Entrepreneurs Defend a Tax Benefit Despite a Dubious Congress
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The venture capital industry is worried that a proposed increase in taxes on carried interest would hurt their ability to finance start-up companies.
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The looming political battle over  how to reform the tangled U.S. income tax code could get ugly.  But one option, a tax aimed at boosting savings, holds promise.
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Biotech firms face skepticism as they try to show that their research can work as medicine and as a business. -The Washington Post
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Some tech groups are beginning to worry that major IT industry priorities, including patent reform, may lose out to other priorities in the U.S. Congress this year.In the last couple of weeks, large tech companies have renewed their push for patent reform legislation in the U.S. Congress, despite opposition from U.S. President George Bush&#39;s administration and some labor unions.The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is concerned that a congressional debate over an economic stimulus package, plus typical election-year gridlock, could hurt the prospects for patent reform and other tech priorities, said Michael Wendy, a spokesman for the trade group.The House of Representatives&#39; economic stimulus package includes tax write-offs for small business purchase of equipment, which could include computers, Wendy said. That&#39;s a good move, but patent reform, a research and development tax credit, H-1B visa reform, and other issues remain undone, he said.&quot;We hope that Congress -- assuming they pass an [economic stimulus] package -- doesn&#39;t just say, &#39;Well, we gave you some favorable tax provisions that will help boost industry activity and have a long-tail effect on the economy, so that should be enough for you guys this session,&#39;&quot; Wendy said last week. &quot;One thing we&#39;re concerned about is that the economic stimulus bill may be seen by Congress as a &#39;get out of jail free&#39; card when it comes to other of our tech policy agenda.&quot;The House in September passed a patent reform bill -- supported by many large tech vendors, but&#160;opposed by several small tech companies&#160;-- but similar legislation has been stalled in the Senate. Large tech vendors, including Microsoft, IBM, and Symantec, have&#160;called for patent reform, saying it&#39;s too easy for companies with no intention of creating products to buy up patents and file multimillion-dollar infringement lawsuits against other companies.On Jan. 22, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said patent reform was a priority, but it was in a line behind several other bills, including an economic stimulus package and a government surveillance authorization bill. The Senate would turn to patent reform, &quot;time permitting,&quot; he said then.&quot;On patent reform, we must carefully strike the right balance with a bill that promotes rather than blocks innovation from enterprising entrepreneurs,&quot; Reid added.The Senate Judiciary Committee approved its version of the Patent Reform Act on Jan. 24, and the bill is awaiting action in the full Senate.But earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Commerce sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee raising concerns about the bill. The letter, outlining the Bush administration&#39;s views, focused on a section of the bill that would apportion infringement damages in a new way. Currently, courts generally consider the value of the entire product when a small piece of the product infringes a patent; the bill would allow courts to base damages only on the value of the infringing piece.The wide-ranging bill would also allow a new way to challenge patents after they are issued.That provision would &quot;create more problems than it solves,&quot; said the Commerce Department letter, signed by Nathaniel Wienecke, the agency&#39;s assistant secretary for legislative and intergovernmental affairs. &quot;The administration believes that such a dramatic change from current jurisprudence may have the unintended consequence of reducing the rewards of innovation and encouraging patent infringement,&quot; Wienecke wrote.Both sides can still work out their differences, Wienecke added.In addition, 14 labor unions, including the United Steelworkers, the Patent Office Professional Association and the Communications Workers of America, sent a letter to Senators Wednesday, saying they were concerned about the patent bill. &quot;Key parts of the proposed legislation may have the effect of increasing the likelihood of American inventions being stolen by our international competitors and, consequently, inhibiting sorely needed new investment in domestic manufacturing,&quot; the letter said.Still, some representatives of the tech industry say they&#39;re hopeful that patent reform can move forward.Senators, representatives of the Bush administration and other interested parties have been meeting regularly &quot;to find balanced solutions on all the issues,&quot; said Mark Isakowitz, spokesman for the Coalition for Patent Fairness, a group representing several large tech companies. &quot;We respectfully disagree [with the Bush administration] on damages, but we are confident ... we can work through concerns and achieve broad consensus on the bill, which would be a victory for the administration, the Congress and our economy,&quot; he added.
