by David Safier Happy Labor Day, the day when we celebrate workers and all they've done for our country. They built this country, damn it! What does the Star do on Labor Day? Well, it runs a nice editorial about raising the minimum wage, reminding us that if we keep the value of the dollar … Read more
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Washington Post examines Willard "Mittens" Romney's retirement package from Bain Capital today, with an emphasis on the "carried interest" tax deduction only available to the super-rich, and his supercharged IRA account. Mitt Romney exited Bain Capital with rare tax benefits in retirement – The Washington Post:
Before Mitt Romney retired from Bain Capital, the enormously profitable investment firm he founded, he made sure to lock in his gains, both realized and expected, for years to come.
He did so, in part, the way millions of other Americans do — with the tax benefits of an individual retirement account. But he was able to turbocharge the impact of those advantages and other tax breaks in his severance package from Bain in a way that few but the country’s super-rich can ever hope to do.
As a result, his IRA could be worth as much as $87 million, according to his estimates, and he can continue to earn tax-advantaged income from Bain more than a decade after he formally left the firm.
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The structure and tax treatment of his retirement, including the IRA, was legally sound and appropriate, [Bain] says, adding that he has earned less money over his career than some other top private-equity executives, who earned billions of dollars during the same period.
Details of Romney’s retirement assets are somewhat vague because he has released only one year of full tax returns and declined to provide additional specifics about his personal finances. But interviews with Bain executives and accounting professionals show that he was able to take advantage of tax benefits in innovative ways open only to a narrow slice of extremely affluent people — mostly those who work in private-equity firms and other investment partnerships.
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Parade Magazine, the Sunday newspaper insert, published a profile of Barack and Michelle Obama today in advance of the DNC National Convention. If you didn't get the Sunday paper, you can read it online. A Conversation With the Obamas. It's your typical Parade fare. I was most impressed with the photos that … Read more
Posted by Bob Lord All pretense regarding the purpose for the restrictive voting measures that swept the country has been peeled away. Weeks ago, a Pennsylvania Republican outright boasted how their passage of the voter ID law would allow them to deliver Pennsylvania to Romney in November. There's no shame. There's no contrition. There's no … Read more
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Last week the RNC mistaklenly posted a draft version of its 2012 GOP Platform to its web site before it had been voted on and approved by the delegates. Politico captured it before it was taken down, and it became a news item. The "official" 2012 GOP Platform is now online (Download … Read more