TaxEsqBlog -by Ronald J. Cappuccio, J.D., LL.M.(Tax)

Once again, New Jersey is being unnecessarily dragged through the mud. First, the unfounded attacks against Gov. Christie. Then, not correctly attributing the SuperBowl to the correct State (the Meadowlands is in NJ, not NY), and now Rob Andrews is getting the "tommy-gun" from the press in an attempt to ignore the real issues in our Federal Government. Rob Andrews is resigning from Congress under an ethical cloud.    This is unfortunate since he certainly has been a highly energetic and active Congressmen for Southern New Jersey.  Even though I disagree with many of his viewpoints, he certainly always had an open door to me and any other constituents. Years ago, I sponsored a dinner honoring James Corbett, a retiring member of the Camden office of the SBA.  Rob was gracious enough to come speak at the event, and lend his staff for event assistance. He was a hard-working Freeholder Director before he got into Congress and he never forgot how important local...

The head of the exempt organizations operation of the IRS has invoked her Fifth Amendment privilege not to testify before Congress. After giving a several minutes statement saying she was " not guilty of violating IRS rules and regulations .", Lois Lerner then declared her Fifth Amendment privilege. She is now been placed on leave , and actually replaced in the IRS. This just highlights an ongoing problem with exempt organization reviews by the IRS. There are no time limits requiring the IRS to start or complete a review of an application by an organization seeking to become a charitable organization for federal tax purposes. Also, there are no limitations on the questions that can be asked, nor the documents required. That Pres. Obama has use the IRS as a tool for his reelection campaign (joining former presidents Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, and Bill Clinton) is not surprising. The lesson from this is clear. Congress must e...