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By Mike Nester For The Prairie Advocate News

The Eastland School board voted last week to drop their appeal process of the countys re-assessment of Freedom Township.

The school district had protested the property tax assessment in a non-quadrennial year and felt property values in Freedom Township should have only been decreased by eight percent, instead of nearly 20 percent.

Eastland Supt. Mark Hanson said during the appeal process that If the appeal was not successful, district revenues will be reduced by approximately $275,000 above and beyond what is already being lost as a result of declining EAV and reductions in state funding.

The issue arose late last year when the county received the Illinois Dept. of Revenues (IDR) sales ratio study, which revealed a 58.48, instead of the required 33.3 for Freedom Township due to property values falling.

On Dec. 7, 2011, County Assessor Annette Gruhn held a teleconference call with IDR employees, Carroll County States Attorney Scott Brinkmeier and Eastland Attorney Tim Zollinger.

In late December the revised assessments were published in The Prairie Advocate News and individual notices were sent to tax payers. Gruhn also sent the abstracts to the IDR.

Gruhn then received a ruling from the IDR on Jan. 19 citing her office was in their legal authority based on Illinois state statue (ILCS 200 9/80).

On January 25, the state certified the median levels for Carroll County, 33.53 for county-wide and 33.91 for Freedom Township.

Two days later, the Eastland School Board filed a protest and appealed the taxes on the Freedom Township property.

Read more from the original source:
Eastland Drops Appeal of Freedom Twp. Re-assessment

By Elizabeth Behrman, Times Staff Writer Elizabeth BehrmanTampa Bay Times In Print: Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Tax season is upon us, not exactly the happiest time of year. If it helps, maybe just a little, many of you will only have to work a couple of more weeks before you hit Tax Freedom Day. That's right, the average Floridian worked until April 11 last year to pay off all federal, state and local taxes. The rest of the year was money in their pocket, at least according to the Tax Foundation. Florida was the 16th state to celebrate tax freedom last year. Mississippi was first (March 26) and Connecticut was last (May 2). How does Florida compare in some other tax measures?

42 Florida's rank on the list for state tax collections with $1,680 per capita. Alaska was highest with $6,395, and South Carolina lowest with $1,475. (2010 data)

5th Florida's rank on the list of most favorable tax climates for business in 2012. Wyoming was most favorable, New Jersey least favorable.

35 cents

Florida's tax on gasoline per gallon, 10th highest. New York was highest, with 49 cents per gallon, and Alaska the lowest with 8 cents.

48 cents

Florida's tax on beer per gallon, eighth highest. Wyoming was the lowest at 2 cents, and Alaska the highest at $1.05 (as of Sept. 1).

16.57 %

Florida's state and local cellphone tax rate, fourth highest. Nebraska was the highest at 18.64 percent, and Oregon the lowest at 1.81 percent (as of July 1, 2010).

Link:
How Florida's taxes compare to other states

* Charges against foreigners seen as politically driven

* Pay, lifestyle outweigh legal risks for most expats

* Immigration wave grows with oil boom

CALGARY/RIO DE JANEIRO, March 27(Reuters) - Brazilian criminal charges against energy industry employees over an oil spill have made foreign workers leery of new legal risks, but so far concerns seem to be outweighed by the lure of good-paying jobs and a famously laid-back lifestyle.

The big question among expatriates is whether last week's charges against Chevron Corp (NYSE: CVX - news) , Transocean (NYSE: RIG - news) and 17 of their staff are political grandstanding in a country actively seeking foreign expertise to help develop its newfound oil riches, or a real risk of doing hard time.

"This prosecution is strange. I think people, more than anything, were surprised they've taken it, or appear to want to take it, to this extent. It's really politically driven from what I can see in talking to some of my Brazilian friends," said Tom Rothfels, a Canadian who recently returned to Toronto from a five-month stint in Brazil working with a helicopter company that serves the offshore oil industry.

"But Brazil has always had a bit of an anti-foreigner current underlying much of what they do," he said.

Despite any new risks, Rothfels said he would not hesitate to go back as, like many, he is attracted to the rich culture of Rio de Janeiro, and an ethic that he said stresses hard work, but "at a certain point, it's 'Let's go to the beach.'"

