Let's say you've got a steady job, a good income, people have to trust you (whether they like it or not), and you're handling lots of other people's money. What do you do? If you're Mark Claybrooks, you start a sleazy scheme for defrauding people and taking bribes. Usually when you take bribes, you'll get nailed by the government; they usually catch you by checking up on your taxes. Mark was safe from the IRS, for one simple reason — he worked there. According to one source, Claybrooks made $20,000 on the scheme — at least, that's how much they caught him for. But the scheme lasted for several years, and those numbers are for just two people who got taken in. The way it worked was simple: Claybrooks would contact people who owed the IRS money, and would kindly suggest that they refinance their mortgages to get better treatment. He also suggested that they use a company called Faith Mortgage, which — in a show of good faith, perhaps? — was giving Claybrooks a referral fee on every new customer he got them. Prior to joining the IRS, he happened to work for Faith Mortgage directly. This story comes via Kay Bell's ...

So you're interested in buying school supplies, or possibly guns, but you want to make sure you get the best possible deal — you're in luck! Thanks to back-to-school tax holidays, many states will make that shopping cheaper for you. And later in the year, one state is even having a tax holiday for guns! But first, how about some free money? The Wandering Tax Pro finds out how easy it is to get free money from the Feds — but not in the way you'd expect! It's a good point about how little fact-checking there is behind the homebuyer's rebate (and might explain why the homebuyer's tax credit is taking so long. The Digerati Life discusses the historical minimum wage (see also the Taxrascal entry about the minimum wage). Digerati cites a study adding fuel to the anti minimum-wage fire: when minimum wages increase, more high school students drop out — because they think they'll make more money! Kay Bell of Don't Mess With Taxes discusses back-to-school tax holidays, with a handy calendar. Is your state on it? Roth & Company adds to the discussion: there's a gun sales tax holiday, too! Which seems not so much "good" or "bad" as "bizarre," especially ...

Today, new minimum wage rules go into effect, meaning that millions of people earning between $6.55 and $7.25 per hour will get either extra green or a pink slip. It all depends on a big bet by Congress — a bet they're happy to make, but that they never have to pay on. The bet works like this: if most minimum wage workers are underpaid, they win! They all get raises, and the money they make is closer to what they're worth. They spend more money, the economy gets a boost, and everyone gets to thank Congress for making sure they're paid the right amount. And if they aren't worth it — or they are worth the money, but it's money their employers don't have? In that case, they get laid off. But, of course, it's harder to measure when that happens, or what really caused it. In the end, the easiest person to blame is the employer. It's a simple case of heads, Congress wins, tails, employers and employees both lose. But what makes it worse is who is affected: minimum wage workers are generally young, and generally women. In other words, they're often economically vulnerable (and, in the case of young ...

I don't want to make any promises, but if this tax blog is to be believed, California's treasurer is doing exactly what this site suggested: paying the bills with IOUs! As predicted, these IOUs aren't exactly like that time your brother-in-law promised he'd totally pay back that $20. Dozens of banks accept these IOUs, and people are already trying to buy and sell them online. Sure, it's less convenient than just having cash, but it's also a great way for California to advertise what a disaster area they are. It's one thing to see on the news that they can't figure out how to balance their budget. It's another thing entirely to open up an envelope marked "State Tax Refund," and find out that it's full of what looks like monopoly money. So thanks, Bill Lockyer! Glad you're enjoying the Rascal. While you're here, check out this list of the top tax blogs for more fine folks worth reading.

Your typical leveraged buyout kingpin lives in a swanky Park Avenue apartment, or maybe a hollowed-out volcano in the South Pacific. But that doesn't mean you can't get some good old-fashioned tax dodging and company buying-out, right in the middle of Utah. Husband and wife team Lester and Jeanette Mower liked the idea of trading companies for fun. The weird thing is that the confusing part is the legal part: they would create new businesses, merge them with existing public companies, and sell the stock. That meant a blizzard of paperwork, lots of legal fees, and transactions with dozens of banks and brokers. That's the complicated part. Next comes the simple part: once they sold their shares — they never paid taxes. Oops. The strangest part? their take from the scheme was $30 million. They were dodging the capital gains tax. Which means that, had they not cheated the IRS, they would be forced to make do with a mere... $24 million. So why did they do it? It's exactly hard to have a nice life with $24 million, especially in a low-cost state like Utah. So what's really going on? Two possibilities: They had a legitimate business and a serious gambling problem. Some of the ...