Bloomberg digs up more on Romney’s tax avoidance

[salvorhardin]

Drucker used the Freedom of Information Act to get records about another Romney trust, which uses the Mormon church’s tax-exempt status to save him from paying taxes, parking money there to defer tax bills while keeping almost all of the proceeds himself.

Effectively, the Romneys put up a trust that pays them 8 percent of its assets a year until they die, at which point the Mormon church gets what’s left in the account. Congress restricted this tactic, the so-called charitable remainder trust, a year later after being abused by rich tax avoiders, but Romney’s was grandfathered in.

When Romney’s lawyers and accountants created it, the church was supposed to end up with just 8 percent of its assets, while Romney got 92 percent. But the investments haven’t been doing well, so Romney’s withdrawals, at 8 percent a year, have been steadily reducing the money in the trust, and Bloomberg quotes an expert saying the church will eventually get “probably close to nothing.”

Full post: http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/bloomberg_digs_up_more_on_romn.php?page=all

[Overseas]

1. K&R. More and more light. I thought that perhaps his tithing, even with his hundreds of millions,

would be less than his posture as a devout Mormon would suggest.

Edited to add-- I thought that factor could also be part of his failure to disclose his tax returns.

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. "Romney" and "trust" - two words that should never, ever be connected.

[Indpndnt]

3. So, don't piss off Bloomberg. Got it. We already know not to piss off grantcart.

And grantcart is much better at digging up timely information. Bloomberg, while impressive, should've done this weeks or months ago. (There may be reasons why it wasn't possible, though. )

[salvorhardin]

4. Investigative reporting takes time

And Drucker has been digging up stuff on Romney's taxes all year.
http://search1.bloomberg.com/search?content_type=news&max_age=0&page=1&q=romney_jesse_drucker&sort=1

[salvorhardin]

5. Afternoon kick