What will we tell the Texas children who were kicked out of school?
October 3, 2012
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by David Safier The "What will we tell the children?" headline usually signals another standardized test cheating scandal. This is much worse. The El Paso school district got rid of high school freshmen who were likely to fail the all-important sophomore test — as much as half the freshman class — so the schools' scores … Read more
Obama campaign ad: ‘Mitt Romney’s Offshore Tax Havens’
October 3, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Building upon the New York Times investigative report on Tuesday that I posted about below, the Obama campaign is up with a new ad, "MItt Romney's offshore tax havens."
Video below the fold.
Romney’s “I dig it” trust: leaving assets while avoiding taxes
October 3, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Last week Bloomberg News reported on Willard "Mittens" Romney's "I dig it" trust — no really, that's what these estate tax avoidance trusts are called. Romney ‘I Dig It’ Trust Gives Heirs Triple Benefit – Bloomberg:
In January 1999, a trust set up by Mitt Romney for his children and grandchildren reaped a 1,000 percent return on the sale of shares in Internet advertising firm DoubleClick Inc.
If Romney had given the cash directly, he could have owed a gift tax at a rate as high as 55 percent. He avoided gift and estate taxes by using a type of generation-skipping trust known to tax planners by the nickname: “I Dig It.”
The sale of DoubleClick shares received before the company went public, detailed in previously unreported securities filings reviewed by Bloomberg News, sheds new light on Romney’s estate planning — the art of leaving assets for heirs while avoiding taxes. The Republican presidential candidate used a trust considered one of the most effective techniques for the wealthy to bypass estate and gift taxes. The Obama administration proposed cracking down on the tax benefits in February.
While Romney’s tax avoidance is both legal and common among high-net-worth individuals, it has become increasingly awkward for his candidacy since the disclosure of his remarks at a May fundraiser. He said that the nearly one-half of Americans who pay no income taxes are “dependent upon government” and “believe that they are victims.”
Offshore Mitt profits from tax avoidance schemes
October 3, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Willard "Mittens" Romney has been claiming for months that his offshore holdings in tax havens like Bermuda and the Cayman Islands have brought him "not one dollar of reduction in taxes."
As any tax attorney will tell you, that is pure unadulterated bullshit. Tax avoidance is the very reason why Mittens' holdings are in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.
Romney believes the American people are stupid and he insults your intelligence when he says such utter nonsense.
The New York Times in a front page article on Tuesday reported the obvious, Offshore Tactics Helped Increase Romneys’ Wealth:
Buried deep in the tax returns released by Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign are references to dozens of offshore holdings with names like Ursa Funding (Luxembourg) S.à.r.l. and Sankaty Credit Opportunities Investors (Offshore) IV, based in the Cayman Islands.
Mr. Romney, responding to opponents’ barbs about his use of overseas tax havens, has offered a narrow defense, saying only that the investments, many made through the private equity firm he founded, Bain Capital, have yielded him “not one dollar of reduction in taxes.”
A review of thousands of pages of financial documents and interviews with tax lawyers found that in some cases, the offshore arrangements enabled his individual retirement account to avoid taxes on its investments and may well have reduced Mr. Romney’s personal income tax bills.
But perhaps a more significant impact of Mr. Romney’s offshore investments has been on the profit side of the ledger — in the way Bain’s tax-avoidance strategies have enhanced his income.
PCDP African-American Caucus Presents: New Voter Education 101
October 3, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Announcement from the Pima County Democratic Party: VOTER EDUCATION CLASS Presented to you by: African American Caucus of the Pima County Democratic Party "NEW VOTER EDUCATION 101" THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4th, 2012 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Martha Cooper Library 1377 N. Catalina Ave., Tucson, AZ 85712 EVERYONE IS WELCOME! Next week's topic is … Read more
Obama V. Romney Debate at Drinking Liberally
October 2, 2012
Drinking Liberally Tucson will be screening the big debate tomorrow night on a the big screen on the patio of the Shanty. The debate starts promptly at 6pm, so to ensure you can get a drink, get a good seat, and settle in prior to launch, you should plan to arrive before 6! See you … Read more
In one word, Craig Barrett reveals his education agenda
October 2, 2012
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by David Safier "Throw." As in "throw money at education." It's a word and a phrase the anti-public education crowd love to throw around with abandon. And ex-Intel-CEO Craig Barrett, by using word and the phrase, revealed himself as clearly as if he wore a sign around his neck saying "I'm part of the conservative … Read more
TUSD candidate forum: What about standardized testing? (video)
October 2, 2012
by Pamela Powers Hannley
Standardized testing to evaluate students, teachers, and schools is a nationwide hot button issue. Educator and author Diane Ravitch— once a supporter of No Child Left Behind, testing, and charter schools– now tours the country speaking out against high-stakes testing (like the AIMS test). From her Wikipedia page…
High-stakes testing, "utopian" goals, "draconian" penalties, school closings, privatization, and charter schools didn't work, she concluded. "The best predictor of low academic performance is poverty—not bad teachers."[7]
Ravitch said that the charter school and testing reform movement was started by "right wing think tanks like the Heritage Foundation," for the purpose of destroying public education and teachers' unions.[8] … Of Education Secretary Arne Duncan's Race to the Top program, Ravitch said in a 2011 interview it "is an extension of No Child Left Behind …[,] all bad ideas." She concluded "We are destroying our education system, blowing it up by these stupid policies. And handing the schools in low-income neighborhoods over to private entrepreneurs does not, in itself, improve them. There's plenty of evidence by now that the kids in those schools do no better, and it's simply a way of avoiding their – the public responsibility to provide good education." [Emphasis added.]
How much testing is enough? How much is too much? Here the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) board candidates' opinions on standardized testing in the video after the jump. This is the sixth video from the Drinking Liberally TUSD candidate forum on September 26. To view all of the videos in this series, go to my YouTube channel.
