Filed under: Economy , Taxes It’s widely known that billionaire Warren Buffett and millionaire President Obama pay taxes at a lower rate than their secretaries, who make much less. This “inequality” led them to devise a plan to hike the minimum tax rate on the top 0.3% of taxpayers — now referred to as “The Buffett Rule.” But what’s even more shocking is that American citizens collectively pay higher income tax rates than General Electric, Boeing, DuPont, and countless other companies.

Filed under: Earnings , Honda Motor Co , Ford Motor Co , Toyota , General Motors , Autos Ford ( F ) earned $1.4 billion in the first quarter of 2012. That was a little ahead of analyst expectations, but down quite a bit from the $2.55 billion that the company earned in the first quarter of 2011. Higher taxes were responsible for part of that difference, but losses in Europe and Asia also weighed on earnings

Filed under: Taxes Pop quiz: When is a $656 million lottery jackpot not a $656 million lottery jackpot? Answer: When Uncle Sam gets his hands on it. And according to the results of a recent poll conducted by the Hoover Institution, Americans aren’t amused at the numbers game.

Filed under: Taxes Many taxpayers charge blindly into tax season, not knowing whether they’ll wind up receiving a refund or owing Uncle Sam. If you haven’t done any tax planning, a large obligation to the government can come as a huge surprise — in some cases, so much so that taxpayers are unprepared to foot the bill. What do you do if you find that you owe money come tax time but don’t have the ability to pay?

Filed under: Investing , Investing Basics , Taxes Whenever tax laws change, it can have an impact on how you manage your investments. One recent new law, though, gets your broker or mutual fund company in on the act — and they’ll need you to make a decision that could make a huge difference in how much you pay in taxes. The new law requires brokers and fund companies to start providing the IRS with information on how much you paid for shares that you sell.