Business - Taxes and Tax Season

BOSTON - Sen. John Kerry said he always intended to pay taxes in Massachusetts on his $7 million yacht but conceded he mishandled the public furor over his decision to dock the vessel in tax-free Rhode Island. Full Story »

NEW YORK - Biotechnology company Amgen Inc. said Thursday that its second-quarter net income slipped 5 percent, mainly on higher taxes, but the results topped Wall Street expectations. Full Story »

HAVANA - Cuba says its budget deficit came in far below forecasts in the first half of 2010, evidence that tax increases and deep spending cuts on food imports may be helping the communist government weather a severe economic crunch. Full Story »

EDISON, N.J. - President Barack Obama on Wednesday cast his latest economic pitch as a matter of patriotism, urging the Senate to ditch its partisan mode at least long enough to pass a package of tax cuts and loan relief for small businesses. "This is as American as apple pie," the president said. Full Story »

If you love class warfare, your moment has arrived. The next several weeks, leading up to the November elections, are sure to be filled with resounding political invective over who should pay for Washington's profligate spending over the last decade. Democrats will argue that the rich and near-rich should pony up, since they have the most money to start with. Republicans will point to the needy, arguing that they've been getting too much aid for too long. Tea Partiers will struggle to decide whose benefits should be cut in order to achieve the smaller government they envision. ... Full Story »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The economy kept growing overall in recent weeks, but unevenly and it actually slowed in a few regions as housing markets softened after the end of a popular tax break, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday. Full Story »

BOCA RATON, Fla. - Office Depot Inc. narrowed its loss in the second quarter on tax benefits and cost cutting but the office supply retailer's sales continued to fall. Full Story »

MIAMI - A Texas businessman who admitted evading hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes using secret accounts at Swiss bank UBS AG was sentenced Tuesday to a year of house arrest and probation, a reward for his quick guilty plea and substantial assistance to U.S. investigators. Full Story »

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors on Tuesday set a price of $41,000 for its electric Chevrolet Volt -- $8,000 more than its nearest competitor, the Nissan Leaf. Full Story »

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Job worries drove July U.S. consumer confidence to its lowest since February, with one in six people expecting lower income in the next six months, underscoring the precarious state of economic recovery. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - State tax revenue is improving, but only slightly, and may not be enough to end steep spending cuts or replace the loss of assistance from the federal stimulus plan that expires in December, according to a report on Tuesday. Full Story »

WASHINGTON - Obama pushes Senate to approve energy bill, say he still wants broader climate legislation. Full Story »

PARIS (AFP) - Quentin Tarantino shot his movie about wartime France in Germany to save money but now directors like Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese are returning to glamorous Paris thanks to generous tax breaks. Full Story »

WASHINGTON - Thousands of small charities in danger of losing their tax exempt status because they missed a tax filing deadline were given a reprieve Monday by the Internal Revenue Service. Full Story »

WASHINGTON - Sales of new homes likely rose from record lows in June, but the market remains weak now that potential buyers can no longer get federal tax credits. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The economy is not likely to slip back into recession but letting tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire is necessary to show commitment to cutting budget deficits, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Sunday. Full Story »

WASHINGTON - Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said that allowing tax cuts for the wealthy to expire would be "the responsible thing to do." Full Story »

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Friday vetoed three bills that would have provided tax credits to homebuyers and funded health services, citing the combined $132 million cost as the state struggles to close an $11 billion budget shortfall in the current year. Full Story »