"Tax breaks for whaling ship captains, feeding stray cats and holding office parties for low-wage employees all have been ruled legal under tax law, according to a new report that comes just as the debate over so-called “tax expenditures,” estimated to be worth as much as $1 trillion a year, is heating up.
While much of the focus has been on corporate breaks to the likes of oil companies, the individual income tax code has its share - and Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, wants those to be part of the conversation as well.
On Monday, he released a 600-plus-page report designed to show how to reduce the deficit by $9 trillion over the next 10 years, including trillions of dollars in tax breaks. And alongside it, he obtained a report he requested from the Congressional Research Service, Congress‘ nonpartisan analytical branch, laying out some of the crazier-sounding write-offs:
*Eskimo whaling ship captains, who can deduct up to $10,000 a year. Even though commercial whaling is illegal in U.S. waters, native Alaskan captains are still allowed to hunt, and since 2005 are also allowed to claim the annual charitable deduction to offset their fuel and weapons costs.
*Businesses can deduct the full cost of “recreational, social or similar activities” for low-paid employees - which means the costs of office holiday parties can be written off"..............READ MORE
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