rose by more than 50 percent.
It鈥檚 possible to get too high in the 'other' Washington.聽The state levies a '聽on legalized recreational marijuana, but taxes medical marijuana at 9.9 percent. State officials had projected $1.9 billion in tax revenues through June 2017. Now, they project tax revenues of just $586 million through June 2019. The recreational tax is 鈥渢oo high for the consumer,鈥� and it is,聽. What鈥檚 not too high? The hoop a consumer jumps through for a medical marijuana card.
Will tax cuts be too high in Spain?聽It unveiled a corporate tax cut plan聽聽and on Friday announced more cuts to take effect before the general election. Starting in 2015 and through 2016,聽聽on average 12.5 percent less in income taxes. Corporate income tax rates will fall from 30 to 25 percent over the same period. At the same time, the European Commission expects Spain keep its pledge to reduce its deficit from 5.6 percent of gross domestic product to 3 percent by 2016. Spain鈥檚 unemployment rate is 26 percent.