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Title: Romney ‘Rented’ Mormon Church’s Exemption To Defer Taxes For 15 Years
Source:
RawStory
URL Source: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/ ... n-to-defer-taxes-for-15-years/
Published: Oct 29, 2012
Author: David Edwards
Post Date: 2012-10-29 15:22:26 by Brian S
Keywords: None
Views: 5741
Comments: 13
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney used a loophole to “rent” the Mormon church’s tax exemption status and defer paying taxes for 15 years, according to a new report. Tax returns obtained by Bloomberg News through a Freedom of Information Act request indicated that Romney set up a charitable remainder unitrust (CRUT) in June 1996 just before Congress cracked down on the loophole in 1997. “In this instance, Romney used the tax-exempt status of a charity — the Mormon Church, according to a 2007 filing — to defer taxes for more than 15 years,” Bloomberg’s Jesse Drucker explained. “At the same time he is benefitting, the trust will probably leave the church with less than what current law requires.” Estates lawyer Jonathan Blattmachr told Bloomberg that Romney’s trust benefits from the Mormon church’s exempt status because charities don’t pay capital gains taxes when they make a profit from the sale of assets. “The main benefit from a charitable remainder trust is the renting from your favorite charity of its exemption from taxation,” Blattmachr said, adding that the charitable contribution “is just a throwaway” and the church would receive little if any financial benefit from the trust. “I used to structure them so the value dedicated to charity was as close to zero as possible without being zero,” he pointed out. The CRUT allows individuals to “defer capital gains taxes on any profit from the sale of the assets, and receive a small upfront charitable deduction and a stream of yearly cash payments,” Drucker wrote. “Like an individual retirement account, the trust allows money to grow tax deferred, while like an annuity it also pays Romney a steady income. After the funder’s death, the trust’s remaining assets go to a designated charity.” In fact, the amount available to go to the Mormon church has decreased from at least $750,000 in 2001 to $421,203 at the end of 2011 as Romney has collected yearly cash payments from the trust. The Romney campaign declined to answer questions about the trust but insisted that it was “operated in accordance with the law” in an email to Bloomberg. The trust represents a small fraction of Romney’s more than $250 million fortune and is only one of several methods the formal Bain Capital CEO has employed to avoid paying taxes. Earlier this year, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who is also a Mormon, had suggested that the Republican presidential nominee refused to release his tax returns because he had not paid any income taxes over a 10-year period. In a September speech on the Senate floor, Reid said that leaked tapes insulting the 47 percent of Americans who don’t pay income taxes as “dependant” on the government have gave the world a “rare look at the real Mitt Romney.” “For all we know Mitt Romney could be one of those who have paid no federal income tax. Thousands of families making more than a million dollars per year pay nothing in federal income tax,” the Nevada Democrat observed. “Is Mitt Romney among those? We’ll never know because he refuses to release his tax returns.” “We know that Mitt Romney pays a lower tax rate than middle-class families, thanks to a number of things he’s done: Swiss bank accounts, Cayman Islands tax shelters. And we can only imagine what new secrets would be revealed if he showed the American people a dozen years of tax returns like his dad did.” Reid noted that most of “those people” who Romney talked about “are not avoiding their tax bills using Cayman Islands tax shelters or Swiss Bank accounts like Mitt Romney. Millions of the 47 percent are seniors on Social Security, who don’t have Bain Capital retirement funds or inherited stock to fall back on.”
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#1. To: Brian S (#0)
OMG--he followed tax laws! The horrors! LOLOLOLOLOLOL.
Brian S has been spending untold hours "educating" us on what an EEEvil capitalist Mitt Romney has been...we are sooo grateful...MUD
"Devolve Power Outta the Federal Leviathan and Back to the States, And women that have their uterus sucked clean of a viable baby are following the laws of the land...so I have to assume you are OK with THAT too?
It is not easy reconstructing 'molded minds'... They're dealing with Gods laws, Brian...
Law of the land is law of the land. Legal is legal but It is you that has to invoke gawd to weasel out of this one. Bet some good bibical scholar, not to be found on this forum and not I, could turn that one around on you also. 'Money changers' and all... Thanks for playing.
It is not easy reconstructing 'molded minds'... In other "news" Romney was critisized for NOT taking all the charitable deductions he was entitled to in 2011. The crap weasels in the liberal media and their scumbag internet minions are never satisfied.
No they aren't. They are following color of law.
The law is the law until it is changed.
It is not easy reconstructing 'molded minds'... Are you listening the nypd scanner feed? Incredible...
It is not easy reconstructing 'molded minds'... There is no such law, Brian......that a black robe somehow saw such while looking thru the tea leaves at the Constitution is exactly that! I weasel out of nothing. And yes, I invoked God--afer all, He is Supreme.
Well you can pick and choose the laws you like and the ones you don't so we will leave it at that but this is a nation of laws that our citizens installed whether they meet your gods plan or not.
It is not easy reconstructing 'molded minds'... Laws repugnant to the constitution are not laws at all. They are pretend laws to keep people like you in line. I don't care what the law is. I try to do the right thing if it is lawful or not.
I'm quite certain you will never have to choose whether you will have an abortion or not.
It is not easy reconstructing 'molded minds'...
#2. To: rowdee (#1)
Localities, and Individuals as Prescribed in the US Constitution."
#3. To: rowdee (#1)
OMG--he followed tax laws! The horrors!
#4. To: Brian S (#3)
#5. To: rowdee (#4)
(Edited)
#6. To: Brian S (#0)
#7. To: Brian S (#3)
And women that have their uterus sucked clean of a viable baby are following the laws of the land..
#8. To: A K A Stone (#7)
#9. To: A K A Stone (#7)
#10. To: Brian S (#5)
#11. To: rowdee (#10)
#12. To: Brian S (#11)
Well you can pick and choose the laws you like and the ones you don't so we will leave it at that but this is a nation of laws
#13. To: A K A Stone (#12)
I try to do the right thing if it is lawful or not.
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