The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "tax law" ...
-
The Great Empire Zone Giveaway
"One of New York's top business-incentive programs wasted millions of dollars a year in tax money. New York tried to keep secret the waste in the $600-million-a-year Empire Zone."
Tags: Empire Zone; real estate; Home Depot; law firms; tax; FOIA
-
Takings Initiatives Accountability Project: The Center for Public Integrity investigates ballot initiatives that would radically change land-use and environmental regulation in five Western states
The [non-partisan]Center for Public Integrity investigated 2006 "ballot initiatives that were designed to radically change land-use and environmental regulation in five Western states. They discovered that a trio of "secret donors" accounted for 99% of the propostions' bankrolls, and some of the initiatives did not comply with campaign-finance and other regulations. Then the Center revealed that 85 percent of the funding was coming from a single wealthy real estate investor and Libertarian activist, Howard RIch All but the Arizona inititative failed at the ballot. The Center for Public Integrity set up a stand-alone website-- www.takings initiatives.org-- and filed more than 50 articles on it. "Our general practice-- and a novel one as far as we can tell-- was to mount verbatim transcripts of the interviews on our website, including audio recordings where available. We sought to allow proponents, opponents funders and experts to have a chance to present their side of the story in their own words." The Center also checked with state and federal regulators for compliance of relevant laws and regulations.
Tags: Takings Initiatives; takings clause; ballot initiatives; land-use regulation; environmental regulation; tax-exempt organizations; Howard Rich; Andrea Millen Rich; Council for Responsible Government; William A. Wilson; state campaign-finance filings; public records requests; state freedom of information requests; America At Its Best; Americans for Limited Government; John Tillman; Howard Ahmanson; Fieldstead & Company; property rights; prefessional signature-gatherers; Colorado At Its Best; term limits; nonprofit advocacy organizations; Sam Adams Alliance; Sam Adams Foundation; Legislative Education Action Drive; Parents in Charge Foundation; Social Security Choice.org; Illinois Charitable Trust Bureau; educational vouchers; tuition tax credits; National Taxpayers Union; First Class Education; Susquehanna International Group; Jeffrey YAss; Cato Institute; Alliance for School Choice; Decision Education Foundation; Eric Brooks; Susan Mitchell; Pete Sepp; Kern Family Foundation; Generac Power Systems, Inc.; Milton Friedman; Taxpayer Bill of Rights; TABOR; Laird Maxwell; This House is MY Home; John Whitehead; Lower Manhattan Development Corporation; Exoxemis, Inc.; Family Farm Preservation Pact; Citizens for Community Protection; Kelo v. City of New London; eminent domain; New York Millionaires Assistance Act; Wallace Global Fund; Nicholas C. Dranias; PRNewswire; Eric O'Keefe; getliberty.com; George Soros
-
Series on Flushing Lanlord Nicholas Haros
An investigation into the landlord Nicholas Haros housing code violations revealed that there was difference between city department rule and official city law. This allowed Haros to collect tax benefits despite his violations.
Tags: Queens, housing; housing code; tax; city government; landlord; tax benefit; abatement
-
The High Cost of Being Poor
This series shows how businesses and merchants in the Buffalo area prey upon people living near poverty level. Examples include corner grocery stories that illegally cash checks and charge super-high fees, predatory loans for housing and cars, and the high cost of using rent-to-own appliances.
Tags: poverty; economics; local business; tax law; interest rates
-
On the Waterfront
This series documented how the Port of Seattle cut deals with one company and its partners to develop a conference center, corporate club and cruise terminal on the central waterfront. The port uses tax dollars to shoulder all of the financial risk and only makes a marginal profit. Instead, the private company makes millions from the development. The lack of controls violates state law.
Tags: state government; development; contractor; public records; correction
-
A Rapid Rise
This investigation examined dozens of unusual real estate deals in working-class neighborhoods in which buyers made low-ball offers to desperate sellers. The recorded sales prices, however, were tens of thousands of dollars more. These deals happened during a precipitous decline in Florida’s housing boom. In each transaction, the buyers borrowed close to the full amount from lenders. The investigations showed that the money between the price paid to the sellers and the recorded sales prices was paid to a third party. This was not always disclosed to the lenders, which is against state and federal law. All the deals involved the same real estate agent, the same title company and the same group of buyers. The same appraiser was used in many of the cases, and the appraisals reflected the higher price. As a result of the inflated prices, property values were artificially raised for the rest of the neighborhoods, resulting in higher taxes.
Tags: real estate; property; taxes; public property;
-
Clean and Green
Taking advantage of a state program designed to limit suburban sprawl and preserve open space, Pennsylvania's Allegheny County has been providing tax breaks for country clubs, developers, and owners of million-dollar estates. Under the law, which allows for property assessment breaks, county assessment officials have approved hundreds of new applications since 2003, increasing the number of properties in the program by 50 percent. In return for the tax break, owners had agreed to open their properties to the public. But land owners interviewed for the story asserted their right to declare their homes private property. In addition, the investigation discovered that 60 properties - 5 percent of those in the program - have unpaid taxes totaling more than $100,000. In the wake of the initial story, a followup reported that the government declared the properties open to the public, since they received a tax break like public parks.
Tags: Property taxes; tax breaks; country clubs; government; Allegheny County
-
Almost Haven: The Increasing Globalization of Financial Crime and Tax Evasion
Four years after 9/11, dirty money is more prevalent than ever. Tax cheats use the same methods that terrorists use to hide money. Everyone is playing the game, including big respected companies like Microsoft, our biggest banks, law firms and accountants. The ability of the US government to combat this traffic is remarkably weak- - probably in part because much of the problem originates in the US itself.
Tags: illicit cash; tax shelter; tax cheats; banks
-
Misuse of Tax Caps
The reporters' investigation focused on the community approval of local tax-rates without realizing that under a loop-hole in a tax cap law passed previously by the Illinois State legislature, public departments who knew about the loop-hole were able to collect a much higher sum of taxes than the constituents thought they were approving.
Tags: tax rates; loop-hole; tax law; financial consultants; school districts; property tax; district budgets; FOIA
-
Aches and Claims
The Herald-Leader found that Lexington police and firefighters retire on tax-free disability more than three times as often as Kentucky State Police officers. Many of these retirees then go on to new jobs, including ones similar to those that they were supposedly too disabled to perform. Others lead active lifestyles, including marathon running and training for war. Many retirees are some of Lexington's most notorious officers, retiring on disability before they can be fired or disciplined.
Tags: police; firefighters; disability; worker's compensation; law enforcement; public employees