Harry Reid Was Right: Mitt Romney Paid No Taxes for 15 Years

[eridani]

http://politics.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981730200

Bloomberg broke the story late Sunday night, with a story published around 11pm Central Time which gives an in-depth explanation of Romney's legal tax evasion since 1996. His tax avoidance was completely legal, although most hardworking Americans might question its ethical qualities. As President Obama said in the second debate, the GOP candidate paid less money in taxes than people earning less than $30,000 per year. How can that happen? Well, up until 1997, if you were rich, you could "rent" non-profit status from your favorite charity.

Huh? How can an individual rent tax-exempt status from a charity? It's pretty intricate, but the way it worked was, in Mitt's case, he used the Mormon church as a tax shelter by setting up a Charitable Remainder Unitrust (CRUT), that paid him a specific amount of money per year from dividends while also donating the smallest amount possible to the church.

Estate and trust attorney Jonathan Blattmachr told Bloomberg that he had set up many of these for clients prior to the 1997 law banning them: "I used to structure them so the value dedicated to charity was as close to zero as possible without being zero."

Romney got lucky in that he and other wealthy individuals who took advantage of this loophole were grandfathered in so he was permitted to keep his "charitable" status

[Angry Dragon]

1. Willard the Great American Liar and Fraud

[napi21]

2. So WHY hasn't anyone else covered this story?

I watch chris, Ed, Rachel, the Last Word, and listed to progressive radio all day long (I'm retired). I've not heard this anywhwere! I would think this would be the sword that dealt the final blow to Mittens!

[BouzoukiKing]

7. I think that sword is getting dull...

...from all the final blows it's been dealing out.

The 47% tape, Paul Ryan, Sandy (Chris Christie, Mittens' Sandy fake-rally), Bloomberg, Colin Powell, Horses and Bayonets, Clint Eastwood's furniture...

Really, it's gonna take years to sort out what a gawdawful campaign the RW put together. It's going to be a textbook.

[TroyD]

3. Bloomberg News reported this earlier in the week

And I posted it here at the time.

Harry Reid's source turned out to be basically right. Harry Reid deserves vindication in the media.

[cui bono]

4. I'm glad you posted again. I remember seeing this before, probably in your earlier post.

This post seems to explain it better though.

[TroyD]

5. I'm happy to see it posted as many times as needed

I just don't know if it's going to get out there into the mainstream media.

[cui bono]

25. Me too!

[freshwest]

28. Also, I hadn't seen the other. Harry dropped the boom on the Rolls-Ryan team. Buh, bye!

[bjobotts]

29. Why isn't Harry talking about it

[freshwest]

34. He did... Media won't cover a word of it, though. They only say what they're paid to say.

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. The Bloomberg story doesn't actually say he paid no income tax at all; it's just a part

of his fortune that he avoided the tax on:

Romney’s CRUT, which is only a small part of the $250 million that Romney’s campaign cites as his net worth, has been paying him 8 percent of its assets each year. As the Romneys have received these payments, the money that will potentially be left for charity has declined from at least $750,000 in 2001 to $421,203 at the end of 2011.
...
CRUTs were more common in the 1990s when capital gains rates were higher. In 1996, when Romney set up his trust in Massachusetts, the federal rate was 28 percent, compared with 15 percent today. At the time, a Massachusetts state resident who sold shares for a gain of $1 million could have faced a combined state and federal capital gains tax of as much as 40 percent, reducing his take to $600,000.
...
Romney’s trust was projected to leave to charity an amount with a present value of a little less than 8 percent of the initial contribution, according to an analysis by Friedman. Thus, the specifics of Romney’s trust wouldn’t have passed legal muster if it had been set up 13 months later, he said.
...
In 2001, five years after it was established, the trust had a value of between $750,000 and $1.25 million. Since then, it has pursued a conservative investment strategy -- regardless of the ups and downs of the stock market -- buying a mix of money- market funds, federally-backed bonds and federal bond funds. Since 2007, it has moved its assets entirely into cash. By 2011, its investments earned a return of $48, down from between $60,001 and $100,000 in 2001. It paid $36,696 to the Romneys in 2011.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-29/romney-avoids-taxes-via-loophole-cutting-mormon-donations.html

So it was worth a few million at the start - $400,000 would be 8% of $5 million. He should have paid capital gains tax on that starting amount - perhaps up to 40% of $5m, ie $2 million, back in 1996. But this isn't how he paid no income tax at all for year after year.

[JDPriestly]

30. Reid is Mormon. Perhaps he saw Romney's name on a list of charitable trusts that gave huge

amounts to the Mormon Church and saw through the ruse. Maybe he read something at the time the tax-fee status was grandfathered in. Just guessing, but he knew what he was talking about. That is reassuring.

[abumbyanyothername]

35. Reid's source, per Reid

was someone inside Bain Capital.

Think about it a bit.

Reid's source was someone inside Bain Capital.

Makes me feel real good about electing a man of the people like Harry Reid. Or . . . .

[gateley]

6. Sunday night? Why hasn't this been all over the news?

[silvershadow]

8. Oh, because his taxes are "old news". People "don't care about that".

I have no idea. In eras not that long ago he would have been followed by gaggles or reporters, flash bulbs going off, microphones being shoved in his face, as he ducked and dodged his way into the safety of his car. Nowadays, I guess, the media honestly doesn't see their role the way I grew up thinking and knowing it to be. I am just as frustrated about that as anything this cycle.

