Just one example of how to fix the terrible inequities in the tax code so it doesn't privilege the rich comes from the source of Trump's audit: the $72.9 million refund for carryback losses. Why was that refund given, and THEN checked out?
As the Times notes, the Joint Committee on Taxation reviews every refund of over $2 million to individuals. Why do we GIVE THE REFUND first and then review it?
JCT could review and only release the funds afterward. Anyone entitled to a refund of over $2 million is highly unlikely to need that refund quickly.
Making the refund contingent on JCT's review changes completely the dynamic of the audit. The IRS wouldn't be pleading with the rich person to give up their gains, because they wouldn't have them yet.
Sure, Trump or whoever could appeal the ruling, but they wouldn't be in the position of using the millions they may have illegally received because the current system routinely blocks poor people from their money but speeds it to the rich.
You could come up with 1,000 just-as-simple options to make the tax system not quite so attentive to the concerns of the wealthy. But then who would pay the campaign contributions I guess-
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tl;dr: Lina Khan is successful at working legal levers of power to uphold the law, and as conservatives we hate that oversight.house.gov/wp-content/upl…
This alleged rampant illegality starts with pro-monopoly conservatives grousing that Khan was appointed to a White House council. Can you imagine!
Then, get this, the chair of the agency responsible for merger challenges issued guidelines for merger challenges, as has been done by practically every FTC chair in history. The scoundrel!
And she CHANGED. A. FORM. (The form changes got a 5-0 commission vote)
We are rolling out a special issue today. It's about the states. We're calling it the Cold Civil War. And I want to explain why we did it. 1/ prospect.org/politics/2024-…
We've noticed two major trends over the past few years. One is that, while Trump led a shadow government in his mind, the locus of power in the conservative movement is really at the state level, where all the ideological extremism has come from.
As a result, state policy has really diverged, on abortion and guns and LGBT issues, but also on the welfare state, on paid leave, on the minimum wage, and a host of other issues. This is part of a 30-year cycle. prospect.org/politics/2024-…
Financial advisers went to court and blocked a rule that they have to act in the best interest of their clients. They sued to steal your retirement money, and won.
The rule in question has a 15-year history. It starts in 2009 with one public servant in the Department of Labor named Phyllis Borzi. It took her the entire 2 terms of the Obama administration, through sheer will, to get the rule done.
The 5th Circuit then blocked it in 2018.
Fast forward through Trump to the Biden administration. Borzi retired but others took it up. It took nearly the entire first term this time to finalize it.
Two district courts in Texas then blocked it a week ago.
This is the final day of our pricing series and we have two pieces for you.
First, @Bilalgwork of Groundwork looks at what policymakers can do about unfair, deceptive, and abusive pricing. Turns out there's a lot, some of which is already happening prospect.org/economy/2024-0…
One thing not brought up enough in the context of this pricing evolution, and corporate power more generally, is tax policy. Bilal does that: prospect.org/economy/2024-0…
A graduated corporate tax above a certain profit level could reduce the urge to surge on prices.
Public options are also a strategy, one we're seeing in real time with IRS Direct File ending the pricing power of TurboTax. There are other options: prospect.org/economy/2024-0…
We continue our series on how pricing really works with one of my favorite pieces: Joanna Marsh on subscription pricing, which relies on dark patterns and absent-mindedness to keep consumers paying. prospect.org/economy/2024-0…
It's the inattention economy: "A survey found that consumers estimated they were spending $86/month for their subscriptions. The total was actually $219."
Subscriptions are so out of hand that there are now subscription services to help you manage them. prospect.org/economy/2024-0…
The bigger problem is that companies have learned to protect their subscriptions with dark patterns, often tricking people into subscribing while locking customers in by making it nearly impossible to cancel: prospect.org/economy/2024-0…
So:
Judge Pittman (Trump judge in Texas) got the Chamber's challenge to CFPB credit card late fees.
He said it wasn't germane to Texas, sent it to DC
The 5th Circuit said no, sent it back to Pittman
And now Pittman put it on hold. accountable.us/wp-content/upl…
Pittman clearly seems mad about how the process went and mad at the Chamber. He even added this graph of the winding timeline of the case.
But that didn't stop him from ruling for big banks.
The preliminary injunction is entirely based on the 5th Circuit's ruling that CFPB is using unconstitutionally derived funds.
That's at the Supreme Court now & will likely be overturned, and then presumably Pittman and the Fightin' 5th will come up with another reason.