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It's the perfect tax: Government exacts a big payment without having to fend off lobbyists or wage a political fight. And in most cases, the taxpayer doesn't even have a say.
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Skeptical economists and a worried public question whether the rebates for more than 130 million Americans and tax breaks for businesses will be quick enough or effective enough to avert a recession
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Business & money: Negative publicity having an impact 'at the edges', but higher taxes also play a part.
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Private-equity and hedge funds may soon face the taxman.
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Congress wants you to save, not spend, your tax refund. So why did it lay so many traps?
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Some tech groups are beginning to worry that major IT industry priorities, including patent reform, may lose out to other priorities in the U.S. Congress this year.
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. Congress shouldn't permanently extend a moratorium on taxes unique to the Internet because the temporary ban keeps Internet providers from abusing the system, a representative of the National Governors Association said Thursday. If Congress makes the ban permanent, which many lawmakers want to do, nothing would stop Internet providers from trying to expand the number of banned services, said David Quam, director of federal relations for the National Governors Association. "The temporary provision keeps everyone honest," said Quam, speaking at a Congressional Internet Caucus debate on how long the moratorium should last. But there's no evidence that Internet providers have abused the ban by trying to include voice or video services as part of Internet access included in the current moratorium, said Broderick Johnson, a spokesman for the Don't Tax Our Web Coalition. Johnson and Brian Bieron, senior director of federal affairs at eBay, both called for Congress to approve a permanent ban on taxes for Internet access and other taxes unique to the Internet. The current ban, which expires in November, prohibits states and local governments from levying "discriminatory" taxes on the Internet, such as taxing the download of a song more than they tax the sale of music on CDs. Many U.S. policy makers see broadband adoption as a major way to move the economy forward, and a permanent ban on Internet taxes would help broadband grow, Johnson argued. "To me, it's common sense," he said. "If you make something more expensive by putting more taxes on it, you're going to depress the ability of people to access it." But there's little evidence to suggest Internet access taxes hurt broadband adoption, Quam countered. When Congress first passed the Internet tax ban in 1998, it grandfathered in nine states that had already adopted Internet access taxes, and the broadband adoption in those states isn't significantly different than in states with no access taxes, he said. The debate over the tax moratorium has changed since Congress last extended the ban in 2004. Then, a group of senators, most of them former state governors, questioned whether the ban should be extended at all, saying the ban limits states' ability to raise money. This year, two senators who opposed extending the ban, Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, and Tom Carper, a Delaware Democrat, have introduced a bill that would narrow the definition of Internet access and extend the ban for four years. Quam and Jeffrey Arnold, deputy legislative director for the National Association of Counties, both said they support a four-year extension of the ban. When Congress first passed the ban in 1998, it was trying to protect the fledgling commercial Internet, but such protections are no longer needed, Arnold said. While "no one" wants to tax Internet access, Congress shouldn't permanently interfere in state and local tax decisions, he said. Part of the objection to a permanent ban is the definition of Internet access that's carried over from the 1998 legislation. That bill banned taxes from access and "other services as part of a package services offered to consumers," and that language may allow Internet providers to include voice, video, or music services in the ban, Quam said. "We haven't been able to change that troublesome definition, which frankly, is too broad," Quam said. Bieron from eBay said backers of a permanent ban are willing to change the language, but the other side isn't willing to support a permanent ban. The moratorium doesn't prohibit states and local governments from collecting sales tax on products sold through the Internet. After a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, states cannot collect sales tax from remote sales through catalogs and the Internet until they put in place a streamlined sales tax system. So far, not enough states have agreed to adopt a common sales tax system, which is unlikely to happen soon.
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Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) has sponsored an unusual provision at the urging of the nation's banks granting them immunity against an active patent lawsuit, potentially saving them billions of dollars.
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Whoever wrote a legislative provision to give more members of Congress access to income tax records should be tracked down and held to account, a Democratic senator said Monday.
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Sen. Charles Grassley wants to boost taxes on private-equity firms. It's an uphill battle.
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A tax rebate is at the center of a plan to stimulate a flagging economy.
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Investors are skeptical, but the former Payless intends to keep building.
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Lawyers who file frivolous lawsuits would be hit with financial penalties under legislation moving through Congress. Supporters say the bill would protect businesses from being threatened with lawsuits that have no merit.