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Post by amoeba15 on Jul 10, 2012 10:53:21 GMT -5
One day after President Barack Obama pressed Mitt Romney to be an "open book" on his personal finances, the incumbent's reelection campaign released a new web video suggesting that the Republican standard-bearer may be hiding something improper by refusing to release more of his tax returns. The online attack features CNN's Wolf Blitzer asking former Republican National Committee Chairman Haley Barbour whether Romney should release his information, and Barbour replying: "I would." The video showcases media suggestions that Romney might have eluded American taxes by parking money in places like the Cayman Islands and mocks Romney's response as "Just take our word for it." "The American people deserve the facts," the ad says. It shows Romney sidestepping the issues in Republican primary debates, saying "maybe" and "time will tell" when asked whether he will follow his father George Romney's standard-setting decision to release a decade's worth of tax returns. "How long can Romney keep information on his investments in overseas tax havens secret? And why did he do it in the first place? Time will tell," the ad says. Romney took steps to counter the attack on Tuesday, insisting he has little to do with the management of his personal investments because they are in a blind trust. "I don't manage them," Romney said in an interview with Radio Iowa's O. Kay Henderson. " I don't even know where they are."abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/obama-camp-romney-hiding-withholding-tax-returns/story?id=16746874 |
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Post by amoeba15 on Jul 10, 2012 10:59:59 GMT -5
"The best way to see if Mitt Romney is complying with America tax law is to have him release more of his tax returns," Gibbs said. Romney has released his 2010 tax return and an estimate of his 2011 taxes — but has balked at releasing other years."I pick a bank because there's an ATM near my home," Gibbs said. "Romney had a bank account in Switzerland.""Nobody knows why he has a corporation in Bermuda," said Gibbs. " Why he failed to disclosure that on seven different financial disclosures. Why he transferred it to somebody else's purview the day before he became governor of Massachusetts."This is a guy whose slogan is 'Believe in America' and it should be 'business in Bermuda,'" Gibbs said. www.politico.com/blogs/politico-live/2012/07/gibbs-nobody-knows-if-romney-is-a-tax-dodge-128264.html |
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Post by amoeba15 on Jul 10, 2012 11:08:22 GMT -5
Particularly jarring were the Romneys’ many offshore accounts. As Newt Gingrich put it during the primary season, “I don’t know of any American president who has had a Swiss bank account.” But Romney has, as well as other interests in such tax havens as Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. To give but one example, there is a Bermuda-based entity called Sankaty High Yield Asset Investors Ltd., which has been described in securities filings as “a Bermuda corporation wholly owned by W. Mitt Romney.” It could be that Sankaty is an old vehicle with little importance, but Romney appears to have treated it rather carefully. He set it up in 1997, then transferred it to his wife’s newly created blind trust on January 1, 2003, the day before he was inaugurated as Massachusetts’s governor. The director and president of this entity is R. Bradford Malt, the trustee of the blind trust and Romney’s personal lawyer. Romney failed to list this entity on several financial disclosures, even though such a closely held entity would not qualify as an “excepted investment fund” that would not need to be on his disclosure forms. He finally included it on his 2010 tax return. www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/08/investigating-mitt-romney-offshore-accounts |
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Post by amoeba15 on Jul 10, 2012 11:14:26 GMT -5
No wonder PC and Republicans LOVE Romney. Here are five ways Romney is engaging in such financial shenanigans: 1. Romney owns a corporation in Bermuda. Filings describe Sankaty High Yield Asset Investors Ltd. as a “a Bermuda corporation wholly owned by W. Mitt Romney.” The corporation was established by Romney in 1997, but was transferred into a blind trust under Ann Romney’s name the day before Mitt began his tenure as governor of Massachusetts. Bermuda is a famed tax shelter. 2. Romney uses special, tax-free stocks to inflate his retirement account.Romney’s independent retirement account set up during his time at Bain Capital could contain as much as $102 million — a staggering amount given limits on employee contributions.3. Romney’s blind trusts are not-so-blind. Ann and Mitt Romney keep their investments in a “blind trust,” which means that they avoid making investment decisions that may impact their political work. But the Romney’s blind trust, which is run by their personal lawyer, includes investments in a companyowned by their own son.4. Romney uses a so-called “blocker corporation” to avoid taxes on his IRA.Though Romney says his investments in the Cayman Islands do not help him lower his tax bill, Romney’s IRA appears to have invested in an offshore corporation which then invests in U.S. businesses, to avoid paying the the U.S.’s Unrelated Business Income Tax.5. Bain Capital helped financial fraudsters dodge taxes. Bain received investments from “the newspaper tycoon, tax evader, and fraudster Robert Maxwell” (who has since died), as well as other financial oligarchs, which helps provide them “with additional ways to skip around tax, disclosure, and regulatory requirements that they might trigger if they invested directly.”www.nationofchange.org/5-shady-financial-tactics-employed-mitt-romney-1341329540 |
