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(116,464 posts) Sat Oct 13, 2012, 02:27 PM Oct 2012

Rolling Stone Magazine Exposes how Mitt Romney Dodged his Taxes

Rolling Stone Magazine Exposes how Mitt Romney Dodged his Taxes

by Shawn Russell

Rolling Stone Magazine has published a great article online, which will be published in the October 25th issue, so read it before it hits the newsstands. The article deals with the number of ways Mitt Romney dodged his taxes, many of which may not be entirely legal. It provides a great breakdown of Romney’s tax-dodging schemes all in one place. So you don’t have to explore various websites to find this information, you just click on the link I provided and it will all be right under your nose. The article is written by my second favorite writer for the magazine, Tim Dickinson.

Now since I do not wish to violate copyright I have only partially reproduced the article below. If you want to understand the total number of ways Romney dodged his taxes, I implore you to read the article in its entirety.

So without further adieu here are some of Mitt’s schemes:

SWISS SECRECY

On his 2010 tax return, Romney disclosed that his wife Ann's trust held $3 million in a Swiss bank account at UBS, which had just been busted by the IRS for abetting criminal tax evasion by U.S. citizens. As part of a $780 million settlement, UBS was forced to turn over the names of thousands of its long-secret clients, who were then offered a partial amnesty: disclose their hidden assets, pay penalties and avoid prosecution. Romney – who had omitted the Swiss account on previous financial disclosures – suddenly came clean. Did he reveal his secret account to avoid prosecution for tax evasion?

It should be noted that Kossack, Christopher Tucker has a similar theory. In his diary Tucker, hypotheses that:

Mitt Romney is hiding the fact that- according to US law- he should be in a federal prison, but is only free and running for to be the next US president because of the special "amnesty" program offered to 5000 American financial elite, who violated US law in order to hoard their riches in in an illegal tax-evasion scheme, which was cooked up by Swiss banks & exposed by a heroic whistleblower, who- in accord with the new 1% US morality- was the only one to be imprisoned, while Romney & his elite 1% cronies plotted his White House takeover.

The possibility is very realistic.

BERMUDA SHELL GAME

Once again, the very realistic possibility exists that Romney is worth more than he disclosed to the public. Romney hid an unknown amount of wealth in an entity known as the Bermuda Corporation.

Romney has buried an unknown, and perhaps significant, chunk of his wealth in what SEC filings describe as "a Bermuda corporation wholly owned by W. Mitt Romney" – driving speculation that the candidate is worth far more than he has disclosed publicly.

Furthermore,

Romney created his shell company, Sankaty High Yield Asset Investors, in 1997 and reportedly involved it in many of Bain's biggest deals, including the takeover of Domino's Pizza. Yet he failed to report its existence on any financial disclosures prior to his 2010 tax return, even though it is under his control.

LUXEMBOURG SHELTER

There are numerous tax havens throughout the world, wherein a rich man can hide his profits from the public eye or government scrutiny. The laws of the rich are distinct and parallel to the laws of the common masses. Romney can probably get away with dodging his taxes, neither you nor I can.

In 2000, when Romney was CEO of Bain, the firm hit the jackpot: A $40 million investment in the Italian yellow pages during the tech boom returned an astonishing $1 billion. Romney himself reportedly ended up with $50 million – a cut larger than Bain's initial investment. To evade taxes on the gains, Romney steered the profits through Bain subsidiaries in Luxembourg, Europe's most notorious tax shelter, where the money would be exempt from foreign taxes.

RETIREMENT TRICKS

Romney bought rigged stocks which was guaranteed 30 times the initial law investment. In other words Romney got huge amounts of money tax-free.

Romney has stockpiled as much as $87 million in his IRA – even though contributions to such retirement accounts are limited to just $30,000 a year. "Congress never intended IRAs to be used to accumulate that kind of wealth," says Wilkins. To get around the limits, Romney appears to have directed his IRA to invest in a special class of Bain stock. By assigning an artificially low value to the shares, Bain ensured that any returns would be wildly inflated – as much as 30 times the initial investment. By buying rigged stock with his limited IRA dollars, Romney got to reap the bonanza tax-free.

FEE FAKERY

Bain also uses a scheme known as fee conversion to transform smaller management fees – which are supposed to be taxed as regular earnings – into investment income taxed at only 15 percent. A Bain manager simply "waives" his right to his fee and is instead staked an investment of equal value in the private equity fund.

This of course is illegal and the NY attorney general has declared an investigation into fee conversions.
Romney of course does not admit he benefited from this sort of conversion, but Rolling Stone has information to the contrary:

Romney denies he took part in such waivers, which may have robbed the Treasury of up to $220 million. But according to Fleischer, Romney's financial records suggest he "benefited personally from fee conversion."

Again this is just a partial list, please read the article in its entirety.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/13/1144122/-Rolling-Stone-Magazine-Exposes-how-Mitt-Romney-Dodged-his-Taxes

Note:

Kos Media, LLC Site content may be used for any purpose without explicit permission unless otherwise specified

21 replies

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Rolling Stone Magazine Exposes how Mitt Romney Dodged his Taxes (Original Post) ProSense Oct 2012 OP

Romney is a classic Republican 'twofer': dodged the draft, and dodges US taxes Berlum Oct 2012 #1

This ought to be posted throughout the country on office doors, meeting LuckyLib Oct 2012 #18

Quick! Call Candy Crowley!! upi402 Oct 2012 #2

See, I don't think this will shift the independent voter though Indep2992 Oct 2012 #3

Wow, absolutely, Wow russspeakeasy Oct 2012 #4

You're welcome : ) n/t ProSense Oct 2012 #8

Myth's a bankster. This is exactly what banksters do. phasma ex machina Oct 2012 #5

Here's a link to the entire article at Rolling Stone Magazine. It is a must-read. PA Democrat Oct 2012 #6

It is definitely a must read. There is another really good article in this week's Rolling Stone LoisB Oct 2012 #9

A Great Book. defacto7 Oct 2012 #12

If elected, I just might wind up behind bars anyway. (Romney on truth serum) nt Tigress DEM Oct 2012 #7

Which would mean Paul Ryan. Eegads. JDPriestly Oct 2012 #17

This message was self-deleted by its author AnotherMcIntosh Oct 2012 #10

Thanks for posting! BumRushDaShow Oct 2012 #11

If Floridians can elect a man who committed Medicare fraud, anything is possible. SleeplessinSoCal Oct 2012 #13

I don't understand how this guy gets away with NOT revealing his tax returns mnhtnbb Oct 2012 #14

Peanuts, compared to all the cash here, but imagine - in 2010 Mitt-Ann get a BIG tax refund besides! sad sally Oct 2012 #15

Amen, Amen, and Amen again! sevenseas Oct 2012 #16

Mitt's a Tax Dodger.. not a patriot. nm Cha Oct 2012 #19

I wouldn't be surprised to discover that he's a slum lord too. Spitfire of ATJ Oct 2012 #20

K & R Wednesdays Oct 2012 #21

Berlum

(7,044 posts)

1. Romney is a classic Republican 'twofer': dodged the draft, and dodges US taxes