A couple of current stories about taxes on U.S. businesses have me shaking my head.

On the one hand, the U.S. has the second highest corporate tax rate in the world (at 39.3 %, average of federal and state), with only Japan being higher.  And some states, including Iowa, California, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, pay higher taxes than Japanese businesses.  A Wall Street Journal story detailing these figures includes statements about how damaging these tax rates are to U.S. businesses.  At the least, these high taxes are dis-incentivzing.  Why bother?

On the other hand, many U.S. businesses pay no tax at all.  As I reported in my About.com Guide Site (U.S. Business Law and Taxes), two-thirds of U.S. businesses pay no tax.   So if the tax burden is such a problem, but most businesses pay no tax, is there really a concern here?

My first reaction is that the high U.S. tax rate is a massive incentive for businesses to find assertive CPA’s who can work the angles to keep their clients’ taxes low or at zero.  This whole system doesn’t seem useful or productive, to me.  Why not keep the taxes low, and craxk down on the deductions.   Or am I missing something?

What do you think?

Tags: , U.S. business taxes

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Filed under: Estates

Today’s estate, Swanhurst Serenity is a vintage grand dame in Spring Lake, New Jersey. Located overlooking the lake, this early 1900s beauty is also within walking distance of both the beach and town. The seven-bedroom estate could use a bit of updating but it has plenty of historic details to treasure like the columned wraparound porch. The one-acre property also includes a guest house in need of an update. This estate is listed at $7.999 million.

Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living massive with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

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Continue reading Swanhurst Serenity, Estate of the Day

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PimpYourWork.com

With rising fuel costs adding to the worries of the average employee, it’s no surprise that telecommuting is becoming more and more popular, and, as a result, is discussed more widely.  Here are some news articles from the past two weeks that discuss this trend:

There’s a case to be made for telecommuting by Lee E. Miller from The Star Ledger

Most office workers fear backlash of telecommuting,but see trend increasing from MarketWatch

Executives anticipate telecommuting numbers to increase from Occupational Health and Safety

Telework ‘with a new twist’ making a huge comeback in Canada from ITBusiness.ca

Other articles of interest:

Does teleworking offer more equal opportunities? a post I wrote for WebWorkerDaily

Making Your Case for Telecommuting: How to Convince the Boss from QuintCareers.com

Image by Celine Roque from Blue Rabbit Media

Tags: telecommute, telecommuting, telework, teleworking

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Filed under: Estates

Now this is just getting ridiculous. First Roman Abramovich was rumored to have purchased Villa Leopolda, the expensive estate in Villefranche-sur-Mer on the French Riviera. Then Russian precious metals mogul Mikhail Prokhorov was stated to have snapped it up. As my colleague Jared Paul Stern reported over the weekend, Prokhorov is the 24th richest man in the world with a $22 billion fortune and was briefly detained during an investigation into a suspected prostitution ring at a ski resort in the French Alps. Turns out Prokhorov still has some hurt feelings over that bit of police drama states BBC News and according to a spokesman, refuses to do business in France until he gets a proper apology.

We’re starting to run out of Russian billionaires to pin this on. Well, that’s not entirely true, there’s still a long list but hopefully someone will own up to the $750 million purchase pretty soon. You can’t keep a secret that huge for too long.

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