taxes

Economy isn't the real beneficiary of fiscal cliff deal

The political compromise does little to address the consistent headwinds that undermine growth, hold back corporate investment, and dampen job creation.

By Mohamed El-Erian

FORTUNE -- The compromise reached by Congress, after multiple rounds of painful negotiations, makes some political sense. The economic benefits are mixed, at best. The social dimension is notable, but will need to be quickly reinforced by measures to reinvigorate economic growth and job creation.

The political MORE

Tax hikes for the rich? Blame George W. Bush

It seemed like a great idea at the time: sweeping tax cuts that would never go away because of an endless economic boom. The day of reckoning has come.

FORTUNE -- What seems brilliant today can come back to bite you in the butt tomorrow when the world changes. That's my major takeaway from the fiscal cliff soap opera.

It's a lesson that Republican tax-cutting zealots are now learning, painfully, as their MORE

Will Obama and Congress punt on real tax reform?

Whether or not the president and lawmakers reel us in from the fiscal cliff, the tax debate is sure to keep going.

By Becky Quick, contributor

FORTUNE -- It's an argument as old as politics itself: How do we responsibly finance the system of government that provides the basic framework of our society? Taxation without representation was at the core of forming this country. Now the rate and distribution of taxes MORE

Economists poke holes in Buffett's tax argument

Data shows investors tend to pay less for stocks when capital gains rates are high.

FORTUNE -- Taxes, so the saying goes, are certain. What they do to stocks is, apparently, up for debate.

Famed investor Warren Buffett, in a New York Times opinion piece and elsewhere, has been making the case that tax rates, which are set to go up on capital gains and dividends on January 1st, won't affect the MORE

The Romney legacy: Fuzzy math doesn't work anymore

Like three presidents before him, Mitt Romney told the voters what they wanted to hear about taxes. But this time they weren't buying it.

By John Cassidy, contributor

FORTUNE -- Poor Mitt Romney. From the GOP primaries, when members of his own party labeled him a "vulture capitalist," to the start of the campaign proper, when one of his top aides vouchsafed that he would follow an "Etch A Sketch" strategy, MORE

Stop beating up the rich

Instead of taking them down, shouldn't we figure out how to lift everyone up?

By Nina Easton, senior editor

FORTUNE -- Alexis de Tocqueville famously chronicled American society's love of equality -- and its equally passionate pursuit of money. "The love of wealth," the French historian wrote in the 1840s, "is … at the bottom of all that the Americans do." America stands out among Western nations for its grudging, and MORE

Mitt Romney's higher tax bill

Resolving Romney's fee waiver issue.

FORTUNE -- Mitt Romney paid taxes at a much lower rate than did many other Americans, but he may have paid at a higher rate than his former colleagues at Bain Capital.

The underlying issue is management fee waivers.

In short, private equity funds receive annual management fees that are used to cover overhead like salaries and office leases. Typically 2% of capital commitments, paid by fund investors MORE

A radical tax plan the left and right can agree on

The President, key conservatives, and even some of the nation's biggest corporations are leaning toward trading special breaks for lower rates.

By Nina Easton, senior editor-at-large

FORTUNE -- The economy coughs and sputters and threatens to stall out -- again. Growth slows; unemployment ticks back up to 8.3%. Congress shamelessly convenes a five-week recess, while the President camps out under the comforting applause of the campaign trail.

The absurdity of Washington's inaction MORE

Private equity tax questions for Mitt Romney

Romney is finally talking private equity, but not private equity taxes.

FORTUNE -- If President Obama's supporters want to attack Mitt Romney over his time at Bain Capital, there may be a more productive tact than fruitlessly searching for illegal tax dodges in old investor presentations. Make it about tax policy.

Romney today indicated an increased willingness to get specific on his private equity history, through an op-ed in The Wall Street MORE

One reason to flood the Facebook market

Selling shares before the tax rates rise.

FORTUNE -- Accel Partners yesterday distributed approximately 50 million shares of Facebook (FB) stock, following the expiration of a 90-day lockup. We don't yet know how many of those shares made it to market, but we do know that many limited partners in venture capital funds are effectively required to liquidate upon receipt.

My first thought was to criticize Accel for such a massive distribution. MORE