Here's something you might be interested in.
The Washington Post reported today (Nov. 10) that in late September, while the public was enraged about the $700 billion bailout package, and Congress was debating it, the Treasury pulled a fast one that was probably illegal. Unilaterally and quietly, the Treasury repealed a 22-year old law that was passed to keep companies from sheltering fat profits from taxes by purchasing shell companies whose only value was losses on their books. Those losses would then be used to offset gains. The Treasury's five-sentence pronouncement, which went almost unnoticed at the time, repealed the 1986 law and permitted financial institutions to buy money-losing institutions as a tax ploy. The move was almost certainly made to permit banks to make more acquisitions in the current credit crisis. But most tax lawyers interviewed by the Post said the Treasury had no authority to issue the edict.
The Washington Post reported today (Nov. 10) that in late September, while the public was enraged about the $700 billion bailout package, and Congress was debating it, the Treasury pulled a fast one that was probably illegal. Unilaterally and quietly, the Treasury repealed a 22-year old law that was passed to keep companies from sheltering fat profits from taxes by purchasing shell companies whose only value was losses on their books. Those losses would then be used to offset gains. The Treasury's five-sentence pronouncement, which went almost unnoticed at the time, repealed the 1986 law and permitted financial institutions to buy money-losing institutions as a tax ploy. The move was almost certainly made to permit banks to make more acquisitions in the current credit crisis. But most tax lawyers interviewed by the Post said the Treasury had no authority to issue the edict.