An extensive discussion of tax reform is likely to take place over the next couple of years because it’s necessary and long overdue and because both political parties have things they hope to get out of it. Taken together, these suggest that something might actually happen.

Thats the premise of my new book, “The Benefit and the Burden: Tax Reform Why We Need It and What It Will Take” (published today by Simon & Schuster).

Like many inside-Washington policy debates, much of that involving tax reform is unintelligible except to those who understand the jargon, players, history and unstated assumptions that underlie it. For t

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Last week, I argued that the super low mortgage rates could actually be contributing to strategic defaults.

The general idea being the low rates today make it even less desirable to hold a “high-rate” mortgage from the past.

The only positive from this assumption is that homeowners in this position may buy a new home and bail on the old one.

That’s a positive for them, minus the credit score hit, but a negative for the housing market and mortgage lenders .

And now it has occurred to me that the promise of low mortgage rates for the foreseeable future may have the unintended consequence of hurting home sales, at least in the near term.

You see, a new poll from mortgage financier Fannie Mae revealed that just 33 percent of consumers expect mortgage rates to rise in the next 12 months.

That figure is down from 45 percent a month ago, and is the lowest number Fannie has recorded since their monthly tracking began.

At first glance, it sounds like great news. Mortg

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The latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors survey finds more properties coming onto the market but “unrealistic prices” holding back sales.

Property sales only dipped slightly in December, according to the latest UK Housing Market survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). But the outlook for the first three months of this year is not so promising, with “unrealistic price expectations” being blamed for a potential slump in sales.

Surveyors reported that house prices are continuing to fall, albeit at their slowest level since June 2010. Lon

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The government has reached a tentative deal on pension reform with most public sector unions, treasury minister Danny Alexander said on Tuesday, easing fears of further strikes after a mass walkout last month.

Union executives and members will study the details of the proposals, part of the deficit-cutting coalition’s efforts to reduce the cost of state sector pensions, which it says are unaffordable.

The unions are expected to respond early next year to amended proposals that the government said were “cost neutral”.

“I am pleased to report to the House that heads of agreement have now been established with most unions in the local government, health, civil service and teachers’ schemes,” Alexander told parliament.

The power of Britain’s trade unions was curbed by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government in the 1980s, but the public sector remains one of their strongholds.

Alexander said 26 of 28 unions had signed up to an agreement in principle.

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Today’s Wall Street Journal mentioned the huge financial toll associated with caring for an elderly family member. (Here is a link to the article. Thanks to Christopher W. Smith, an attorney in Royal Oak, Michigan, for bringing it to my attention via Twitter.) In Illinois, this toll can be minimized somewhat through the use of a statutory custodial claim.

I know I’ve written about statutory custodial claims before, but this post should serve as a quick refresher.

1. The requirements for the claim are as follows:

a. the claimant must be a close family member of the decedent (spouse, parent, brother, sister, or child);

b. the decedent must have been disabled (although you can prove disability even if there was no formal court proceeding for guardianship, or court finding of disability, during the decedent’s life);

c.

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