This is How Mitt Romney Avoided Paying Taxes For 15 Years by Using the Mormon Church’s Tax Exempt Status
Republicans and Democrats alike have called on Mitt Romney to release his tax returns, all to no avail. Romney has refused to release the bulk of his 
returns and claims that his refusal is based on the belief that Democrats will pick apart his returns and use them against him.
However, it has now come to light that Mitt Romney may be refusing to release his returns because he didn’t pay taxes for multiple years, maybe as many as 15.
Bloomberg news reports that in 1997, Congress cracked down on a tax shelter which allowed people to avoid taxes by taking advantage of the tax exempt status of charitable organizations. But as part of the deal, people who’d already set up these tax havens were allowed to keep them. Mitt Romney set up one of these tax avoidance trusts in 1996:
The charitable remainder unitrust, as it is known, is one of several strategies Romney has adopted over his career to reduce his tax bill. While Romney’s tax avoidance is legal and common among high-net-worth individuals, it has become an issue in the campaign. President Barack Obama attacked him in their second debate for paying “lower tax rates than somebody who makes a lot less.”
According to the information Bloomberg obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, this tax strategy left Mitt Romney with a tax rate of at or near zero.
“The main benefit from a charitable remainder trust is the renting from your favorite charity of its exemption from taxation,”said Jonathan Blattmachr, a trust and estates lawyer who spoke with Bloomberg. Regardless of the name, giving a gift or getting a charitable deduction “is just a throwaway,” he said. “I used to structure them so the value dedicated to charity was as close to zero as possible without being zero.”
Comments
Powered by Facebook Comments
ROMNEY has been very sly, slick and tricky. Sen. Harry Reid was right about him when he said someone told him that Romney did not pay taxes for many years. BUT THE RIGHT WINGERS attacked Harry Reid for saying it…but we have not seen even 3 years of tax records. WHY???? This is just the tip of the iceberg. Romney has invested with Iran in oil…which is helping to burn up the planet (in more ways than one).
Romney reminds me of Nixon, real sweaty and can’t be trusted….
People like Romney that purport to want to be public servants and represent the American people ought to have enough personal character to want to support the country they profess to believe in and love— right down to fairly paying into our financial base (taxes). It should not matter that options to avoid taxes (created by other scammers) are available. They should view and act in ways that demonstrate a concern for the welfare of the country and its systems if they want to LEAD.
We should demand and get better than con men who want to dictate for the greater good but not be subject to the same rules.