From the category archives:

Taxes

Tax Day Tip: Exact Petty Revenge on the IRS

by Alex Stenback 04.12.2007

Tax day looms, which puts many of us in a seething, dejected, vengeance-seeking state (can you tell we wrote a check this year?) So, if you are feeling wronged, try putting to use the following list of "occupations" on your tax return to annoy a some poor sod one of the obvious sadists working in [...]

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Nicollet Island Update: Residents Answer, Call B.S.

by Alex Stenback 01.10.2006

On the way to office today we were kvetching (to ourselves) about not having gotten to the bottom of last week’s Nicollet Island ‘sweetheart deal’ story.  How nice it was to arrive and find a comment by Nicollet Island resident John Chafee (hat tip) that unpacked what appears to the real story for us – [...]

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Nicollet Island: Sweetheart Tax Deal, or Not?

by Alex Stenback 01.03.2006

Earlier today we linked a piece from Joe Soucheray (the estimable Pioneer Press columnist and AM 1500 radio personality) on State Rep. Phyllis Khan, a central figure in the ongoing battle between the residents of Nicollet Island (Khan lives on the island) and DeLaSalle High School.  If you haven’t been following, DeLaSalle wants a to [...]

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Mortgage Interest Deduction: The PR War Has Begun

by Alex Stenback 12.06.2005

The National Association of Realtors have fired a return salvo at those seeking to eliminate or reduce the mortgage interest deduction.  In a press release today, the NAR announced an ad campaign aimed squarely at the heart of a public flush with real estate wealth: The ad uses a picture of a typical house inside [...]

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Part II: Eliminating The Mortgage Interest Deduction

by Alex Stenback 11.29.2005

As we recently opined, the chances of the mortgage interest tax deduction being eliminated are nearly nil, but David Smith, at the affordable housing institute, reminds us of this key point: Though it may not be eliminated, exactly who, (and what types of homes) will remain eligible for the mortgage interest deduction might change – [...]

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Filed under Fat Chance: Eliminating The Mortgage Tax Deduction

by Alex Stenback 11.21.2005

A few months ago, the Presidents Tax Reform panel recommended a reduction floated a "deniable trial balloon" aimed at reducing the mortgage interest deduction.  It’s been our opinion that reducing this tax break in any sort of meaningful way would never happen – there are just too many people (every American homeowner) and well-financed interests [...]

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Hennepin County Adds Satellite Imagery to Property Records

by Alex Stenback 11.15.2005

Thanks to a piece in the Southwest Journal, we were alerted to a subtle change to the Hennepin County tax information page – the addition of satellite imagery to property records.  Very cool.  According to the article: The high-resolution images – taken from 5,000 feet up – are clear enough that you can make out [...]

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Taxpayer Hell Edition II: Joint Ownership

by Alex Stenback 03.17.2005

Tax day looms, which means its green eyeshade time again.  Chills Yet?  This one might seem obvious, but we get the following question, or something like it, a lot: "I own a property jointly with another person – we both live in the house, and share in the payments and expenses.  Who gets to deduct [...]

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Taxpayer Hell Edition: Deductibility of Points

by Alex Stenback 03.10.2005

Break out the green eyeshades – Over the next few days we’re going to run a few short refreshers on the various tax rules regarding residential real estate, mortgage interest, and taxes. We know this is dry, dry stuff, but we’ll try to make liberal use of exclamation points (to, you know, keep things exciting!)  [...]

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