Country music has a long history of celebrating outlaw behavior, which naturally extends to celebrating "outlaw" performers. Plenty of fans have heard the album Johnny Cash recorded of his first prison concert at California's San Quentin penitentiary. But Cash's...
Profit & Tax Blog
Ali’s Estate Tax Vs. The IRS
Words like "hero" and "icon" get tossed around pretty casually these days. But the world lost a true card-carrying legend with the passing last week of boxer Muhammad Ali after a long and public battle with Parkinson's disease. Ali first gained fame in the ring, of...
Barry Good! Income Tax Humor
Humorist Dave Barry entertained millions of readers with his nationally syndicated column from 1983 to 2004. Along the way, he earned a Pulitzer Prize for commentary, inspired a television series (Dave's World), and even, after mocking the cities of Grand Forks, South...
Mickelson Turns Blind Eye To Tax Planning
Spring is here, and golfers across the country are busting out their loudest pants to hit the links. Tiger Woods is taking a break from chasing pancake-house waitresses to shank wedges into water hazards. And Phil Mickelson, everyone's favorite lefty champ, is...
A Tale of Two Highest-Paid CEOs
Every year, business reporters look forward to listing the country's highest-paid CEOs. Corporate chiefs have always done well for themselves — in 1980, the average S&P 500 head earned 42 times more than the average worker. But lately those compensation numbers...
Tax on Gambling Winnings? Navigate the Tax Gameboard
The Gambler, The Billionaire, and The Game of KingsBackgammon is an ancient game of dice, strategy, and skill. The name dates back to the 1600s, but the game itself goes back to the Byzantine Emperor Zeno (AD 476-481). While it's never been as popular here as poker or...
Sign “O” the Times
The artist forever to be remembered as Prince shocked the world with his unexpected death last month at his Paisley Park compound outside Minneapolis. As is often the case when legendary musicians pass away, his album sales have soared. Fellow artists from Bruce...
POTUS Meets IRS
For most of us, filing a tax return is a fairly private affair, just between us and our friends at the IRS. But for President Obama and his family, it's a high-profile event. Last week the White House posted the Obamas' return online, and it reveals a lot about how...
Born to Run
Lots of states get a bad rap. California is too flaky. New Yorkers are too unfriendly. North Dakota is too cold. (Wait a minute . . . you mean we've got two Dakotas?) But there's one state that may get the worst rap of all, and that's New Jersey. Too many Americans...
Where Are All the Americans?
Last Sunday, the International Consortium for Investigative Journalism stunned the world with their release of findings from 11.5 million files leaked from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. The "Panama Papers" blow the lid off the firm's creation of over...