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June 19, 2013, 12:30 pm
By
Megan R. Wilson
The Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday elected Amway chief, Steve Van Andel, as the chairman of its board of directors.
In that role, Van Andel said he wanted to advance trading worldwide and get businesses involved, calling it his “top priority.”
“It doesn’t matter the size of the business—small, medium, or large,” he said in a statement. “Promoting trade in any part of the world will continue to be a top priority of mine.”
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Archived under:
Personnel Notes
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June 19, 2013, 11:52 am
By
Bernie Becker
A pair of senior GOP tax-writers is reintroducing legislation to repeal the estate tax.
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) announced Wednesday that they were bringing back legislation almost identical to what they released in the last Congress to permanently get rid of the tax.
Thune, a member of Senate GOP leadership as well as the Finance Committee, cited a study from the conservative economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin that said that repealing the estate tax – or “death tax,” as Republicans have labeled it – would create some 1.5 million new jobs.
“This tax punishes farmers and entrepreneurs for a lifetime of hard work,” Thune said in a statement. “Death should not be a taxable event, and I will continue to work in Congress to see a permanent end to this unfair tax.”
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Archived under:
Domestic Taxes
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June 19, 2013, 11:34 am
By
Bernie Becker
Two House chairmen applauded the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service for shuttering three post offices in the Capitol complex.
Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Administration Chairwoman Candice Miller called the savings from the consolidations “a small but symbolically important step in restoring USPS to long-term financial solvency.”
“Congress should lead by example and not treat itself to a higher level of service than it needs or is available to the average American,” Issa and Miller said in a statement.
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Archived under:
Other
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June 19, 2013, 11:12 am
By
Peter Schroeder
The IRS says it is legally required to dole out $70 million in bonuses.
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Archived under:
Domestic Taxes
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June 19, 2013, 10:35 am
By
Megan R. Wilson
The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) on Tuesday added a senior Sears and Kmart executive to its board of directors.
Ron Boire, the president of the two retail giants, takes the spot of Sears’s recently departed president and chief executive, Lou D’Ambrosio.
RILA President Sandy Kennedy says Boire’s “insights” about the industry will bring “added wisdom” to the group, which boasts membership of nine of the top 10 U.S. retailers.
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Archived under:
Personnel Notes
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June 19, 2013, 7:55 am
By
Bernie Becker
Archived under:
Banking/Financial Institutions
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June 18, 2013, 9:28 pm
By
Bernie Becker
The Internal Revenue Service failed to give the House Small Business Committee requested documents on how the agency treats smaller companies by the requested date of June 17, the committee said Tuesday.
Danny Werfel, the acting head of the IRS, told Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), the chairman of the Small Business panel, that the agency would try to get the documents to the committee within another 15 days.
Graves had asked the IRS last month what percentage of small businesses received audits from the agency, and for information on why the IRS might come to notice small businesses.
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Archived under:
Domestic Taxes
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June 18, 2013, 8:27 pm
By
Erik Wasson
The estimate hands supporters a new economic argument for the bill as the upper chamber marches toward a final vote.
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Archived under:
Budget, Senate
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June 18, 2013, 8:24 pm
By
Peter Schroeder and Bernie Becker
House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa had warned Democrats that releasing a full transcript would be “reckless.”
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Archived under:
Domestic Taxes
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June 18, 2013, 8:07 pm
By
Vicki Needham
A senior House Democrat called on federal regulators to look into the actions of any mortgage servicer that might have benefited by misleading borrowers about federal loan modification programs. California Rep. Maxine Waters, ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, sent letters on Tuesday calling for an investigation of Bank of America or any other bank that may have deliberately delayed loan modification applications to force troubled borrowers into foreclosure instead. She said, according to court documents, that employees reported falsifying records and were told to find ways to delay loan-assistance applications under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) by requesting paperwork that had already received in an effort "to maximize fees for the bank." "The goal of the delay was to ensure that rather than receiving a HAMP modification, the borrower would be foreclosed upon," Waters wrote.
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Archived under:
Banking/Financial Institutions
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