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Post by amoeba15 on Jul 10, 2012 11:28:56 GMT -5
Mitt Romney discloses worth of up to $250 millionThe Republican presidential candidate has shed dozens of stocks and holdings in overseas companies, boosting his cash reserves. He dumped his extensive foreign stock holdings, which included Wal-Mart de Mexico — now the subject of U.S. inquiries into bribery allegations — as well as several publicly traded firms in China. Romney has been a harsh critic of China's trade policies. The campaign said a third trust for the Romney children, not listed in the disclosure, was worth $100 million. The filings do not allow for a precise calculation of Romney's fortune. In January, he pegged his net worth at "between 150 [million] and about 200 and some odd million" dollars during an appearance on Univision. A recent analysis of his holdings by Forbes estimated his fortune to be worth $230 million.www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-romney-money-20120602,0,3648309.story
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Post by packerconvert on Jul 10, 2012 14:16:54 GMT -5
I cracked up when Obama compared himself to the rich...LOL. That guy trys to rub up on anyone to make himself look more important.  |
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Post by TW on Jul 10, 2012 15:18:01 GMT -5
The topic in this thread is Romney and his tax disclosures.
I want to believe him when he says everything is in a blind trust, and has been, for years.
Then this little comment from the past, about how he only made a few bucks in speaking engagements, which amounted to ...what???.... about $1 mill??? and the fact he knew his income was in areas where tax breaks were valid.... kind of told me he really does know where his money is, and where it comes from, despite his blind trust comment.
In other words... I think he just don't want people to understand how he makes most of his money through investments outside the US.
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Post by amoeba15 on Jul 10, 2012 15:28:40 GMT -5
Mitt Romney's wife had blind trust invested in Goldman Sachs' sex trafficking fundThe wife of Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney had a blind trust invested in the Goldman Sachs' sex trafficking fund, it emerged today. According to an August 2011 financial disclosure report by the Romneys, Ann Romney's blind trust had an investment valued between $15,001 and $50,000 in Goldman's GS Capital Partners III. Reuters reported that while there is no suggestion the Romneys knew about the investment, the disclosure highlights the difficulty for politicians and their families when they invest in blind trusts that are supposed to protect them from conflicts of interest and ethical questions. Goldman said on Sunday that GS Capital Partners III signed a deal last Friday to sell its 16 percent stake in Village Voice Media, which owns the website Backpage.com, back to management. Critics argue that Backpage.com facilitates the trafficking of underage prostitutes and sex slaves, although others question that. Andrea Saul, a spokesman for Romney, stressed that the funds were managed on a blind basis, 'so the trustee, not the Romneys, make their investment decisions. Goldman's divestiture is the latest development in a growing controversy over online adult advertising that has pitted celebrities, law enforcement officials, members of Congress and New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof against Village Voice Media. The private media company has the largest share of revenue in the United States from online advertising of adult services. The company – whose boss once claimed it was ‘doing God’s work’ – faced huge embarassment after it was linked to prostitution and sex trafficking of underage girls. It has emerged that a private equity fund run by the bank had taken a major stake in a secretive company called Village Voice Media. It owns a classified advertising website – Backpage.com – that is accused of being the biggest forum for illegal sex trafficking of underage girls in America.www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2124457/Ann-Romney-blind-turst-Goldman-Sachs-sex-trafficking-fund.html
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Post by packerconvert on Jul 10, 2012 16:27:09 GMT -5
