The link above will provide you with eight significant ways to reduce your 2009 tax burden.
For taxpayers who incurred losses in 2009, the article provides ways to quickly monetize these losses via obtaining refunds through carryback of the losses for up to five years.
More information can be obtained at www.blakechristian.com and www.hcvt.com.
As the world’s eyes turn toDenmark as world leaders, scientists and activists meet to discuss future emission standards in developed and developing countries, there is mounting focus on the U.S., China and India .
There is also continuing fall-out from the release of thousands of emails from environmental scientists, which indicate that certain historical data that calls into question global warning trends was either supressed or destroyed.
A recently released study by the well respected consulting firm McKinsey discusses how there are numerous, relatively low-cost, methods to reduce carbon emmissions – including increasing the use of low-energy lighting, hybrid and other alternative fuel vehicles, as well as building and retro-fitting residential and commercial buildings.
These “low-hanging fruit” startegies are projected to have a quick and significant reduction in carbon emmissions vs. many of the more expensive and longer-term technologies such as conversion to nuclear, wind, etc.
Financial Times (U.K) has an impressive interactive set of maps and charts to show historical and projected emission patterns:
Click on the “Continue to Features” link on the photo in the attached link:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d0940004-c7d5-11de-8ba8-00144feab49a.html.
California’s financial challenges continue to mount, but the Golden State is getting company from other states experiencing dire economic challenges.
11/18/2009 YahooNews.com Article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091118/ap_on_bi_ge/us_california_budget
11/18/2009 Mercury News Article:
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_13816692?source=rss
September 2009 AICPA Article summarizing state tax revenue decreases and state tax audit increases:
Before reading what happened at the 2009 CAEZ Conference, read the following update on the effectiveness of the EZ program and the latest debate on whether the USC EZ study or the UCI EZ study is the most accurate, as well as the latest legislative proposals:
http://www.ezpolicyblog.com/dr-swenson-responds/
The USC study concluded that job growth, real estate values and incomes rose in EZ’s and surrounding areas. The USC study examined precise EZ borders, detailed employment data, salary and unemployment data as well as real estate values.
The UCI concluded that there was no measurable increase in job creation within EZ’s. However, the UCI study limited their analysis to job creation and used employment data from credit rating agencies, which generally measure job retention and creation via ranges for different size businesses – e.g. 0-5, 6 – 10, 11-20, etc. Therefore, if an employer with 12 employees hired 5 new employees, they would fall within the 11-20 employee range and no net job increase or decrease would be reported. Obviously this skews the data.
Another flaw in the UCI study is that they used incomplete and dated borders in defining highly specific EZ regions. The EZ borders are very Gerrymandered and defined by census tracts; however, the UCI study used other criteria including zip codes to build their database for measuring job growth.
http://www.caez.org/Conference-2009/index.html
The annual California Association of Enterprise Zone (CAEZ) conference was held last week in Fresno, California.
The host committee executed a very informative and well-paced conference which was attended by over 160 attendees from Enterprise Zone cities throughout the state.
Key attendees and speakers included:
– John Nunn, HCD Enterprise Zone Program Director, attended all sessions and participated in a number of panel presentations. Mr. Nunn provided the attendees frank and detailed information regarding the administration of the program on a historical basis and the changes he envisions for the future. The thrust of Mr. Nunn’s remarks wast to encourage Zone Administrators and EZ consultants to communicate with HCD, FTB, legislators and other CAEZ members to document successes in their regions and develop improved economic development, workforce development and program effectiveness procedures.
James Dudley, Franchise Tax Board - Enterprise Zone Director, discussed various settled and pending Enterprise Zone cases and the logistics of the Enterprise Zone audit process. Mr. Dudley provided some useful information, but being realtively new in this role, he was a bit reserved in providing specific detail regarding the FTB’s processes or positions.
Assemblymember V. Manuel Perez, Chairman Jobs, Economic Development and Economy (JEDE) provided very positive comments about the work of the CAEZ board and members to preserve and expand the EZ program. Assemblymember Perez discussed the many ways the EZ program benefits business owners in his district, as well as businesses and employees throughout the state. Mr. Perez also cautioned the members that the legislators will require more accountability and refinements to the program to ensure that the taxpayers are getting an adequate return on their $300 million/ year investment in the program. While there are studies which clearly show that employment, poverty and property values improve in incentive zones, conflicting studies, and legislative skepticism will require members to improve documentation and communication with their legislators. He also cautioned us to anticipate some moderate reduced benefits in any final EZ legisaltion next year.
State Senator Roderick Wright - Senator Wright provided us a highly entertaining keynote lunch speech which included a fascinating history of why California manufaturers have exited the state since the 1960′s. Senator Wright provided a real insiders view of Sacramento politics and how the legislators need to take a firmer stance against the tax-and-spend policies of the past few decades.
Toni Symonds, Assembly Consultant and EZ Expert discussed the outcome of the three JEDE legislative hearings, her excellent EZ whitepaper and the 100+ suggestions for improvement/ refinement to the EZ program which came out of the hearings. The theme was for members to increase their pro-active communication to legislators, be open-minded with respect to reasonable refinements to the program and share best-practices with other members.
In summary – the EZ program is alive and well, and the JEDE, HCD, FTB and CAEZ are all working together to spread the word to businesses in the 42 California Enterprise Zones and work to improve certaqin aspects of the EZ Program. Documenting Program effectiveness will also continue to be at the top of all parties’ agendas.
Additional information can be obtained at:
http://www.ezpolicyblog.com/jede-committee-hearing-1082009-part-3/
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS244597+30-Oct-2009+PRN20091030
December 9, 2009 (Wed.) – 9:30-11:00 PST – Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) will be conducting a national webinar which will provide participants with an overview of the dramatic decrease in state revenues and what this means for business and personal taxpayers.
