Romney's roll in abusive Son of Boss tax shelter ignored

Riot · #1 08-10-2012, 10:58 AM

Note: Marriott is a member of Mormon Church

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/08/opinio...xes/index.html

Quote:

Did Romney enable a company's abusive tax shelter?

By Peter C. Canellos and Edward D. Kleinbard, Special to CNN
updated 6:24 PM EDT, Thu August 9, 2012

...

A key troubling public manifestation of Romney's apparent insensitivity to tax obligations is his role in Marriott International's abusive tax shelter activity, as previously reported by Jesse Drucker in Bloomberg.

Romney has had a close, long-standing, personal and business connection with Marriott International and its founders. He served as a member of the Marriott board of directors for many years. From 1993 to 1998, Romney was the head of the audit committee of the Marriott board.

During that period, Marriott engaged in a series of complex and high-profile maneuvers, including "Son of Boss," a notoriously abusive prepackaged tax shelter that investment banks and accounting firms marketed to corporations such as Marriott. In this respect, Marriott was in the vanguard of a then-emerging corporate tax shelter bubble that substantially undermined the entire corporate tax system.

Son of Boss and its related shelters represented perhaps the largest tax avoidance scheme in history, costing the U.S. many billions in lost corporate tax revenues. In response, the government initiated legal challenges that resulted in complete disallowance of the losses claimed by Marriott and other corporations.

In addition, the Son of Boss transaction was listed by the Internal Revenue Service as an abusive transaction, requiring specific disclosure and subject to heavy penalties. Statutory penalties were also made more stringent to deter future tax shelter activity. Finally, the government brought successful criminal prosecutions against a number of individuals involved in Son of Boss and related transactions not associated with Marriott, including principals at major law and accounting firms.

In his key role as chairman of the Marriott board's audit committee, Romney approved the firm's reporting of fictional tax losses exceeding $70 million generated by its Son of Boss transaction. His endorsement of this stratagem provides insight into Romney's professional ethics and attitude toward tax compliance obligations.

Like other prepackaged corporate tax shelters of that era, Marriott's Son of Boss transaction was an entirely artificial transaction, bearing no relationship to its business. Its sole purpose was to create a gigantic tax loss out of thin air without any economic risk, cost or loss -- other than the fee Marriott paid the promoter.

Clip-Clop · #2 08-10-2012, 11:14 AM

Well certainly he will go to prison as a result of his running for President. With all of the obvious crimes he has committed as a private citizen you would have thought he would know better. Everything was bound to be exposed, too bad now we won't even get any work out of him for our tax dollars as he rots away in jail.
Damn shame.

jms62 · #3 08-10-2012, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clip-Clop

Well certainly he will go to prison as a result of his running for President. With all of the obvious crimes he has committed as a private citizen you would have thought he would know better. Everything was bound to be exposed, too bad now we won't even get any work out of him for our tax dollars as he rots away in jail.
Damn shame.

Now This!!! http://www.theonion.com/articles/rom...ampaign,29114/

This guy gotta go down .

Clip-Clop · #4 08-10-2012, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jms62

Now This!!! http://www.theonion.com/articles/rom...ampaign,29114/

This guy gotta go down .

Saw that last night, couldn't stop laughing at pseudo-Axelrod.

jms62 · #5 08-10-2012, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clip-Clop

Saw that last night, couldn't stop laughing at pseudo-Axelrod.

I figure if Romney goes to Jail, Obama gets deported my candidate Ron Paul will win in a rout.

Clip-Clop · #6 08-10-2012, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jms62

I figure if Romney goes to Jail, Obama gets deported my candidate Ron Paul will win in a rout.

I will take up praying to help this outcome become reality.

Clip-Clop · #7 08-10-2012, 11:31 AM

New ad quote.
"Mitt Romney, the business man. Take a look at his record. Romney bought companies. Drowned them in debt. Many went bankrupt. Thousands of workers lost jobs, benefits and pensions. But for every company he drove into the ground, Romney averaged a 92 million dollar profit. Now he says his business experience would make him a good president? If Romney wins, the middle class loses."

$92 million per company, he is a lot wealthier than they are giving him credit for. Must be top ten in the world with those kinds of returns.

Danzig · #8 08-10-2012, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jms62

Now This!!! http://www.theonion.com/articles/rom...ampaign,29114/

This guy gotta go down .

lol oh geez.

betcha five bucks riot does NOT post the story i saw today about the couple who bought a home from romney years ago. it's not the right kind of story you see.

Clip-Clop · #9 08-10-2012, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danzig

lol oh geez.

betcha five bucks riot does NOT post the story i saw today about the couple who bought a home from romney years ago. it's not the right kind of story you see.

He didn't go back and close the fireplace flue and let them all die of CO poisoning in their sleep?