Government, Politics and the Economy Partisan Lines Forming Over Healthcare Reform The top Senate Democrats and President Obama appear aligned in support of a government-run health insurance option, facing off against Senate Republicans who say they refuse to won't back such a measure. WashingtonTimes.com New Bill Could Help Merchants with Credit Card Costs Under a new bill before the House of Representatives, merchants would be able to negotiate with banks to reduce the costs associated with credit card purchases. Reuters.com [Read Full Article]

Being audited by the IRS can be a terrible and expensive ordeal. True, the odds of it happening are very slim, but if it does happen, it means time and money—potentially a lot of money—and possible criminal prosecution. The problem for the small business owner is that the IRS has a special interest in auditing small firms, so much so that Congress is starting to take notice. At a recent hearing of the House Small Business Committee, Committee Chair Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), questioning Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Douglas Shulman about the rise in IRS small-business audits said, “I find the IRS’s recent shift in auditing attention from large companies to small businesses troubling. Our nation’s entrepreneurs are having a difficult enough time without the IRS stacking the deck against them.”  “Like all taxpayers, entrepreneurs just want straightforward answers to questions and a clear-cut process to file their taxes,” said Vel&aa... [Read Full Article]