Tax Foundation: “Tax Freedom Day is the day when Americans finally have earned enough money to pay off their total tax bill for the year. In 2010, Arizona taxpayers work until April 4 (ranked 37th nationally) to pay their total tax bill, 5 days earlier than national Tax Freedom Day (April 9th).”
The Washington Post has an article entitled “5 Myths About Your Taxes,” which according to the author are:
- The poorest and the richest Americans pay no taxes.
- Americans are overtaxed
- Higher taxes could eliminate the federal deficit.
- Most people’s tax returns are way too complicated.
- You should aim for a big tax refund.
The states with the ten highest state taxes in order from the top down are: Tennessee (9.41%), California (9.06%), Washington (8.78%), Oklahoma (8.44%), Louisiana (8.43%), Illinois (8.4%), New York (8.7%), North Carolina (8.07%), Arizona (7.92% – but if voters approve a 1% increase Arizona will become the 3rd highest state) and Arkansas (7.79%). For the sales tax rates of the rest of the fifty states, see the chart prepared by The Tax Foundation. See also Forbes‘ ‘Don’t Buy Here“on high sales taxes. For more articles about sales taxes by The Tax Foundation, go here.
The Joint Committee on Taxation today released Present Law and Background Data Related to the Federal Tax System in Effect for 2010 And 2011. Here’s the table of contents for the 2010 federal tax tables and the 2011 federal tax tables:
I. SUMMARY OF THE INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAX
A. Individual Income Tax for 2010
B. Individual Income Tax for 2011
II. SUMMARY OF SOCIAL INSURANCE TAXES
A. Taxable Year 2010
B. Taxable Year 2011
III. SUMMARY OF THE CORPORATE INCOME TAX
A. Corporate Income Tax for 2010
B. Corporate Income Tax for 2011
IV. SUMMARY OF ESTATE, GIFT, AND GENERATION-SKIPPING TRANSFER TAXES
V. SUMMARY OF MAJOR EXCISE TAXES FOR 2010 AND 2011
CBS Money Watch: “the IRS has a top-secret, obsessively guarded computer program that targets certain tax returns for closer examination. . . . some deductions and credits are more likely to attract the government’s attention than others . If you don’t know about these red flags . . . you might be asking for an audit.” The areas that get special IRS scrutiny are:
See also “IRS Releases 10-Year Enforcement Data: Business Audits Down, Individual Audits Up,” which contains a chart showing the percentages of IRS enforcement actions for the 2009 fiscal year.