Tax Break

Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources. 

* Democrats threaten payroll tax cut consensus. James Politi – The Financial Times. Some Democrats in Congress are seeking to include an extension of the $120 billion payroll tax cut in negotiations over the looming “fiscal cliff”, shaking what had appeared to be a bipartisan consensus to allow the measure to expire as planned at the end of the year. The move could complicate the budget talks due to begin after the November presidential election and alarm rating agencies. Link

* How Romney tackled tax changes. Damian Paletta – The Wall Street Journal. As governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney pushed changes in the state’s corporate tax code that raised hundreds of millions of dollars, particularly from banks, to help close an annual budget gap of more than $1 billion. Now, as a presidential candidate, Romney is promising an overhaul for the federal tax code. Link

* Sharpening the message for the final push. Michael Shear – The New York Times. In the closing days of the 2012 presidential campaign, President Obama and Mitt Romney are finding sharper, punchier ways to communicate their basic arguments. Obama called Romney’s tax and budget plans a “sketchy deal,” condensing his argument into two words. Link

* Undoing IRA conversions. Karen Damato – The Wall Street Journal. Each year, taxpayers have an extended option to undo or “recharacterize” the conversion of a tax-deferred individual retirement account to a Roth: all the way until mid-October of the following year. Link to The Wall Street Journal, http://r.reuters.com/nuf53t

 * Romney’s tax deduction cap. The Wall Street Journal editorial. The Obama campaign and the press corps keep demanding that Mitt Romney specify which tax deductions he’d eliminate, but the Republican has already proposed more tax-reform specificity than any candidate in memory. To wit, he’s proposed a dollar limit on deductions for each tax filer. Link

* Chuck Schumer: Democrats have tax reform all wrong. Ezra Klein – The Washington Post opinion. Sen. Chuck Schumer is widely acknowledged as the party’s top political tactician in the Senate. He’s also a bit shocked that his colleagues have, as he sees it, allowed themselves to get snookered into a vision of tax reform that begins with lowering rates. Now, he is trying to talk them out of it. Link