Where Mitt Romney's Money Lives

C

CanceledB

Banned
Where the Money Lives

For all Mitt Romney’s touting of his business record, when it comes to his own money the Republican nominee is remarkably shy about disclosing numbers and investments. Nicholas Shaxson delves into the murky world of offshore finance, revealing loopholes that allow the very wealthy to skirt tax laws, and investigating just how much of Romney’s fortune (with $30 million in Bain Capital funds in the Cayman Islands alone?) looks pretty strange for a presidential candidate.

cn_image.size.mitt-romney.jpg

BURIED TREASURE Grand Cayman, where Bain Capital maintains at least 138 funds. Inset, Mitt Romney tries to spot his La Jolla home from the campaign plane.

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/08/investigating-mitt-romney-offshore-accounts
 
From the article:

Romney’s personal tax rate is a particular point of interest. In 2010 and 2011, Mitt and Ann paid $6.2 million in federal tax on $42.5 million in income, for an average tax rate just shy of 15 percent, substantially less than what most middle-income Americans pay. Romney manages this low rate because he takes his payments from Bain Capital as investment income, which is taxed at a maximum 15 percent, instead of the 35 percent he would pay on “ordinary” income, such as salaries and wages. Many tax experts argue that the form of remuneration he receives, known as carried interest, is really just a fee charged by investment managers, so it should instead be taxed at the 35 percent rate. Lee Sheppard, a contributing editor at the trade publication Tax Notes, whose often controversial articles are read widely by tax professionals, is nonplussed that the Obama campaign has been so listless on the issue of carried interest. “Romney is the poster boy, the best argument, for taxing this profit share as ordinary income,” says Sheppard.

In the face of such arguments, Romney’s defense is that he never broke the rules: if there is a problem, it is in the laws, not in his behavior. “I pay all the taxes that are legally required, not a dollar more,” he said. Even so. “When you are running for president, you might want to err on the side of overpaying your taxes, and not chase every tax gimmick that comes down the pike,” says Sheppard. “It kind of looks tacky.”
 
How was it working for Romney at Bain Capital? A former employee's account, from the article:

A person who worked for Mitt Romney at the consulting firm Bain and Co. in 1977 remembers him with mixed feelings. “Mitt was … a really wonderful boss,” the former employee says. “He was nice, he was fair, he was logical, he said what he wanted … he was really encouraging.” But Bain and Co., the person recalls, pushed employees to find out secret revenue and sales data on its clients’ competitors. Romney, the person says, suggested “falsifying” who they were to get such information, by pretending to be a graduate student working on a proj*ect at Harvard. (The person, in fact, was a Harvard student, at Bain for the summer, but not working on any such proj*ects.) “Mitt said to me something like ‘We won’t ask you to lie. I am not going to tell you to do this, but [it is] a really good way to get the information.’ … I would not have had anything in my analysis if I had not pretended.

“It was a strange atmosphere. It did leave a bad taste in your mouth,” the former employee recalls.

This unsettling account suggests the young Romney—at that point only two years out of Harvard Business School—was willing to push into gray areas when it came to business. More than three dec*ades later, as he tried to nail down the Republican nomination for president of the United States, Romney’s gray areas were again an issue when he repeatedly resisted calls to release more details of his net worth, his tax returns, and the large investments and assets held by him and his wife, Ann. Finally the other Republican candidates forced him to do so, but only highly selective disclosures were forthcoming.
 
More:

Bain Capital is the heart of Romney’s fortune: it was the financial engine that created it. The mantra of his campaign is that he was a businessman who created tens of thousands of jobs, and Bain certainly did bring useful operational skills to many companies it bought. But his critics point to several cases where Bain bought companies, loaded them with debt, and paid itself extravagant fees, thereby bankrupting the companies and destroying tens of thousands of jobs.

Come August, Romney, with an estimated net worth as high as $250 million (he won’t reveal the exact amount), will be one of the richest people ever to be nominated for president. Given his reticence to discuss his wealth, it’s only natural to wonder how he got it, how he invests it, and if he pays all his taxes on it.

Ironically, it was Mitt’s father, George Romney, who released 12 years of tax returns, in November 1967, just ahead of his presidential campaign, thereby setting a precedent that nearly every presidential candidate since has either willingly or unwillingly been subject to. George, then the governor of Michigan, explained why he was releasing so many years’ worth, saying, “One year could be a fluke, perhaps done for show.”

But his son declined to release any returns through one unsuccessful race for the U.S. Senate, in 1994, one successful run for Massachusetts governor, in 2002, and an aborted bid for the Republican Party presidential nomination, in 2008. Just before the Iowa caucus last December, Mitt told MSNBC, “I don’t intend to release the tax returns. I don’t,” but finally, on January 24, 2012—after intense goading by fellow Republican candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry—he released his 2010 tax return and an estimate for 2011.

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/08/investigating-mitt-romney-offshore-accounts
 
more jealousy of those with money. Having a swiss bank account is perfectly legal and acceptable. I am glad he is keeping his money off shore and if it's to avoid the money grabbing parasites all the better.
 
TEAM ZIMMERMAN said:
more jealousy of those with money. Having a swiss bank account is perfectly legal and acceptable. I am glad he is keeping his money off shore and if it's to avoid the money grabbing parasites all the better.
Click to expand...

The Liberal Left Moonbats are acting like they probably did when they were 3 years old and in the sand box.
Another child was playing with a toy and the baby moonbat started screaming "MINE-MINE-MINE", until their parent made the other child give up the toy.
 
TEAM ZIMMERMAN said:
more jealousy of those with money. Having a swiss bank account is perfectly legal and acceptable. I am glad he is keeping his money off shore and if it's to avoid the money grabbing parasites all the better.
Click to expand...

How do expect someone who is off shoring his money to act in the best interest of the US? How do you expect him to clean up financial institutions and banks when he was up to armpits in the mire?
 
Aoxomoxoa said:
How do expect someone who is off shoring his money to act in the best interest of the US? How do you expect him to clean up financial institutions and banks when he was up to armpits in the mire?
Click to expand...

that's a lot of assumptions in one sentence.
 
Aoxomoxoa said:
How do expect someone who is off shoring his money to act in the best interest of the US? How do you expect him to clean up financial institutions and banks when he was up to armpits in the mire?
Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking. And where are all the cons calling him "un-American" for stashing his money overseas?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top