Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Michelle Obama Accepting Fashion Freebies
newsmax.com ^ | Feb. 23, 2009 | Ronald Kessler

Posted on 02/23/2009 1:57:28 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY

For years, the press excoriated Nancy Reagan for borrowing clothes and jewelry from designers. Yet Michelle Obama has been doing the same thing — without any outcry from the media.

Accountants say that the first lady’s practice of borrowing both clothes and jewelry raises major tax and disclosure issues, not to mention ethical questions.

“The transactions are clearly taxable,” says Richard Rampell, a Palm Beach, Fla., accountant whose clients include several of the island’s billionaires. “The designers are indirectly paying Michelle Obama to go and display their wares. And they get a huge economic value for it, just as if they were paying a model to do this. If they are paying her in this indirect way by lending her their clothes, then she is actually performing a service for the designer, and she should have to recognize as income whatever the value is of the clothes that she got.”

Aside from the tax implications, Obama is obligated to report the value of the clothes she has received free of charge on government forms mandated by the Ethics in Government Act.

The items Obama has either borrowed or received free have included a $17,313 pair of Loree Rodkin diamond earrings and clothes and gowns worth $1,000 to $6,000. In some cases, Michelle Obama’s representatives have said she will donate the items to the Smithsonian.

That makes no difference, Rampell says.

“If somebody gives her a dress and it’s worth $6,000, and she’s not expected to return it, then she has $6,000 worth of income, or she’s received a $6,000 gift,” he says.

(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-73 last
To: GOP_Lady

Oh lordy, lordy, lordy. That’s all I can say.


61 posted on 02/23/2009 10:35:38 PM PST by GrandmaPatriot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: Toespi

***Seriously, is this photoshopped? This is really on the cover? “The First Lady the World has been waiting for?” What world?***

On another site, a Freeper said that it’s become common to “slice” off any unwanted inches in magazines. I think it’s obvious that Aunt Jemima’s hips were greatly reduced in the Vogue picture.


62 posted on 02/24/2009 6:42:14 AM PST by kitkat (THE DAY WE LOSE OUR WILL TO FIGHT WILL BE THE DAY WE LOSE OUR FREEDOM.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: LucyT

This woman has never seen a chenille bedspread she doesn’t like.


63 posted on 02/24/2009 8:23:10 AM PST by Bookwoman ("...and I am unanimous in this..")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: Free ThinkerNY

Liberal/Socialist motto - Do as I say, not as I do.


64 posted on 02/24/2009 8:55:30 AM PST by Dustbunny (Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged. The Gipper)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kitkat

There was a lot of editing on those Vogue photos....lots of “post-processing”, as the photogs call it.


65 posted on 02/24/2009 9:52:01 AM PST by Palladin ("...the one with the big ears--he AIN'T my President!"...Etta James)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 62 | View Replies]

To: dblshot

Thanks for the chuckle!


66 posted on 02/24/2009 9:38:27 PM PST by skr (May God confound the enemy)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: ConservativeMind
And for the same thing, Palin was skewered.

The difference is that what the first skank borrows is hideous.

67 posted on 02/24/2009 9:45:28 PM PST by j_tull (Jeremiah Wright's prayer has been answered. God has damned America.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: j_tull
Communist Romanian Propaganda Mirrors what is going on now in our media
68 posted on 02/24/2009 10:43:25 PM PST by Rome2000 (Peace is not an option)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 67 | View Replies]

To: Rome2000
Communist Romanian Propaganda Mirrors what is going on now in our media
69 posted on 02/24/2009 10:47:51 PM PST by Rome2000 (Peace is not an option)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 68 | View Replies]

To: mjp
All the digital buffing and polishing that goes into those poses ( a pose is how many clicks for each pic that actually makes it to the page? ) there is no way that those fingers went unnoticed.

Finger sign or no sign, any given personal photo/portrait (this is not a candid snapshot; it is staged/set-up) is at best “move your _______ a little to the _________; now move your _________ ____________, wait, go back just a little to the ___________ . . . and . . . hold it right there . . . good . . . . and ‘click.’ “

Even if it was a purely coincidental and unintended slip that got by the photographer, it would have been caught in the photo proofs and again in the paste up and again in the edits and again in the final edit and then in the cover proofs. Whatever it is, it is not an accident.

70 posted on 02/25/2009 7:01:42 AM PST by shoutingandpointing
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: skr

First spouses should never, ever, accept donated clothing or jewelery. If they can’t afford to buy their own clothing, their finances need to be examined.


71 posted on 02/25/2009 7:41:47 PM PST by jess35
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Free ThinkerNY
Scumbags. The obama's are nothing but greedy elitist pigs that want everyone else to give up some of their pie so that THEY can have more. PhotobucketPhotobucketPhotobucket
72 posted on 02/25/2009 8:38:27 PM PST by mojitojoe (None are more hopelessly enslaved, as those who falsely believe they are free.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: free-n-TX
It is notPhotobucket
73 posted on 02/25/2009 8:41:02 PM PST by mojitojoe (None are more hopelessly enslaved, as those who falsely believe they are free.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-73 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson