According to Cordes, O’Hare and Steuerle the table above represented the change that occurred in tax revenue and charitable giving based on four options. In option one, if all non-itemizers were allowed to deduct their charitable contributions starting from the first dollar given the results support previous claims that the increase in giving to charities does not outweigh the cost of tax revenue (3). Option two took a different approach and proposed to add a floor of $500 to those non-itemizers who file jointly and $250 for those who file single. In order to take a deduction, the contribution had to be in excess of the floor set for the individual. By limiting the deduction, it is seen that the revenue cost became lower while the amount of extra giving that was encouraged did not significantly increase considering the floor provided the subsidy to extra giving rather than giving that would have occurred without any incentive (Cordes, O’Hare & Steuerle 4).…
Jacob Tellas AP English Wang Restarted on 10/3/16 Ghosts With some knowledge of war, one can begin to appreciate Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried”. Tim O’Brien is a veteran, as a result, there are many things he takes for granted and does not tell us, making us wonder if it is fact or fiction. America’s involvement in the Vietnam war resulted from internal domestic politics rather than from a national spirit. The soldiers were disembodied from the war, just like ghosts. O’Brien uses syntactic illusion to express the idea of ghosts thoroughly but indirectly, as to further convey the sinister nature of war.…
The income from the trust is reported directly to the grantor’s tax return; therefore maximizing the amount of assets the beneficiary ultimately receives. Assets are removed from the grantor’s gross estate (similar to an irrevocable trust), but the asset is still included in the grantor’s estate upon death for tax purposes; therefore, not saving any estate taxes. The main purpose of this type of trust is primarily for the “IDGT to grow without being reduced by income taxes” (CBiz 1). The grantor in the situation of IDGT pays the tax on any income created from the trust, although the tax payment is paid on income not generated by the grantor, this would not fall under the category of a gift. The overall advantage of this creates a “double benefit” because the grantor pays the tax using his own money which removes an asset “from his estate” (Cbiz 2) and also from a liability that decreases from the…
A gift is the volunteer handover of property from one individual to another without the complete valuable consideration (LaMance n. d). There are four main elements to a gift. These are: the capacity of the one giving the gift (donor), acceptance by the receiver, intent and delivery to the receiver (LaMance n. d). The facts suggest that Christine had failed to pay gift tax to her mother Marcella. This would be breaking the terms of the gift tax since…
The extra wealth surplus potentially could be dispersed through leaving the wealth to an individual’s family, spending the wealth on public projects, or administering the wealth during the completion of the individual’s life. Out of all three options, the third option, in Andrew’s opinion, provides…
“The hair was curiously stirred, as if by breath or hot air.” (Dickens 14) The ghosts in Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol were portrayed creatively and the director of one of the many film interpretations recreated the ghosts almost exactly like Dickens. Three of the ghosts in the film seemed to the most tantamount to the ghosts interpreted in the movies. They were: the ghost of Jacob Marley, the ghost of Christmas past, and the ghost of Christmases yet to come.…
The most important character among three Christmas ghosts in A Christmas Carol Christmas Carol was an influent novel which was written by Charles Dickens throughout one and half century about a life of Ebenezer Scrooge as a negative, penny-pinching and distasteful man in London. No one had ever wished to work as an employee in his office after his best business partner Jacob Marley died except Bob Cratchit. Nothing in the world would scare Scrooge if it wasn’t about the gold coins. The man, who used to be a heartless person, had changed in just a few nights before Christmas Eve coming. At this point, we must be thankful to three Christmas Ghosts which demonstrated Scrooge life’s faults and gave him a chance to change his bad…
However, an exclusion limit exists, so only estates with combined assets of over $5.45 million are subject to an estate tax. Thus, only the nation’s most wealthy citizens ever need to plan for these sorts of taxes. Yet Carnegie still believes the estate tax to…
Individuals are allowed to deduct itemized deductions from adjusted gross income if their itemized deductions exceed their standard and personal deductions. Itemized deductions are specific deductions that can be taken by a tax payer such as mortgage interest, medical expenditures, charitable contributions, gifts, and many other items. However, some events, such as the death of a relative who leaves an estate behind, can trigger taxation. With current tax law, if someone dies and leaves an estate behind, a portion of that estate over a certain amount will be taxed as income. This tax is known as the estate or “death” tax.…
This can be done in two possibilities of policies; a “paid up policy” having no premiums due, and one in which premiums still have to be paid (Toce). With a paid up policy, the deduction is limited to the replacement value as a sale would yield a long term gain. However, if the value exceeds the donor’s tax basis with, the deduction is limited to basis. In a policy in which premiums still have to be paid, the FMV and deduction are approximated by the interpolated terminal reserve value. The value still cannot exceed the donor’s tax basis in the policy.…
In Leslie Marmon Silko’s, Ceremony, Emo liked to point out the “dusty wind,” the white people had left with them and to say “’Look what is here for [the Indians]’” (23). Emo’s attitude toward the wind and the white people shows a desire to experience the white peoples’ lives rather than his own culture. Throughout the novel, Silko establishes that this desire is a product of witchery that the Indians created. Moreover, throughout the novel the appearance of wind often correlates with the appearance of witchery.…
Secret trusts often fail to comply with the requirements of the Wills Act, however it is argued to an extent that this should be upheld to prevent fraud. Firstly to even prove the existence of a secret trust, any gift must comply with S.9 of the Wills Act , if it does not then ultimately the trust fails. Under these formalities, the will must have been signed by the testator and have at least two witnesses present . However the courts justification for enforcing secret trusts is to foil any fraudulent claims, under this theory lies the maxim that equity will not permit a statute to be used as an instrument of fraud.’ As conferred in McCormick v Grogen this also means that a secret trustee can’t defraud the settlor and keep the property intended…
What is a gift? Is it how much money you spend or how much time you give? Would it change based on the person giving? Or is a gift a gift? Does it matter whether it is given willingly or by force?…
yet the face had no a wrinkle in it, and the tenderest bloom was on the skin. […] But the strangest thing about it was, that from the crown of its head there sprung a bright clear jet of light, by which all this was visible” (Dickens, 55). The Ghost of the Christmas Past shows Scrooge his past days that have made him to be the man he is today. Shown from the past, Scrooge is “rejoiced beyond all bounds to see them” but later he ends up alone as the others parted to spend Christmas with their families.…
I had never felt a genuine sense of fear. That wasn’t until I visited the first haunted house of the Halloween season. During my childhood, I was overly obsessed with horror movies and anything that was guaranteed to send shivers down my spine. I lived to seek for blood and guts. I lived to seek for scary.…