Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.

 * Pension crisis looms despite cuts. Michael Corkery – The Wall Street Journal. Almost every state in the U.S. has made cuts to its public-employee pensions, seeking to dig out from the economic downturn, but so far the measures have fallen well short of bridging a nearly $1 trillion funding gap. Since 2009, 45 states have rolled back pension benefits for teachers, police, firefighters and other public workers, including cuts by Michigan and California this month. Next week, Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich is expected to sign legislation requiring, for example, that certain teachers work longer and pay more toward their pensions. Link 

* Romney, in interview, says his tax rate is “fair.” Reuters. U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said he thinks it is “fair” that he pays a lower tax rate on his investment income of $20 million last year than someone who made $50,000 annually. Romney released his 2011 return on Friday, which showed he paid an effective tax rate of 14.1 percent. Link  

Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.

 * L.A. pension proposal would hike retirement age, cut benefits. David Zahniser and Kate Linthicum – The Los Angeles Times. Setting the stage for a legal battle with employee unions, the Los Angeles City Council is weighing a new plan to reel in pension costs by hiking the retirement age and cutting benefits for thousands of future civilian employees. The proposal, unveiled the same day that the council backed a three-year business tax break worth roughly $50 million, would set the retirement age at 65 and establish new financial penalties for those who retire earlier. Link  

* IASB warns of reduction in bank lending. Adam Jones – The Financial Times. Banks could be deterred from lending under a new approach to bad loan provisioning being developed in the US, according to the head of the body that sets rival international accounting rules. In another sign of how attempts to create global accounting rules have unraveled, Hans Hoogervorst, International Accounting Standards Board chairman, criticized a more conservative attitude to bank accounting that has gained favor in the US. Link  

Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.

* The sales-tax effect on Amazon: Nada. Greg Bensinger – The Wall Street Journal. A new survey by Wells Fargo analyst Matt Nemer showed that consumers in Texas, the second most populous state in the nation, essentially haven’t changed their buying habits since the online sales tax went into effect in July. Link  

* Credit Suisse to reveal more data, staff names in U.S. tax probe. Katherina Bart – Reuters. Credit Suisse said it would transfer more information on its money management arm for wealthy Americans to U.S. officials, including more names of its own employees, as part of an effort to settle a tax evasion probe. For the first time, Credit Suisse employees will be told before their names are disclosed to U.S. officials, a bank spokesman said, after previous transfers of information by banks drew criticism. Link  

Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.

 * Financially troubled parts of Europe consider taxing Catholic Church properties. Ariana Eunjung Cha – The Washington Post. Cash-strapped officials in Europe are looking for a way to ease their financial burden by upending centuries of tradition and seeking to tap one of the last untouched sources of wealth: the Catholic Church. Thousands of public officials who have seen the financial crisis hit their budgets are chipping away at the various tax breaks and privileges the church has enjoyed for centuries. Link  

* An expiring tax credit threatens the wind power industry. Kate Galbraith – The New York Times. Wind power companies are closely watching developments in Washington, where a tax credit benefiting wind farms is due to expire at the end of this year. The implications of that could be especially significant in Texas, the top wind power state, which contains about a fifth of the nation’s turbines and is building expensive transmission lines to support more growth. Link  

California Governor Jerry Brown announces the Public Employee Pension Reform Act of 2012, August 28, 2012. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.

 * California workers to shoulder more pension costs. Vauhini Vara – The Wall Street Journal. California will begin overhauling pensions for government workers in January, after Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law Wednesday to boost current employees’ contributions and cut benefits for future workers. The new law mandates that, beginning in January, people who start working for California and many of its cities will face higher retirement ages and smaller pensions when they retire. Link  

A worker collects products at the Amazon.com warehouse facility in New Castle, Delaware. REUTERS/Tim Shaffer

Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.

* Amazon, forced to collect a tax, is adding roots. David Streitfeld – The New York Times. Amazon’s multibillion-dollar building frenzy comes as the company is about to lose perhaps its biggest competitive edge — that the vast majority of its customers do not pay sales tax. After negotiations with lawmakers, the company is beginning to collect taxes in California, Texas, Pennsylvania and other states. But Amazon hopes new warehouses will allow it to provide better service, giving it the ability to up-end the retailing industry in an entirely new way. Link  

Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.

 * Californians face rival ballot initiatives that would raise taxes and aid schools. Brooks Barnes – The New York Times. California’s Proposition 30 would increase statewide sales taxes by one-fourth of a cent and impose an income tax surcharge on Californians who earn more than $250,000 annually. The sales tax increase would expire after four years, and the income tax component would last for seven years. Some of the new money would go to public safety programs, like the supervision of parolees. Link  

* Tax hike cuts tobacco consumption. Dennis Cauchon – USA Today. A giant federal tobacco tax hike has spurred a historic drop in smoking, especially among teens, poor people and those dependent on government health insurance, a USA TODAY analysis finds. President Obama signed the tax hike — the biggest to take effect in his first term — on his 16th day in office, reversing two vetoes by President Bush. The federal cigarette tax jumped from 39 cents to $1.01 per pack on April 1, 2009. Since then, the change has brought in more than $30 billion in new revenue, tax records show. Link