McCain's Tax Returns Hide Gambling

[Joanne98]

Senator John McCain is a gambler. If I'd known that right away I would have immediately seen what was wrong with his tax returns.

I am a tax attorney, so a tax return means more to me than it would to most. I reviewed McCain's tax returns as a basic check on the candidates. You can look at McCain's 2006 and 2007 tax returns for yourself. The tax returns are below a lot of verbiage about his charitable activities.

According to a New York Times article of September 27, 2008 "For McCain and Team, a Host of Ties to Gambling," reported by Jo Becker and Don VanNatta Jr., McCain gambled at the MGM Grand in May 2007.

Apparently McCain is a habitual gambler; he usually plays craps. He even says, "I am a gambling man."

Gambling has tax implications. According to IRS Publication 17, "Your Federal Income Tax", 2007 edition, page 89 "Gambling Winnings. You must include your gambling winnings in income on Form 1040, line 21. If you itemize your deductions on Schedule A (Form 1040), you can deduct gambling losses you had during the year, but only up to the amount of your winnings." In other words, you can't subtract your losses from your winnings and just not report. You have to report the winnings, and then claim the losses.

But McCain's tax returns say nothing about gambling winnings or losses.

As a casino gambler, McCain is likely to have lost more than he won. But by not reporting his winnings, the different percentage calculations built into the tax calculation are thrown off, and if he gambled much at all, he has underpaid his tax. The amount of understatement of tax may be minimal, but that's not the point.

The real purpose of preparing his tax return and omitting the gambling winnings is so that people would not know how much he gambled. If he won $200,000 playing craps in Las Vegas, it would make a difference in the way voters viewed his suitability as a presidential candidate.

There are circumstances under which the tax returns could be correct, such as McCain gambled once in 2007, not at all in 2006, and lost everything the one time he gambled. Such an explanation is unlikely in light of McCain's alleged long history of gambling.

I think we are looking at tax returns calculated to hide an aspect of the candidate. My 35 years of experience in taxes tells me these tax returns are wrong, and we do not know the true scope of McCain's gambling or of his potential obligations to gambling enterprises.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/martha-miller/mccains-tax-returns-hide_b_131675.html

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Billy Bennett and Johnny, sittin' at the craps...

L-O-S-I-N-G...:D

[The Magistrate]

2. Interesting, Ma'am: In Other Words, Old Lying John Is a Felonious Tax-Cheater

Damned odd things get called 'patriot' nowadays....

[WCGreen]

3. Well, if he won big in Vegas or any other "legal" gambling place,

they would have been issued a W2-G by the casino.

He would have had to report that on his 1040.

[quiet.american]

4. I have a picture in my mind of him sitting at the table gambling his Social Security checks.nt

[Vinca]

5. Don't casinos issue IRS forms for big winnings - a 1099 or something?

You ought to turn him in and get a percentage of the spoils.

[PBS Poll-435]

7. A W-2G is issued when gambling winnings cross a certain threshold

[Retrograde]

6. Could they be hidden in Cindy's tax returns?

I'm not a tax expert, and I don't know how he could do this, but is it even possible?

[gmoney]

8. He plays under the name "Bret Maverick"

"Hello, my name is, uh, Bret, and I'm a compulsive gambler..."

Everyone: "HELLO BRET!"

[Tansy_Gold]

11. IDFTS (I don't f****** think so); James Garner files suit (satire)

<>


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-young/james-garner-files-suit-a_b_124997.html

[PBS Poll-435]

9. Here is the info from the IRS Pub

Generally, gambling winnings are reportable if the amount paid reduced, at the option of the payer, by the wager is (a) $600 or more and (b) at least 300 times the amount of the wager.

However, these requirements do not apply to winnings from bingo, keno, and slot machines.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/iw2g.pdf

Craps doesn't offer any payouts with 300:1 odds. Each roll of the dice is considered a different wager, I believe.

[annabanana]

10. Obligatory picture for McCain gambling threads here:

At the Bellagio Craps Tables

[MindMatter]

12. Follow the money. Odds are those gambling sessions are paid for by lobbyists.

If a lobbyist hands you a stack of chips to play for the evening, is that a taxable event? If you lose all that money, is that a gift from the lobbyist. Surely it is in effect, but who's going to find out? What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, you know.

If the guy likes to gamble, yet has nothing on his tax return, the implicates are pretty obvious. either he's doing tax evasion or else he's playing with somebody else's money.