Upon further review: The Internal Revenue Service issued $5.6 billion in potentially bogus education tax credits in a single year, or more than a quarter of all education credits claimed by taxpayers, a government watchdog claims. A new report by the agency’s inspector general says questionable credits were issued to more than 3.6 million taxpayers in 2012. Most of them went to students even though the IRS never received a tuition statement from the school. Some students attended schools that weren’t eligible for federal funding while others didn’t take enough classes to qualify for the tax break. The Associated Press has the full story.
On a high note: Oil prices hit their highest level for the year today, aided by a disruption in Libyan crude exports, higher selling prices for Saudi oil and a weaker dollar that tends to inflate commodity prices. Since April’s price rally of 20% to 25%, oil bulls have been pushing the market up on the notion that a supply glut was easing from tightening world production despite continuous builds in U.S. crude stockpiles. U.S. crude settled up $1.47 at $60.40 a barrel today, after hitting a 2015 high of $61.10 earlier in the day. Brent crude, a more widely used oil benchmark, settled up $1.07 to $67.52, after scaling the year’s peak at $68.40. Reuters has the full story.
The future is now: Google’s influential search engine has hit a tipping point in technology’s shift to smartphones. As The Associated Press reports, more search requests are now made on mobile devices than on personal computers in the U.S. and in many other parts of the world. The milestone announced at a digital advertising conference today serves as another reminder of how dramatically online behavior has changed since 2007. That’s when Apple released the first iPhone, leading to a wave of similar devices that have made it easier for people to stay connected to the Internet wherever they go. Read the full story.
Editor’s note: Real estate columnist Tom Cook is off this week. His column will return to Daily Report PM next Tuesday.
