"taxes" news and stories

New Yorkers, beware. The latest victim in the state's string of foodstuffs to come under tax (soda, pizza, junk food) is perhaps the most irksome and perhaps the most innocent: the city's iconic, beloved bagel.

It seems that if you simply order your bagel unadulterated (not sliced, not toasted, not schmeared with anything) and scram, you're in the clear. But if you order yours sliced open or topped -- with cream cheese, lox, you name it -- or eat it inside the establishment, a tax, dear New Yorkers, may soon ensue.

While the State of New York has yet to formally announce this new tax in code, an old stand-by bagel franchise, Bruegger's, has already been tapped, The Wall Street Journal reports. The company faced the surprise during an audit this summer when owner Kenneth Greene was charged with a lump sum for past bagels and was ordered to implement the tax immediately, adding about eight cents to each sliced/toasted/topped order.

According to recent reports and contrary to popular belief, French people can, and do, get fat. In fact, the French government is worried enough about the problem that they're considering raising taxes on food that are higher fat, sugar, and salt.

According to this report on MSNBC.com, the French government has been worried about obesity, especially childhood obesity, for a while now. Some campaigns they've tried in the past have been to encourage commuters to take the stairs instead of the escalator and to put prominent warnings on junk food packaging.

With a huge hole in the state health care budget to plug,though, some officials want to put higher taxes on unhealthy foods. The question that remains to be answered is, what constitutes "unhealthy"? Will the new taxes, up to 19.6% from 5.5%, apply only to processed junk food with high fat and sugar contents? Or will Frances traditional high fat cheeses and foie gras be included?

These questions are yet to be decided, but I personally cannot see the French government slapping high taxes on traditional foods for which the country is famous. How will it look when the French can't even afford their own cheese? Not only that, as Elastic Waistband points out, taxes don't dissuade that many people from doing, or eating, exactly what they want. Do you think the French government will put high taxes on its traditional foods?

This is the weekend, y'all.

If you're like me and, I am suspecting, tons of other people out there who have procrastinated for the last few weeks, you're on a mission-critical path to get your taxes done before the April 17 deadline. No time to waste, and no time to...cook!

Thankfully, you can run over to Mexican fast food chain Chipotle, grab a burrito on April 14th or 15th to get you through your 1040, and on April 16, take your receipt for that burrito back to Chipotle for a free burrito!

A free burrito is going to sound good, too, if you owe the IRS like me!

Scotch whisky is enjoying unprecedented popularity around the world, especially in Asian countries. The annual foreign market is more than £2 billion. Understandably, the distillers would like to hold on to as much of this market as they can, but there are some who are none too happy about the current market.

In India, sales of whisky have enjoyed a fifty percent increase in the last year and a Scotish Whisky Association (SWA) representative said that "India is the industry's number one trade priority." That is where the trouble starts. The SWA is protesting the 212-525% taxes and tariffs on their imports, which the Indian government and distillers say is necessary to protect local products. Indian distillers, in turn, are protesting the fact that the EU does not permit them to sell their own brew as "whisky" in Europe because it is molasses-based, not cereal-based. The Indian distillers, like magnate Vijay Mallya, say that having to call their beverage an "Indian spirit" hurts sales and the EU's labling requirements amount to protectionism, especially since they are not asking to call their products "scotch," and are willing to use the label "Indian whisky."

Efforts towards a settlement have failed thus far, but the EU is apparently conducting negotiations to see if a resolution can be reached.

Source

Now that tax day - April 15th - is safely behind us, it's time to celebrate a little. Even if you don't feel like celebrating, at least have a drink and allow yourself to remember that you won't have to do this again for another year. Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal, here's a recipe thats perfect for the occasion:

Income Tax Cocktail
1 oz. gin
3/4 oz. fresh orange juice
1/4 oz. dry vermouth
3/4 oz. sweet vermouth
dash of bitters

Combine and shake with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass and serve with an orange wedge (or a cherry) and a sigh of relief.

[Image Liquor World, where there is a slightly different recipe]