Posted on 04/14/2015 11:50:42 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Cruz rails against ‘crony capitalism’—and counts a CEO under investigation for unpaid billions in taxes as a mega-donor. Awwwwwkward. Hedge fund CEO Robert Mercer is all in for the conservative Texas Republican Ted Cruz, and the billionaire will have unusually substantial influence in how his contributions get spent.
But the billionaire also has some baggage—like, the avoiding billions in taxes kind of baggage.
His alleged failure to pay those taxes led to substantial congressional scrutiny in 2014—and it’s not clear the investigation is over.
This, and some of Mercer’s side projects, could present interesting challenges for Cruz’s campaign. Especially since Cruz has been a vocal opponent of those who “give favors to Wall Street” and engage in “crony capitalism.”
On the one hand, Mercer’s support is fantastic for Cruz for all the obvious reasons (having a billionaire in your corner is nice). On the other hand, Mercer’s hedge fund—Renaissance Technologies—recently faced an unflattering congressional investigation, the results of which indicated that it used complex and unorthodox financial structures to dramatically lower its tax burden.This drew scorching bipartisan criticism from investigators on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
“Renaissance profited from this tax treatment by insisting on the fiction that it didn’t really own the stocks it traded—that the banks that Renaissance dealt with, did,” said Sen. John McCain during a hearing on the issue, per Mother Jones. “But, the fact is that Renaissance did all the trading, maintained full control over the account…and reaped all of the profits.”
In his opening statement for that hearing, then-subcommittee chair Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said that Mercer’s business avoided paying more than $6 billion in taxes between 2000 and 2013.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
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Meanwhile, the Clinton Foundation keeps on a rollin’ in foreign donations tax free cash.
Good one. Puts you right up there with Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings. ;oD
She may have that on her resume’ but she OBVIOUSLY no longer retains any of Mr. Buckley’s philosophy.
5) “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.
Leftists treat Alinsky as unHoly Writ ... deliberately picking unflattering, ridiculous pictures (they're easy to get of anyone speaking in public) is an example of Rule 5.
Not to mention Charlie Rangel.
If these people ever find out about me and my tax avoidance strategy, I’m toast. I have not paid a single penny of either state or federal taxes on about $400 million dollars, and the scheme is so simple I don’t know why everyone doesn’t do it. I simply avoided making that $400 million, which is how much I would have made if I earned $10 million per year for the last 40 years, which I didn’t. In fact, I might have made $20 million per year, which I didn’t, and would owe back taxes on $800 million, which I don’t. Do you guys think they will come after me, too?
They slow-mo a video until they find the most unflattering expression the can. Actually, I think if they’d tried a bit harder they’d have found something worse. This one is unflattering, but not horrendous. They ARE telegraphing the fact that they’re scared of Ted. And he can fight back better than Sarah could.
Wow, Ted is really a no good..., ahhh wait a minute!
Yes, the definition of "crony capitalist" is a wealthy, politically active conservative whom the regime's thugs at the IRS and the financial illiterates in Congress attempt, unsuccessfully, to persecute. They must really be desperate if this is the best they can come up with. (My statements about the guy aren't based on any knowledge of the case, just knowledge of conservatives, liberals, and Congress and how all the above function.)
Their job is lying, yellow urinalism, and inventing scandals where none probably exist??
Not true. "Avoidance" is indeed the word for people seeking to pay as little as they legitimately can. Even the IRS has publicly acknowledged the legitimacy of doing so. Actual cheating is called "evasion".
Yes...and Warren Buffett is all for increasing the death tax, but none of his billions will ever be taxed one penny.
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