A huge hunk of America is in the path of Hurricane Sandy, a potentially deadly storm. I have a lot of friends in the storm's path -- so I hope you are all okay. The New York Times has disabled the paywall requirement for this weather event, and you can track Sandy and related news on their site and through the NYT mobile apps.
President Barack Obama has already signed emergency declarations in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the states of Maryland and New York.
What does all this mean? It means I can't help but post the Scorpions classic "Rock You Like a Hurricane." Please forgive me, but I have to do it. And please be safe, my east coast friends. Here's a twist though: watch as the Scorpions rock out with the Berlin Philharmonic, perhaps the finest orchestral organization in the world. I love this!
Because of immature children, comments are closed on this post and for the next several future posts. Apparently it is okay for me to fit in to your tiny bubble of "Allyson-like-glam-music-good" and nothing more. Someone (and yes, I know who it is, I track every IP) followed me here from Facebook, too childish to address me human to human. People think the Internet makes them invincible. Fine. I am free with my opinions on my Facebook and my Twitter. If you don't like my opinions, it is quite simple: don't follow me. I post my thoughts under my name because I am not spineless.
Why did I close comments? Simple. Because I received a threat (no, not on this site). This will upset my mother and my husband. Personally, I could care less. In fact, I've received threats before. If you know me... you know this hasn't stopped me from voicing my opinions, loud and proud! No, the comments are shut off so you don't upset my mother. She reads everything on this site. She will get upset and then email me. Because immature children upsetting my mother ticks me off, I have to punish the larger group for awhile. It is what it is. But no one will ever silence me. Remember that.
So on Facebook you express concern for those in the path of the hurricane but on your "glam" site, you feel entitled to poke fun by posting this video. You also choose to post articles on Facebook regarding Mitt's tax returns without any regard for the source or validity. You lady are a tool. You are an enabling Democrat who chooses to post one sided articles. You are a narrow minded conspiracy theorist (9-11) and have zero credibility for any serious journalistic writing. Your Dayton Flyers should be ashamed.
It doesn't matter Christian. The good news is that this gives me a perfect opportunity to post about Mitt Romney's tax evasion. It's pathetic people stalk me on Facebook and don't have the nerve to engage me for real but that's exactly what I expect from "The Right." I would never create a fake name to post under on a person's website. Then again, I stand behind my words, because I have a backbone and I never back down. Why would I, when the facts are on my side?
As for the 9/11 reference - not sure what that is about when I consider 9/11 truthers to be nutjobs. Then again, I learned some of that fancy reading comprehension during graduate school with my "Dayton Flyers."
For ease, here's the full text - from RawStory, a property of Bloomberg News:
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.”
Do you belong to the same country clubs as Wrongney? -- because, I assure you, he belongs to more than one.
Why are there people who are barely scraping by -- people who Wrongney could care less about and views as "The Great Unwashed" -- who will set aside their own best interests Obama now protects and blindly, willingly sell themselves down the river, back to the Bush policies we are finally beginning to shake off?
To top it off, Wrongney wants to get rid of FEMA. Or has he already changed his position now, suddenly, for some strange reason.
What will be something of a Christmas Present to the Country -- and the World -- to watch our new and freshly RE-ELECTED President bestowing Kennedy Honors to Led Zeppelin. What a wonderful moment for the band AND the fans to know the man actually giving Zeppelin the honors knows who the fans are and actually gives a sh*t!
See, now Romney says he doesn't want to abolish FEMA - he just wants to give more powers to the states. This argument is b.s. because this plan would mean 50 versions of FEMA that couldn't coordinate easily with one another. Doesn't sound like small government to me. Sounds like a cluster. What more would you expect from Romney?
Monday, October 29, 2012 at 12:01AM
Reader Comments (6)
As for the 9/11 reference - not sure what that is about when I consider 9/11 truthers to be nutjobs. Then again, I learned some of that fancy reading comprehension during graduate school with my "Dayton Flyers."
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/29/bloomberg-news-romney-rented-mormon-churchs-exemption-to-defer-taxes-for-15-years/
For ease, here's the full text - from RawStory, a property of Bloomberg News:
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.”
Do you belong to the same country clubs as Wrongney? -- because, I assure you, he belongs to more than one.
Why are there people who are barely scraping by -- people who Wrongney could care less about and views as "The Great Unwashed" -- who will set aside their own best interests Obama now protects and blindly, willingly sell themselves down the river, back to the Bush policies we are finally beginning to shake off?
To top it off, Wrongney wants to get rid of FEMA. Or has he already changed his position now, suddenly, for some strange reason.
What will be something of a Christmas Present to the Country -- and the World -- to watch our new and freshly RE-ELECTED President bestowing Kennedy Honors to Led Zeppelin. What a wonderful moment for the band AND the fans to know the man actually giving Zeppelin the honors knows who the fans are and actually gives a sh*t!
You'll be happy to know Mitt Romney did, in fact, flip flop his position on FEMA... today no less. I guess a massive hurricane will do that for you.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1012/83001.html#.UI69P_q_JCo.twitter
See, now Romney says he doesn't want to abolish FEMA - he just wants to give more powers to the states. This argument is b.s. because this plan would mean 50 versions of FEMA that couldn't coordinate easily with one another. Doesn't sound like small government to me. Sounds like a cluster. What more would you expect from Romney?