In October, private equity powerhouse, TPG, scored a big win as it took Myer (which is a retailer based in Australia) public. The gains came to a mouth-watering $1.46 billion.

But now there's a huge problem; that is, the Australian tax authorities sent TPG a bill for a whopping $628 million. Its for back taxes, as well as penalties.

It's still not clear whether we'll have a recession or not. But the Federal Reserve, Congress, and the president are definitely concerned -- and are taking swift action.

In fact, Congress and the president are pushing for some tax breaks for small businesses. "The features are similar to the incentive tax provisions of the Reagan era's 1981 Economic Recovery Tax Act, which provided business investment incentives," said Mary Canning, the Dean of the Schools of Taxation and Accounting at Golden Gate University.

So, what does this all mean? What can you do?

Let's take a look:

The proposal: The stimulus plan doubles the amount small businesses can write off for investments in 2008 -- from $125,000 to $250,000. What's more, the bill expands the cap for eligibility; that is, businesses making as much as $800,000 (the prior cap was $500,000).

The proposed bill also allows for accelerated depreciation on plant and equipment. Basically, you can write off as much as 50% of such investments in 2008.

In testimony to congress, Warren Buffett expressed his opinion that the inheritance taxes were meant to recirculate accumulated great wealth and that repealing them would support an undesirable "aristocratic dynasty of wealth."

Republican arguments in favor of repealing the so called "death tax," permanently, mention two concepts they think are unfair. One is that the money has already been taxed and the other is that to satisfy inheritance tax requirements, heirs are forced to break up family businesses or farms and sell assets at what might not be an appropriate time or fair value.

The idea that our earnings are taxed more than one time is pretty weak to me. First of all, we are not taxing the one that earned it (they're dead), we're taxing the heirs who did not earn it. Besides, most money is taxed every time it changes hands. It is taxed when earned, when you buy or sell something, when you win the lottery, gamble or make money on a game show, receive a large gift and more. Using gift taxes as the most similar -- are not the heirs receiving a large gift?

The hedge fund industry, which is as popular on Capitol Hill as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, may have more trouble coming its way from the U.S. Congress.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Senate Finance Committee may change the tax rules to prevent offshore hedge funds from using derivatives to avoid withholding taxes on U.S. stock dividends, a practice which costs the U.S. treasury $1 billion in revenue.

Wall Street firms such as Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LEH) are "bracing for questions," the paper said, Maybe that's a polite way to say that the companies are going to get tons and tons of rude questions from irate Democratic senators who are convinced that they are cheating the government.

The funds also are facing scrutiny over how managers can pay 15 percent capital gains tax on their performance fees instead of the 35% ordinary top income tax rate, a tax break that Talking Points Memo estimates costs taxpayers between $4 billion and $6 billion.

Hedge funds , though, are fighting back. As Politico.com notes, they spent $1.3 million lobbying Congress last year, up 46% from 2002 while managers at the top 30 funds increased their political donations by about 17% to $14.7 million between 2004 and 2006.

As the presidential election heats up, the industry will become even more generous.

Some BloggingStocks readers have been kind enough to comment on my blog post regarding the tax protest undertaken by Mr. and Mrs. Brown of New Hampshire. It seems to me that in light of the many ways in which our government has mishandled issues with its citizen over the last several decades, the issue of taxation should be taking more of a front seat. Not a one of us enjoys paying taxes, but most all of us agree that they are a necessary evil. Many of us see serious inequities and abuses in the system. I'll clarify some of my positions on the subject and I'll certainly provide some fuel for debate.

I don't disagree that the Browns have a right to protest their taxes in their own way, but what they are doing is, in my opinion, selfish, short sighted, ill-thought-out, and probably illegal. They are acting like the little child who hurls insults at the boogie man from under the covers. They buttress their actions by claiming that the system is so completely broken that any attempt to work with it is useless. Therein lies my reason for suggesting they should go elsewhere. There are a hundred ways that the Browns could stage an open, effective, and legal protest. They, however, have chosen to hide themselves in protest. In my opinion, they are shameful, loud-mouthed cowards.

Does our government overtax us? You damn bet they do. When hard-working citizens reach a certain income level, their governmental tax load is between 30% and 40% of their income. It approaches 50% if you add in all the permits, licenses, user fees, and a host of other city, county, and state hidden payouts. To me this is completely unacceptable. I've been saying for quite some time that, if you consider that our incomes start with a finite 100% and the governments keep taking one additional percent after another, how long will it be before we no longer have the funds to effectively operate as a public? Even more upsetting to me than the amounts of the funds taken is the fact that we have little to no say in how that money is spent. Taxation without (effective) representation? It wouldn't be too hard to argue that such is the case.

When I read that New Jersey wasn't the least tax-friendly state, my civic pride was hurt.

This is worse than when Newark, Camden and Trenton were edged out by St. Louis for the title of most dangerous city. Having high taxes is a matter of pride to New Jersey residents like myself.

But the people at the Tax Foundation point out that New Jersey may yet take the title from the Peoples Republic of Vermont, which has won it for two years in a row. The state currently ranks number 10 and has advanced 14 places since 2000.

Last year, New Jersey's sales tax was raised from 6 to 7 percent. Other taxes, including one on cigarettes were also raised and a corporate income tax surcharge was implemented.

New Jersey is tops in property taxes no matter how you slice the data, according to the Tax Foundation's William Ahern.

Good, I needed something to brag about to my relatives in New York and Pennsylvania besides having the safest community.

This post is based on an article written by Alexander Green, Investment Director of The Oxford Club. My thanks to Mr. Green for his straightforward insight.

Let me begin by stating that my only argument against the oil industry has been their "the only game in town" attitude. Never have I complained that oil companies show too much profit. I have never accused the oil industry of gouging or unjust profiteering. With that stated, let us continue:

Oil companies DO NOT set gasoline prices at the pump. Those prices are dictated entirely by supply and demand economics. The single biggest driving force in the economics of crude oil today is the increasing demand by growing industrialized nations, China being the biggest by far. Even the United States Supreme Court declared that they find no evidence that oil companies are manipulating oil prices in any undue manner. This issue will, of course, remain in hot public debate.