In addition to discussing the steepest drop in state revenues in 50 years, we will be focusing on the business and personal impact of the California tax overhaul proposed by the Commission for the 21st Century Economy last month.
As detailed in posts earlier this month, the proposal includes elimination of corporate income taxes, a reduction of personal tax rates to 6.5%, reduction of sales tax rates, and the introduction of a controversial Business Net Receipts Tax (BNRT).
With state and local tax revenues falling by the largest percentage in 50 years, state and local agencies are stepping up their income, sales/ use and property tax audit activities to close at least part of the tax gap.
Please click on the link below to read how 42 states have experienced drops in their tax revenue – and the current fiscal year looks equally bleak.
In light of increased audits and possible legislative tax increases, taxpayers should review the variety of ways to reduce their state and local tax bite and make sure that they only pay their statutory fair share
http://www.cpa2biz.com/AST/AICPA_CPA2BiZ_Nav/Top/Browse/Newsletters.jsp
Also read about proposed IRS collection procedures to close the $350 billion federal tax gap.
The Golden State is terminally ill according to many observers. As a result of California’s ongoing fiscal problems, a special commission formed by Governor Schwarzenegger earlier this year is pushing forward a major proposal to completely overhaul the personal and business tax structure.
The purpose of the proposed provisions is to “normalize” future tax receipts regardless of economic conditions and also halt the exodus of businesses and high net-worth individuals who are leaving the state in droves to escape some of the highest income and sales tax rates in the country.
The proposed restructuring is pretty dramatic and looks more like combined heart and brain surgery rather than the locally popular face lift and tummy tuck.
The changes proposed in today’s U.C. Berkeley commission meeting include:
1) a reduction of all personal tax rates – with the top rate falling from 10.3% to 6.5%,
2) elimination of the corporate income tax – currently 8.84%,
3) concurrent establishment of a new “Business Net Receipts Tax” which would apply a tax (details pending) on the net sales and purchases made by businesses,
4) eliminate (1% per year over 6 years) the current state general purpose sales tax – currently 6%. Combined with county/ city sales tax rates – the current California sales tax rates exceed 10% in some jurisdictions,
5) Initiate new “rainy day” reserve fund which the governor has been calling for over the past few years,
6) Institute a tax appeals dispute resolution process to eliminate the current “stacked deck” known as the State Board of Equalization.
The commission is hoping to advance their final proposal in the next several weeks.
For more information, including descriptions of these far-reaching proposals, please click on the following link:
Following is an overview of the commission’s actions from last week.
Bureau of National Affairs
Commissioners May Endorse California Tax Overhaul if Specific Elements Included
Posted September 11, 2009, 7:10 P.M. ET
LOS ANGELES—Some members of a special commission appear ready to endorse a vast overhaul of the California tax system at a final meeting Sept. 14, but said Sept. 10 they must first be satisfied that their fellow members will address specific reservations they each have about the broad plan.
Members of the Commission on the 21st Century Economy also backed off their original plan to ask lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) to take up their recommendations immediately in the form of proposed legislative language and enact them as soon as possible. Instead, commissioners agreed that the changes require more study.
At a lengthy meeting Sept. 10, Chairman Gerald Parsky suggested the commission introduce its final report to the governor and Legislature with an explanation that members believe the package, which centers around a new net receipts tax on businesses, is promising enough to warrant further study. Commissioners are likely to say that lawmakers and the governor should “proceed with a public process” to fully evaluate the proposals, and enact them upon completion of a more thorough review.
At the core of the package are proposals to eliminate the corporate income tax, mostly or completely eliminate the state portion of the sales and use tax, reduce and partially flatten the personal income tax, and impose a new business net receipts tax.
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Despite objections from the business community and California Chamber of Commerce until more details are released, the Commission is pushing hard to release their recommendations this week. We applaud the thorough efforts of the Commission to improve our state’s dismal tax structure, which is rated near the bottom of every national survey.
Scan down for earlier blog posts regarding the CA Enterprise Zone Program, which can minimize California’s tax bite for many companies until these or other tax revisions are adopted.
Please click, review and rate (please ignore my stiffness) the following Enterprise Zone video in order to increase its circulation.
It is critically important to get the word out about saving the California EZ program in order to allow California businesses to remain competitive against the other 41 states with similar incentive programs, cheaper energy, lower tax structures and less regulation. The program is also critical to improve the record unemployment rates throughout California.
Calfornia Enterprise Zone AOL Video
Calfornia Enterprise Zone Video on AOL Video – The impact of the California tax changes, Interview with Blake Christian on CNN
http://video.aol.co.uk/video-detail/calfornia-enterprise-zone/2632871497
Long Beach Chamber of Commerce Chairman of the Board, Blake Christian CPA, discusses recent California tax law changes on CNN. Gain insight into how these new tax law changes precipitated by the 2008 California state budgets will affect corporates tax incentives. This discussion also highlight the impacts these laws will have on California enterprise zone credits and incentives.
One of the centerpieces of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Stimulus Bill) involves a variety of energy tax incentives and alternative fuels funding provisions focused on reducing America’s dependency on carbon-based energy.
The energy related tax provisions total approximately $20 billion of tax incentives and the energy funding provisions represent approximately $45 billion of the spending provisions.
Attached are articles summarizing the variety of new and existing tax credits and other incentives available for businesses and individuals for 2008 and later years.
March AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider Newsletter:
Download AICPA March Corporate Taxation Insider Newsletter 3 16 09
PDF Version
Download Reduce Emissions article 12.2007 CA EZ Program Can Offset Regulatory Costs
Additional tax and economic articles can be accessed below and in the "Library" section of this site.
