Bush' Texas Rangers' plot thickens into tax evasion and more

[Jon8503]

By Jerry Mazza
Online Journal Contributing Writer

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October 20, 2004—As if Bush's sale of his $606,000 share of Texas Rangers stock to owner Tom Hicks for $15 million wasn't enough, there's more from deep in the heart of Texas to nail the good old boy, namely the possibility of tax evasion. That is, Bush declared the proceeds as a long-term capital gain, which it wasn't, as opposed to ordinary income, which it was. This means Bush paid at the capital gains' rate of 20 percent as opposed to the ordinary income rate of 39.6 percent. Beating the IRS out of nearly 20 percent in additional taxes. But the fun doesn't stop there.

As reported by MakeThemAccountable.com, Bush had had prior business with Tom Hicks, who also was cofounder, with his brother R. Steven Hicks, of a radio company that merged in 1999 into AMFM, Inc. It was soon engulfed and devoured by Clear Channel Communications, of which old Tom became vice chair (I think the title is appropriate, don't you?).

Tom, a busy bee, is also chief corporate raider for the firm Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst. In addition to being Bush's No. 4 career patron, Hicks, Muse wanted to dip into the $13 billion University of Texas (UT) endowment for takeover deals, sort of like Michael Milken's old corporate raider "treasure chests." And we all know what happened to Mike. Indicted in 1989 of 98 counts of fraud and racketeering. In 1990, banned from operating in the securities industry for life and sentenced to 10 years in prison for security fraud by then straight shooting New York D.A., Rudy Guiliani. Sentence later reduced to 22 months, served at a "Club Fed," a fenceless prison camp for low risk inmates. Ah well, life at the top. But let's move on . . .

Coincidentally, as Bush stepped into the Texas governor's office, Hicks was confirmed as a University of Texas regent, first chair no less. Hicks corralled some lobbyists to help pass a bill to create the UT Investment Management Co (UTIMCO). Love the acronyms. Then UTIMCO handed out contracts to private investment firms to "manage" pieces of the endowment—lots of foxes in the old hen house. When a media scandal (remember those) actually exposed UTIMCO's juicy contract deals with firms connected to Hicks and Bush, and even one that President Bush 1 reportedly had a piece of, well, folks weren't too happy. Nevertheless, the management fees to Hicks for "investing" the TU billions could easily have topped the $250 million he paid for the Texas Rangers. In so many words, Bush in his official duties as governor passed Hicks the money to buy the team.

Right there and then Junior should have been busted for misuse of his office for personal profit. He wasn't. And, as mentioned, he bilked even more bucks out of the deal by wrongly reporting taxes due on the team sale. In fact, an IRS agent who worked on the 1972 Governor of Illinois Otto Kerner's case, commented . . ."The government concluded, and the jury affirmed, the fact that people in official policy positions who enhance the value of their own property in whole or in part are guilty of a corrupt practice, and accordingly the gain is not capital gain. This is consistent with the theory behind giving tax incentives only for legitimate capital appreciation."

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/102404Mazza/102404mazza.html

[indigobusiness]

1. ooooh ...that really stinks

fishy, fishy, fishy

Corruption is King in Bushworld.

[Deja Q]

2. Sock it to him*!

:shrug:

[PerfectSage]

3. Shrub to his IRS auditor:

"Uh, gosh, I don't think I ever declared the proceeds of the sale of my Texas Rangers stock as a long-term capital gain, that's kinda one of those uh, eggs-aggerayshuns.":toast:

[leftofthedial]

4. just today, the little bushturd was laughing at his stump speech

about how the rich don' pay no taxes.