Tax Chats

Send us a textThe Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was signed into law on December 22, 2017. In honor of its birth five whole years ago, we talk with the American Enterprise Institute's Kyle Pomerleau, who had a front row seat to the passage of the TCJA. 

Send us a textScott and Jeff chat with Daniel Hemel, Law Professor at New York University about the recently enacted excise tax on share repurchases or buybacks. Daniel has thought and written about buybacks, for example, here.We discuss buybacks, dividends, and why both progressives and conservatives might be in favor of a tax on buybacks.

Send us a textScott and Jeff discuss the effect of capital gains taxes on  stock prices with Douglas A. Shackelford, former Dean of UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School.  If the capital gains tax rate increases, should stock prices go up, down, or stay the same? Its much more complicated than you might think!

Send us a textScott and Jeff discuss what constitutes candy, for sales tax purposes, in North Carolina. The discussion ends with the verdict on craisins--are they candy? Scott is quizzed on other types of food and whether they are candy, and, scores a perfect 0/5.

Send us a textTodd Castagno, an equity research analyst at Morgan Stanley, responds to a list of possible ways corporations might  react  to the tax on book income recently passed as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.  

Send us a textScott and Jeff talk about Tax Foundation with CEO and President Daniel Bunn. We talk about its missions, where it gets funding, and other tax-related issues. We discuss the pro-growth agenda of the Tax Foundation and note that there could be other legitimate objective functions for a think tank.

Send us a textTax Chats is officially one year old! In honor of this anniversery, Scott and Jeff talk through a potential rebranding of Tax Chats with a different name, then go on to discuss two tax headlines. First, they discuss windfall profits taxes on oil companies, then talk about the disclosure of Donald Trump's tax returns.Jeff also misuses the Spanish verb "recordar."

Send us a textIn this episode Scott and Jeff discuss Sales Taxes with Whitney Afonso. We discuss sales tax basics, including the difference between who remits the tax and who bears the burden of the tax. We discuss the purposes of sales taxes. We discuss the regressivity of sales taxes. And we discuss how even Fancy Nancy had to deal with the unexpected pain of sales taxes in Shoe-la-la!

Send us a textIn this episode we talk about the tax consequences of student loan forgiveness. Generally, debt forgiveness is treated as income, and is therefore taxable. If the Biden Administration's current plan to forgive portions of student loans comes to fruition, the forgiven amount would normally be taxable. Provisions have been made to make student loan forgiveness tax free at the federal level. Some states, including North Carolina, would still treat the loan forgiveness as taxable, and borrowers would owe state taxes on the forgiven amounts. We discuss that issue, along with other issues related to taxes and higher education in North Carolina, along with the general business climate and taxation in the state of North Carolina with Senator Phil Berger, President Pro Tempore of the NC Senate.

Send us a textScott and Jeff discuss recent headlines from the New York Times:Opinion | There Is a Tax That Could Help With Inflation - The New York Times (nytimes.com)The Purpose of Extra-Large Marshmallows? A U.K. Court Weighs In. - The New York Times (nytimes.com)Lawsuit Seeks to Block Biden’s Student Debt Cancellation Plan - The New York Times (nytimes.com)Endowment Tax on Wealthiest Universities Netted a Fraction of Predictions in 2021 - WSJ