[abumbyanyothername]

36. Yeah . . .

it's not like he took a model on the boat Bimini.

Or got a blow job from an intern.

[Hekate]

9. You may have missed the hurricane coverage

I think that may have taken precedence over the past week.

[gateley]

22. There was plenty of other news, and plenty of political news on MSNBC.

[HiPointDem]

13. probably the storm coverage. but there should be room for this too.

[bluethruandthru]

37. Unless something can be reduced to a soundbite, the MSM doesn't seem to want to cover it.

And there isn't any blood, or hookers, or terrorists or gay sex involved...so it probably falls right off most 'reporters' radar.

[silvershadow]

10. Bump. This is beyond ridiculous. Beyond absurd. It is unconscionable. nt

[rks306]

11. trust me

He has tried his whole life to cheat and bully his way through the system.

[fasttense]

12. Here is a man born into so much wealth, you and I can not even imagine

and then he has to go steal and cheat to get even more. What is wrong with him?

[HiPointDem]

14. he's not the only one.

[lolly]

33. I don't think he believes in government

He believes that churches and other voluntary agencies should be in charge of most of the stuff governments do.

So it makes sense for him to use whatever means necessary to avoid giving any money to what he sees as an unnecessary, even illegitimate, government treasury.

[xxqqqzme]

39. He is a hoarder!

[abelenkpe]

15. K&R nt

[AmandaInAustin]

16. Mitt Profits from Auto Bailout : 115 million $ after telling Detroit to go bankrupt

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mitt Romney profited $115 million dollars off the Auto Bailout after declaring “We should let Detroit Go Bankrupt”
Mitt Romney is facing tough questions this week over how much he profited from the auto rescue. Romney's stock in Delphi is worth 4000% what he paid he for it, and the gain is mysteriously missing from financial disclosure forms. Watch it.
http://current.com/community/93948534_the-ed-show-auto-workers-demand-answers-from-romney.htm?xid=RSSfeed
*****************************************

** Same Topic: Current TV Report on Romney’s Profiteering from the Auto Bailout

*Video Link at: http://current.com/shows/the-young-turks/videos/how-mitt-and-ann-romney-made-up-to-115-million-on-the-auto-bailout

[calimary]

38. Welcome to DU, AmandaInAustin!

Glad you're here, and thanks for these links! GREAT thread! It may not get the attention the storm did, but we can certainly help spread it around a little! And we need your help! We need everyone's help! Time is short and there's an election victory to lock in place!






Now get to work.

[whttevrr]

17. “The trust has operated in accordance with the law,”

“The trust has operated in accordance with the law,” Michele Davis, a campaign spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.

Yup... That's why Romney won't release his taxes. There's probably more legal shenanigans going on than you could shake a stick at.

[whttevrr]

18. oops ... forgot the link for quote:

“The trust has operated in accordance with the law,” Michele Davis, a campaign spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-29/romney-avoids-taxes-via-loophole-cutting-mormon-donations.html

[bushisanidiot]

20. Ha! I knew he was using his church as a tax shelter!

why isn't the MSM talking about this?

it seems like every election, the MSM always pulls for the idiot running
on the republican ticket, even though they are ALWAYS sketchy people
with a crooked past. They didn't go after AWOL Bush AT ALL! They
didn't dive into McCain's past regarding the horrible way he treated
his first wife who was crippled and raised his kids all that time he was gone,
just to be cast away for someone younger and prettier after he got
hisi superstar status.

but boy oh boy, they sure as hell went after clinton. they had no reservations
at all about following republicans down their warped rabbit holes re: white
water and monica lewinsky. they treated President Carter like shit and
blamed him for the hostage crises, while NOW WE KNOW that he and his
administration secretly rescued hostages and he couldn't even talk about it
during the 1980 campaign because it was top secret.

i'm so sick of the blatent right wing media (not just fox "news&quot but
all other channels pulling for the publicans and always being soooooo willing
to show "both sides" of facts. there is only ONE side to a fact.

[mnhtnbb]

26. I'm pretty sick of most Republicans. They are predominantly liars, a$$holes and greedy pigs.

[Wednesdays]

21. K & R

[warrior1]

23. after the election

and we are rid of him. I sure would love for the IRS or some agency to go after the Romney family and get to the bottom of this.

[sarcasmo]

24. Mitt is a greedy whore.

[surrealAmerican]

27. Not only that, but just think about why Harry Reid knew about this:

Romney bragged about it to investors - not just his "friends", but people he wanted to impress. He was proud of how clever he was to avoid paying taxes.

[AllyCat]

31. Grrrrr!!!!

Why do I work so hard? Why do my friends, neighbors, and family work so hard when some schmuck like Robme gets to, well, rob me/us?

[xxqqqzme]

41. Seriously -

talk about welfare queens(kings). He's a welfare emperor.

[TwilightGardener]

32. And yet, he bashes the 47%, the lower half of earners in the country.

We will never convince him to take personal responsibility.

[Bozita]

42. This hypocrite belongs in a fucking prison comprised of tax loopholes woven so tightly that not even

... light can escape.

[inamatteroftime]

43. Nobody gets away with anything...

his time will come. On a deeper level, I believe he's a very miserable person - a destroyer is deeply disturbed and it is impossible for them to have true happiness. What we see is a facade.