Over the weekend I came across an article entitled "Talks to Cut Deficit Stumble" by Jonathan Weisman in the Wall Street Jounal. In a nutshell, there continues to be tension among republicans and democrats regarding deficit reduction. Democrats want social security to be a part of any deal and seem to be in favor of some action regarding current tax laws. Republicans do not want tax cuts, deductions, etc., to be a part of any deal, nor do they want social security to be a part of any deal. I anticipate the debate will continue and am worried that at the end of 2012, we will be in the same place we were at the end ot 2010 (i.e., with a lot of tax uncertainty.
As a Utah tax attorney, I am concerned with and interested in tax law updates, both at the federal and state level. I am very interested to see what will happen this year and next regarding tax laws, elections, and the economy. While I don't want more and new taxes, I am also not sure how good the country's fiscal outlook will be without more new revenue streams--which is why I advise clients to consider what tax planning they can do now to plan to minimize future tax burdens. And of course, I am nervous about what future tax burdens will do to out economy.
These are interesting and uncertain times for tax planning. Stay tuned and I'll try to do a better job at posting regular national and Utah tax law updates on this blog.
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