WASHINGTON, Feb 25 (Reuters) – Much of Europe is speeding
toward a tax on financial transactions, but the idea is going
nowhere fast in the United States, as the Obama administration
reaffirmed its opposition.

U.S. President Barack Obama’s Treasury Secretary nominee
Jack Lew, in a written response to a Republican senator weighing
his nomination released on Monday, said the White House still
opposes the tax.

WASHINGTON, Feb 14 (Reuters) – Charitable groups pleaded
with U.S. lawmakers on Thursday not to alter the federal tax
break for donations, while some Democrats said the popular
deduction was in no danger and called the Republican-convened
hearing a red herring.

Officials from hospitals and dozens of other non-profit
groups packed a House of Representatives’ Ways and Means
Committee session examining the write-off used by more than 30
million Americans at a cost to taxpayers of $38 billion a year.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senate Democrats on Wednesday introduced a bill to eliminate billions of dollars in tax benefits enjoyed by big oil and gas companies, one day after President Barack Obama renewed his call for plugging tax loopholes in his State of the Union address.

Obama and fellow Democrats for years have targeted oil and gas tax breaks, a move that Republicans and some Democrats from oil-producing states fiercely oppose.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s choice to be the next U.S. Treasury secretary said on Wednesday that revamping the tax code is “at the very top” of his priorities, and he offered some olive branches to Republicans to get there.

Tax reform took center stage at the Senate Finance Committee’s confirmation hearing for Jack Lew, Obama’s nominee to replace Timothy Geithner. Lew told lawmakers that Obama is committed to a long-sought tax code overhaul and said that lowering all tax rates is possible if tough choices are made.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama called on Tuesday for a revamp of the U.S. tax code, a goal shared by his Republican rivals, but the bid to close tax breaks enjoyed by the wealthiest Americans and corporations face familiar roadblocks in Congress.

Lowering the corporate tax rate while scrubbing the code of deductions and asking the richest to pay more were among familiar proposals outlined by Obama in his State of the Union speech to Congress.

WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will
renew his bid to curb tax breaks prized by corporations and the
wealthiest Americans in a speech on Tuesday laying out his
legislative agenda, but the proposals are sure to face familiar
roadblocks from congressional Republicans.

The president will propose to “reform our business tax code,
(lower) the corporate tax rate with an even lower rate for
manufacturers,” and set a minimum tax on offshore earnings,
according to a fact sheet provided by the White House ahead of
the annual State of the Union address to Congress.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Giving is a virtue under the U.S. tax code, but concern is growing among philanthropic leaders about the charitable contributions deduction, a key fund-raising tool for charities.

Worried that federal deficit-fighting efforts are putting a pinch on the tax break, dozens of United Way executives will visit Congress this week to plead their case.

WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) – A bipartisan group of U.S.
senators introduced legislation on Thursday to repeal a tax on
medical devices that is part of President Barack Obama’s
healthcare law, although the proposal likely faces an uphill
climb in Congress.

The tax applies to a range of medical products – everything
from bedpans and surgical tools to the expensive heart devices
produced in the home states of the senators backing the repeal.
It is among several new industry levies in Obama’s 2010
healthcare overhaul law, which aims to provide health insurance
for millions of Americans who lack it.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The tax collection agency has stepped up its crackdown on identify theft in a nationwide sweep of people filing false tax returns that bilk the government of billions of dollars.

The Internal Revenue Service said Thursday it started 542 criminal identify theft probes in the first four months of fiscal year 2013, which started October 1, 2012. That is double the pace of investigations from the previous fiscal year.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The top Democrat on the Senate’s tax committee on Tuesday veered slightly from President Barack Obama’s call for quick tax code fixes to avert looming budget cuts, reflecting a split among Democrats on the scope of a possible tax code overhaul.

If Congress cannot strike a deal to avert $85 billion in broad federal spending cuts set for March 1, as appears likely, it should at least pursue a short-term fix that includes closing “special interest” tax loopholes, Obama said on Tuesday.