Chinese Imports, Breach Victims, The Commerce Clause, And Work
President Biden will raise tariffs on some Chinese imports. Yesterday, Biden announced higher tariffs on about $18 billion worth of products, including electric vehicles, solar cells, semiconductors, and advanced batteries imported from China. The biggest tariff increase will be on electric vehicles, from 25 percent to 100 percent. He also endorsed maintaining tariffs levied by President Donald Trump on over $300 billion worth of Chinese imports.
The IRS is notifying taxpayers who were affected by the Littlejohn breach. Former IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn released tax information of thousands of taxpayers to media outlets. The IRS has now begun notifying taxpayers who were affected. The IRS does not yet know the full extent of the breach, in part because the IRS did not receive information on all affected taxpayers until after Littlejohn was sentenced in January to five years in prison.
Pennsylvania taxpayer takes her tax credit claim to the US Supreme Court. The Tax Review Board of Philadelphia denied Diane Zilka a tax credit for income she earned in another state, a decision upheld by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Tax Notes reports (paywall) on Zilka’s subsequent petition with the US Supreme Court. She asks the Court to resolve whether local and state tax burdens should be reviewed together or individually when determining whether a tax discriminates against interstate commerce.
Will tax breaks encourage Germans to work more? The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reports that the average annual hours worked by Germans has fallen 30 percent in the past 50 years to 1,341 hours, about a quarter below the US average of 1,811 hours. The German government is exploring whether tax cuts on overtime might help reverse this steep drop. The Financial Times reports that German workers may have little incentive to work more hours because they lose much of the extra income in taxes and reduced benefits.
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