In the past five years, tens of thousands of workers from around the world have flocked to the South American (Frankfurt: A0MLL6 - news) land of samba, in the midst of a boom with the discovery of 50 billion barrels of crude in a deepwater geological zone known as the subsalt. Another 50 billion could be in the offing.

The charges stem from a 3,000-barrel leak in the Frade field in the Campos Basin, 120 km (75 miles) off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state, in November (Stuttgart: A0Z24E - news) . Chevron and Transocean have disputed the charges. The executives were ordered to turn in their passports and some could face prison sentences of 31 years.

See the original post:
Brazil puts expats on notice with Chevron charges

Japan's cut in corporate tax rate, set to take effect April 1, will leave the U.S. corporate tax rate the highest in the world.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- On Sunday, the United States gets a distinction no nation wants -- the world's highest corporate tax rate.

Japan, which currently has the highest rate in the world -- a 39.8% rate on business income between national and local taxes -- cuts its rate to 36.8% as of April 1. The U.S. rate stands at 39.2% when both federal and state rates are included.

"The change in and of itself is not that important, but there's some symbolism involved in being the highest in the world," said Eric Toder, co-director of the Tax Policy Center, a non-partisan think tank. "There's certainly been a long-term trend of our rate getting higher relative to everyone else."

But despite the headline number, the statutory rate only tells part of the story.

Loopholes and other special treatment for different kinds of businesses mean that businesses pay an effective rate of only 29.2% of their income, which puts the United States below the average of 31.9% among other major economies, according to analysis by the Treasury Department.

And the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the multinational group that tracks global economic growth, estimates the United States collects less corporate tax relative to the overall economy than almost any other country in the world.

Some economists argue that tax collection relative to gross domestic product is the more relevant measure. That's because different accounting rules around the world mean what's counted as income in one country isn't counted in another, making comparisons of tax rates misleading.

Still, both Democrats and Republicans argue that the corporate tax rate should be lowered as a way of promoting greater economic growth, so that multinational companies have incentive to invest more in their U.S. operations than overseas. President Obama has proposed cutting the corporate rate to 28%, Republican challenger Mitt Romney proposes a 25% rate.

Both sides are in agreement for the need to reduce the loopholes and other exemptions that shield companies from paying taxes on all their income. That kind of reform could increase corporate tax collections, or at least leave them unchanged, even with a lower rate.

See original here:
U.S. corporate tax rate: No. 1 in the world

On Sunday, the United States gets a distinction no nation wants -- the world's highest corporate tax rate.

Japan, which currently has the highest rate in the world -- a 39.8% rate on business income between national and local taxes -- cuts its rate to 36.8% as of April 1. The U.S. rate stands at 39.2% when both federal and state rates are included.

"The change in and of itself is not that important, but there's some symbolism involved in being the highest in the world," said Eric Toder, co-director of the Tax Policy Center, a non-partisan think tank. "There's certainly been a long-term trend of our rate getting higher relative to everyone else."

But despite the headline number, the statutory rate only tells part of the story.

Loopholes and other special treatment for different kinds of businesses mean that businesses pay an effective rate of only 29.2% of their income, which puts the United States below the average of 31.9% among other major economies, according to analysis by the Treasury Department.

And the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the multinational group that tracks global economic growth, estimates the United States collects less corporate tax relative to the overall economy than almost any other country in the world.

Tax reform: Why it's so hard

Some economists argue that tax collection relative to gross domestic product is the more relevant measure. That's because different accounting rules around the world mean what's counted as income in one country isn't counted in another, making comparisons of tax rates misleading.

Still, both Democrats and Republicans argue that the corporate tax rate should be lowered as a way of promoting greater economic growth, so that multinational companies have incentive to invest more in their U.S. operations than overseas. President Obama has proposed cutting the corporate rate to 28%, Republican challenger Mitt Romney proposes a 25% rate.

Both sides are in agreement for the need to reduce the loopholes and other exemptions that shield companies from paying taxes on all their income. That kind of reform could increase corporate tax collections, or at least leave them unchanged, even with a lower rate.

Original post:
U.S. corporate tax rate poised to become highest