Tax Policy & IRS News
The Daily Signal reports on tax legislation, reform efforts, and tax enforcement by the IRS. Get conservative analysis on how tax policies and cuts affect families, businesses, and America’s fiscal outlook.
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news
Trump Administration Targets Race-Based Discrimination With New IRS Crackdown on Private Schools
The Trump administration plans to end tax-exempt status for private schools that engage in any type of race-based discrimination or race-based admissions. The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service will issue the proposed regulation Thursday to restore merit. “Under President Trump, this Administration is standing up for America’s students by ensuring racial discrimination has… -
opinion
Bid to Raise Sales Taxes in Virginia Raises Questions
Thirty-five percent of Virginia’s municipal governments will be holding a referendum this November on whether to add a 1% sales tax to any transactions that take place in their county or city. The General Assembly approved amendments to Sections 58.1-605.1 and 58.1-606.1 to allow all Virginia cities and counties to put forth a referendum to… -
opinion
The Estate Tax Rewards the Wealthy for Funding Progressive Foundations
America’s private fortunes are the economic engines that built the most prosperous economy in world history, and they are giving themselves away. Since her 2019 divorce from Jeff Bezos, MacKenzie Scott has handed out $26 billion—much of it to racial equity, DEI, and “social justice” causes. Warren Buffett has pledged 99% of his roughly $170… -
news
New Report Exposes the Foreign Cash Behind ‘Extremist Climate Activist Movement’
Foreign donors have poured over $130 million into U.S.-based climate activist nonprofits, according to a new database tracking over $5 billion in foreign funding. “Our database makes it clear foreign cash is bankrolling much of the extremist climate activist movement in America,” Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of Americans for Public Trust, told the Daily Signal…. -
opinion
Victor Davis Hanson: New York’s Property Tax Crackdown Is Just the Beginning
Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s video from Daily Signal senior contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see more of his videos. Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York, has just stirred up a lot of controversy. He said that he wanted to go after property owners who had… -
analysis
The Data Center Question: What Will the Impacts Be for Georgians?
Recently, Georgians across the state have expressed concerns over the potential for new data centers to be built in their communities. Examples include a $20 billion project being discussed in Effingham County. Massive development projects raise many bipartisan issues, including the possibility of tax hikes and higher water and electricity costs. “It’s easy to say… -
opinion
Why Would Congress Want to Punish People for Their IRA Savings?
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., rolled out the Retirement Fairness for Working Americans Act this week, and the name alone tells you how Washington sells a bad idea. There is nothing fair about capping retirement accounts and forcing selloffs on people who did exactly what the tax code told them to… -
news
‘Ghost Students’ Defrauded Utah Taxpayers of Almost $1 Million
According to a recent report from the Utah legislative auditor general, the state’s higher education system lost over $830,000 in recent years to “ghost students” who apply to receive financial aid and run off with the money without pursuing a degree. “Institutions reported disbursing $834k to suspected fraudulent applicants and spending over 15,000 hours working… -
opinion
Gavin Newsom’s Hollywood Bailout
Gov. Gavin Newsom spent the past year celebrating a massive expansion of California’s Hollywood tax credit program, boosting it to a record $750 million a year. Then his own budget managed to kneecap it. Now Sacramento is scrambling to fix one of the governor’s biggest political headaches. More than three dozen California lawmakers—including senior Democrat… -
opinion
Why Our Kids Don’t Learn
Included in the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act is a dollar-for-dollar tax credit, up to $1,700, for contributions to “Scholarship Granting Organizations” that parents can access and use toward paying for private school tuition and fees and other educational expenses. The provision is constructed such that states must choose to opt in to the… -
opinion
Why Are Taxpayers Forced to Subsidize Chronic Disease?
Americans should be free to buy soda, but taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize this unhealthy habit. Now, a district judge is blocking state efforts to keep taxpayer dollars from funding soda purchases. The ruling challenges the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s authority to approve state Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program waivers, more commonly known as… -
news
Property Tax or Sales Tax? The Lesser of 2 Evils
During the special session at the Georgia General Assembly, Georgia Democrats voted against property tax referendum legislation that Republicans introduced. If passed, this legislation would grant citizens in localities the opportunity to vote on slightly increasing the sales tax in exchange for a lower property tax. House Republican leaders have emphasized the need for a… -
opinion
The Art of the Deal
Like they all had read President Donald Trump’s seminal tome “Art of the Deal,” Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, state Sen. Louise Lucas, and Speaker of the House Don Scott had us all believing that the Virginia Democrats were in disarray. Then, as Lee Corso used to say on ESPN “College GameDay,” “Not so fast, my… -
news
Can Republicans Pull Off One Last Big Bill Before August? Pfluger Says They Can
After nearly a year, House Republicans are finally gaining momentum on Reconciliation 3.0, an affordability, anti-fraud bill that has the potential to save the party in the midterms. With their self-imposed deadline of “before the end of summer”—meaning before campaign season ramps up in August—the window isn’t open long. Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger,… -
opinion
How Do Federal Government Employees Get Away With Not Paying Their Taxes?
We have known for some time that our federal employees have cushy lives compared to the people for whom they work (us). What is particularly infuriating is that so many of them either don’t pay their taxes or are seriously delinquent on what they owe their employer—the federal government. Recently, the Treasury Inspector General for… -
news
A New Congressional Plan to Save $1.5 Trillion and End Abortion Funding
The Heritage Foundation released its version of Reconciliation 3.0, a new plan to end federal funding for abortion, combat fraud, and save America $1.5 trillion. The leading conservative policy institute on Wednesday unveiled “Setting the American Opportunity Agenda,” a special budget and spending report for Congress, and House Speaker Mike Johnson said he is ready… -
opinion
California Was a Paradise, Then Newsom Happened
Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s video from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see more of his videos. Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for the Daily Signal. People talk about the California disaster, but I don’t think we fully appreciate the severity and the manifestations of… -
opinion
Reconciliation 3.0 Is the Best 250th Birthday Present Congress Can Give America
Leave it to the legacy media to turn a commemorative currency proposal into a five-alarm constitutional crisis. By now, you’ve probably heard about the scene at last week’s White House press briefing when CNN’s Kaitlan Collins confronted Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about a proposed $250 bill featuring President Donald Trump. “Do you think politically it’s… -
news
Here’s How the IRS Is Taking on the Networks Potentially Funding Antifa
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters Thursday that the Internal Revenue Service and the FBI have made substantial progress on investigating the networks funding Antifa leftist agitators, and he mentioned one concrete policy change that could undermine nonprofits’ ability to prop up the violent movement. “In October, the Treasury Department started working with the FBI… -
opinion
Blue Cities Like Portland Prioritize the Antisocial Over the Law-Abiding
Like many of America’s once-great metropolises, Portland, Oregon, has seen better days. Drug-addled homeless continue to ravage the streets, and businesses have begun packing their bags for greener pastures, following the thousands of city residents who have had enough. The reason Portland has become such a disaster is simple: It prioritizes the needs of its…