Word: gifts
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...Finance Ministry is considering plans to suppress inheritance tax between spouses in next year's budget. The prospect of such a measure, estimated to cost the treasury about €400 million per year in lost revenue, immediately sparked uproar, with the opposition Socialist Party condemning it as an "unacceptable gift to the well off." Less predictably, it was also criticized as "inopportune" by Pierre Méhaignerie, a conservative and Chirac ally who heads the Parliament's finance committee. Méhaignerie told the French daily Le Figaro that the government should not "take the risk of being subject...
...more elementary the product, the more grandiose the embellishment. For his second birthday, my son received a set of sponge-on paints. Cool, huh? You have no idea. According to the box, the nifty gift "provides children with an opportunity to do original planning and thinking while creating expressive art." Original planning? Expressive art?! Well, color me happy! And I thought the boy just liked painting his sister purple...
...swag is in sight. Presenters at the upcoming Primetime Emmy Awards on Aug. 27 must sign and return a letter from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences acknowledging that they are aware that under IRS guidelines they have to pay taxes on their gift-bag goodies, even if they are the star of the hottest hit sitcom on network television. The letter is, in effect, the Academy?s way of absolving itself of responsibility for unpaid gift taxes...
...action comes in response to a crackdown on swag by the IRS that began several months ago. In March, just before the Academy Awards, the tax agency released a memo cautioning recipients that gift baskets are income and that ?movie stars face the same tax obligations as ordinary Americans.? The crackdown may have something to do with the fact that the Academy Award gift bags this year were valued at more than $100,000 each, and included such goodies as a four-night $25,000 Hawaiian vacation and $7,000 worth of Victoria Secret undies. In total, unreported gift bags...
...gift bags will still be given out at this year's Emmys, however. A TV Academy spokeswoman says that the letters informed presenters of the tax consequences and guidelines of accepting swag. After that, it?s between a presenter and his or her accountant. ?For this year?s Emmys, it?s happening,? she says of the gift bags. ?It?s premature to have any decision or conversation right now about what will happen in the future...