The topic in this thread is Romney and his tax disclosures. I want to believe him when he says everything is in a blind trust, and has been, for years. Then this little comment from the past, about how he only made a few bucks in speaking engagements, which amounted to ...what???.... about $1 mill??? and the fact he knew his income was in areas where tax breaks were valid.... kind of told me he really does know where his money is, and where it comes from, despite his blind trust comment. In other words... I think he just don't want people to understand how he makes most of his money through investments outside the US. I suppose if I said"liberals on their knees in bathroom stalls are jealous that they don't make that kind of money." I'd be on topic. Don't be raggin on me to stay on topic when Damaged Unit #1 goes off topic all the time. |
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Post by TW on Jul 10, 2012 21:08:32 GMT -5
Wasn't ragging on you for what you said. Just mentioning I was going back on topic.  I believe all candidates for federal office should have the same right of privacy with their tax returns. It's the IRS' job to determine if they are fraudulent. If they don't find anything wrong with it, who gives the public the right to go on a witch hunt? As long as the money they make is legal, it's really nobody's business as to how it was made. That said, when a candidate is put on the spot over allegations as to where his income came from, even though legal, they probably would be forced to disclose their incomes only to keep the attacks against them honest. |
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Post by happypacker on Jul 11, 2012 5:27:27 GMT -5
legal? where? in the USA? or overseas? Do you really feel that he made most of his money the Moral legal way? or did he make it by going where the laws on slave labor and other nice things are more relaxed than in the USA? IF Romney gets in , say goodbye to more of the middle class.
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Post by TW on Jul 11, 2012 6:51:33 GMT -5
You just put aspects of earnings in perspective. The difference between legal and morally right.
The right-wing has a "sliding scale of righteousness," that allows them to do things that are legal, but immoral, for capital gains, and it's fine, despite the fact that the Christian right should also be spelling out moral obligations. They're quick to point out values related to abortion, etc.
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Post by amoeba15 on Jul 11, 2012 8:07:41 GMT -5
"That said, when a candidate is put on the spot over allegations as to where his income came from, even though legal, they probably would be forced to disclose their incomes only to keep the attacks against them honest."What's wrong PC, remember how you and Republicans were so Hell Bent on Obama producing his birth certificate? Well..we Dems will continue to DEMAND and MAKE A FREAKIN issue out of Romney's tax returns, just like you and Republicans did with Obama's birth certificate. Sooooooooo, you had better get use to Romney being BOMBARDED with questions about his taxes. Turnabout is fair play.  What you truly find upsetting is when Democrats try to hold Republicans accountable, as Republicans do Democrats. Why? Me thinks it is because you either believe that Republicans are above the law and should automatically be accepted as people of impeccable integrity or you lack the ability to remain fair and impartial re tests and standards that ALL people must go through when running for office. WOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO!!! Tis fun to mimic Republicans, at times.
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Post by amoeba15 on Jul 12, 2012 13:47:22 GMT -5
‘Prove It’: Obama Campaign Presses Romney For Bain Departure Details“If the SEC filings aren’t accurate, then prove it,” Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter told reporters on Thursday. “ If he wasn’t investing millions of dollars in shell corporations, tax havens, Swiss bank accounts overseas to gain a tax advantage, then prove it. Prove it by releasing your tax returns.”Romney said he left any managerial role at Bain Capital behind in February 1999, delegating all voting shares of stock to 26 managing directors and leaving day-to-day operations to focus on running the Olympics. But subsequent SEC filings list him as “sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president.” A 2001 SEC filing first reported by TPM lists his “principal occupation” as “Managing Director of Bain Capital, Inc.” and the Boston Globe reviewed additional filings containing similar claims. “Romney actually has the ability to ask Bain to just release the minutes of meetings and other corporate records,” Cutter said. “Like his tax returns, he’s [in a] position to make sure they’re available for all of us to see.” 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/07/obama-bain-romney-prove-it.php
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Post by TW on Jul 12, 2012 13:50:24 GMT -5
He doesn't have to release his tax returns. Why should he?
If he did, it would prove they were right.
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