Wednesday July 27, 2022 – Immediately upon taking office President Biden promoted the Build Back Better Plan as PRESIDENT BIDEN’S PLAN TO REBUILD THE MIDDLE CLASS.

Since that time, the Build Back Better Plan – with a whooping price tag of $3.5 Trillion (some placed the cost at $5 Trillion) – has been put aside, time and time again. But, it keeps popping up.

Senator Manchin has objected to the price tag and have opposed the bill. The lavish items like – universal Pre-K, First-generation down-payment assistance, Home-efficiency rebates have been removed.

The one item that has endured is the $80 Billion Dollars for the IRS over the next 10 years that would more than double the size of the IRS workforce.

Attorney Steven A. Leahy goes through the IRS segments of the Build Back Better Plan on Today’s Tax Talk.

https://www.atr.org/dems-want-to-supersize-irs-to-fund-spending-blowout/

https://www.whitehouse.gov/build-back-better/

https://nypost.com/2021/10/05/never-mind-the-cost-just-look-at-the-absurd-things-build-back-better-would-buy/

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Tuesday July 26, 2022 – No long ago – almost yesterday – regulators were citing the rise in Cryptocurrency value as reason to heavily regulate the industry.

Now, Cryptocurrency values have plummeted – losing more than $1 Trillion in value in a matter of weeks. And regulators are coming out of the woodwork to impose ever more regulations. All the heavy hitters, who were set to protect Cryptocurrency with political donations are gone.

Attorney Steven A. Leahy looks at the regulatory future of Cryptocurrency on Today’s Tax Talk.

https://time.com/nextadvisor/investing/cryptocurrency/crypto-price-crash-leads-to-regulation/

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/ceo-titanium-blockchain-pleads-guilty-21-million-cryptocurrency-fraud-scheme

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-26/coinbase-faces-sec-investigation-over-cryptocurrency-listings

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Monday July 25, 2022 – Nothing Is More Expensive Than a Free Government Service. There is plenty of evidence to support that contention.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, along with 22 additional Democratic lawmakers, has proposed providing FREE tax preparation – provided by the Internal Revenue Service to US taxpayers. The legislation would direct the IRS to create software that would allow any taxpayer to prepare and file their individual income tax return beginning in tax year 2023.

Good idea? Well, the IRS already has a Free File System.
That system is a public/private partnership and is available to about 70% of taxpayers. Although, only 3% of taxpayers used the service during the 2020 tax season, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report.

The IRS only answers 1 out of 9 phone calls and has a backlog 21.3 million unprocessed paper returns as of May 31, 2022. Adding additional duties to the already overburdened IRS is not a good idea.

Attorney Steven A. Leahy reviews Senator Warren’s proposal on Today’s Tax Talk.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/20/dems-push-for-a-free-irs-tax-filing-service-tax-pros-are-skeptical.html

https://rollcall.com/2022/07/13/democratic-bill-would-mandate-new-irs-free-tax-filing-program/

https://www.gobankingrates.com/taxes/tax-laws/tax-pros-say-creating-free-federal-tax-filing-system-not-realistic-irs-backlogs/

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Thursday July 21, 2022 – On Wednesday the IRS published a 26-page IRS Strategic Plan FY 2022–2026 (Publication 3744). The publication intends to “share [their] strategic priorities and how they shape the important work that takes place at the IRS, year in and year out, to help taxpayers.”

The plan outlines five Goals – Service, Enforcement, People, and Transformation – and strategies to accomplish each goal.

“The strategic planning team within the Office of the Chief Financial Officer facilitated the development of this plan through an inclusive and deliberative process that engaged IRS employees, leaders, advisory groups and key stakeholders, including the Department of the Treasury.”

Attorney Steven A. Leahy goes through the plan to clarify how this plan will effect individual taxpayers on Today’s Tax Talk.

https://www.irs.gov/about-irs/irs-strategic-plan

https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2022/jul/irs-seeks-transformation-new-5-year-plan.html

https://news.bloombergtax.com/daily-tax-report/irs-releases-5-year-strategic-plan-to-improve-taxpayer-service

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Tuesday July 19, 2022 – We all know about the Crypto Crash. If Crypto never recovers, does that mean the end of Blockchain too?

In this space, we have long held that crypto, while interesting and important, is not Blockchain. Blockchain technology is really the advancement – and potential transformation technology. Crypto is merely its first iteration.

Attorney Steven A. Leahy talks about Blockchain without Crypto on Crypto Tuesday’s edition of Today’s Tax Talk.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/blockchain-without-crypto-adoption-of-decentralized-tech

https://www.livemint.com/companies/people/blockchain-uses-are-far-beyond-cryptos-11658139658271.html

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