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3 minutes agoOpinion: How to convince voters to raise taxes? Cry wolf
Bay Area leaders are using fear tactics to push for a half-cent sales tax increase for mass transit, framing it as a citizen initiative.
Under New York law, the retail tax due on discounted products must be calculated on the price before the discount is applied, specifically so as to not subvert State and local tax collections.
The tax provides more than $23 billion per year in revenue for federal highway and public transit programs. The federal gas tax has been in place, in one way or another, since 1919 and was last raised in 1993.
A recent analysis from Tufts University's Center for State Policy Analysis estimates it would reduce state tax revenue by roughly $5.1 billion per year - about a 10% overall decline - while saving the median Massachusetts household around $1,250 annually.
Under current law, bitcoin is treated as property, which means every purchase with the asset triggers a capital gains calculation, regardless of transaction size. BPI argues that this framework discourages routine payments, such as buying coffee or sending small remittances, because users must track cost basis and report minor gains and losses.
The key to selling underperforming holdings at a loss and using those losses to cancel out capital gains on a dollar-for-dollar basis is to bring one's capital gains level down as close as possible to zero. Additionally, it's possible to use $3,000 of capital losses per year to offset other ordinary income, so there's the potential here with such a strategy to actually lower one's overall tax burden by selling the right securities at the correct time.
Many of those developments will continue to affect SALT in 2026 as we see renewed challenges to Public Law 86-272, a federal law that prohibits states from imposing income taxes on out-of-state businesses that only solicit sales of tangible personal property in the state. There also will be developments involving digital advertising taxes, federal tax law changes, interstate disputes, and a US Supreme Court ruling involving the government's right to take property to satisfy a tax lien.
The proposed Billionaire Tax Act, imposing a one-time 5% tax on the total wealth of Californians whose net worth is $1 billion or more, needs reconsideration. Certainly, anyone with $1 billion (or more) has more than enough to live very comfortably, but there is an approach that would be less onerous to the billionaires and more helpful to the state. A one-time 5% tax would bring in a windfall for the state - once.
Days before the 2026 tax filing season begins, the head of the IRS announced a shake-up Tuesday, saying the personnel and operational changes are intended to improve taxpayer service and modernize the agency. The timing of the announcement coincides with a critical moment for the agency, as the IRS prepares to process millions of tax returns while simultaneously implementing major tax law changes under the tax and spending package President Donald Trump signed into law last summer.