Governor Walker attacks Trek Bike owner/gubernatorial candidate for paying too little tax

Gov. Scott Walker has attacked Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke and her family's bicycling business because it hasn't paid corporate income taxes to Wisconsin in decades.

Trek Bicycle Corp. is a tax-dodger, much to Burke's personal benefit, according to the GOP governor.

But Burke officials said Trek's owners — like many other businesses — pay taxes on the company's profits as individuals rather than through corporate taxes.

So exactly how much has the Burke clan forked over to the state?

A lot, it turns out.

Records show Burke, her mother and three siblings living in Wisconsin paid a total of $1.77 million in personal income taxes in 2012. That would mean the five Burke family members reported a total adjusted gross income of at least $22.8 million during that year.

It is not known what percentage of Trek is owned by the Burke family.

The company's largest individual shareholder, John Burke — Mary's brother and Trek's CEO — had a state tax bill of $841,781 in 2012. Given the state's top tax rate, he reported an adjusted gross income of at least $10.8 million that year.

The Burkes, in short, are a wealthy family with a healthy tax bill.

But Joe Fadness, executive director of the state Republican Party, suggested that Trek and its owners still aren't paying all they should. That's because Trek takes advantage of Subchapter S of the IRS code that allows the company to pass on its tax obligation to its shareholders at lower rates.

"At the same time millionaire Mary Burke didn't pay income taxes at several points, they (Trek officials) ironically boast about how they avoid paying their fair share of corporate taxes in order to pay a much lower rate by shifting the profits to shareholders," Fadness said.

​Trek isn't the only company in the state that does this.

In fact, the majority of Wisconsin businesses operate as S corporations.

Many companies choose to do so to avoid what shareholders see as double taxation inherent in the traditional tax structure. That would mean the company pays a tax on its earnings, and then shareholders who receive a dividend must pay taxes on that income.

Joe Zepecki, spokesman for Burke, accused the governor of trying to "knowingly mislead" voters about a major Wisconsin business and its tax burden.

"As Mary has said from the start," Zepecki said, "Trek pays its fair share of taxes through its shareholders, just like 90% of Wisconsin businesses."

The tax information for the Burke family was obtained from the state Department of Revenue. Only the net income tax paid to the state is publicly available. The agency does not release other tax information, such as whether a taxpayer filed a joint or individual return.

John Burke declined to comment to No Quarter on his personal taxes.

But in a recent interview with Journal Sentinel reporter Bill Glauber, John Burke expressed dismay at the governor's criticism of Trek, saying the veteran politician understands how S corps work.

ADVERTISEMENT

John Burke also was surprised to find out that his tax information was publicly available.

"I'm not running for governor. My mother is not running for governor," he said. "Scott Walker can get my mother's taxes? Why?"

Records show Mary Burke paid $516,965 in state income taxes from 2008 to 2012. That would mean she reported an adjusted gross income of at least $6.8 million during that time. The figure could be much higher because her charitable donations result in large deductions on her tax bill.

In 2012, the Democratic candidate paid $120,316 in state income taxes. With the state's top tax rate of 7.75%, she would have reported an adjusted gross income of at least $1.5 million.

Her payment was more than 100 times the state average. Wisconsin collected $1,128 in state income taxes per state resident in 2011, according to the Tax Foundation.

Mary Burke's tax payments were the smallest of the five Burke family members living in Wisconsin. Each one has been paying a six-figure sum to the state annually in recent years.

Like her mother and siblings (she has one brother and two sisters in Wisconsin and one outside the state), Mary Burke's tax payments increased dramatically in 2008 after the death of her father, Richard, Trek's co-founder. His estate sold Trek stock to family members, meaning they were hit with increased taxes on the company's profits.

As a group, the five Wisconsin Burke family members coughed up more than $6.2 million in net state income taxes from 2008 to 2012.

The annual amounts paid by several individual family members now routinely exceed the most ever paid in a single year by Richard Burke. In 2005, he was nicked by the state for $244,467, his largest Wisconsin tax bill.

In 1998, the father stepped down as Trek CEO, turning over the reins to his son and focusing his time and efforts on creating the family's charity. The Burke Foundation, which gives money to a number of Milwaukee groups and schools, had a balance of nearly $117 million in 2012, according to tax records.

According to the state Department of Revenue, Mary Burke paid little state income taxes during her first stint working at Trek from 1990 to 1993 — a point of contention in the gubernatorial race. There is no record of a tax filing in 1994, a time when she took a yearlong sabbatical to go snowboarding in Argentina and Colorado.

Zepecki, the campaign spokesman for Burke, said she had no tax liability in 1990 because she lost money on some New York rental property, offsetting her Trek earnings. As for 1992 and 1993, she was living in Europe as Trek's head of European operations.

The federal government allows individuals living abroad for more than 330 days in a year to exempt foreign earnings up to a certain amount, thus lowering the amount of taxes owed. The figure was $70,000 for 1993.

Fadness, the GOP chief and Walker ally, has raised questions as to why Burke did not pay any state income taxes during these years. The Burke campaign has acknowledged making minor errors early in the campaign regarding her work history when discussing this issue.

Mary Burke "did not pay taxes at several points in her career at the same time middle-class families were working hard to put food on the table — something she is desperately trying to justify with lame excuses and repeated edits to her résumé," Fadness said.

But Zepecki said this is not an issue.

"Mary Burke has paid all the taxes she's owed," Zepecki said Friday. "Any suggestion to the contrary is completely false."

Above is from:   Daniel Bice - Burke, family paid $1.7 million in 2012 state income taxes

Beloit billionaire pays zero in 2010 state income tax bill

The goose egg in 2010 was the first zero obligation posted by the Beloit billionaire since at least 2002, according to records from the state Department of Revenue and ABC Supply Inc., the nation's largest wholesale distributor of roofing, windows and siding and owned by Hendricks. She had a seven-figure Wisconsin tax bill in four of the previous five years, the records show.

Hendricks was thrust into the spotlight last month when a videotape showing her talking with Gov. Scott Walker about strategies to fight unions was released. In the tape, which is part of a documentary under production, Walker talked about using a "divide and conquer" strategy toward unions through his budget-adjustment bill, which curtailed most collective bar gaining for most public employee unions and created a political uproar that will culminate with Tuesday's recall election.

An active financial supporter of conservative causes, Hendricks has given Walker's campaign more than $500,000, making her Walker's largest donor.

Her state tax obligation dropped from $2.26 million for 2009 to zero for 2010 because of a change in the corporate structure of ABC Supply said Scott Bianchini, ABC tax director. The company paid taxes of $373,671 for the second half of 2010, the records show.

Bianchini explained that before 2010, ABC Supply was an "S" corporation, meaning the profits and the tax obligation flowed to Hendricks as the owner of the firm. In 2010, the company changed its structure so the profits and the tax obligation stay with the company.

"Now ABC is paying taxes on its own," Bianchini said.

Hendricks' March net worth was estimated by Forbes Magazine to be $2.8 billion - some $300 million more than Helen Johnson-Leipold, chief executive of Johnson Outdoors Inc. The magazine last year listed Hendricks as No. 188 on its ranking of the wealthiest people in America, a spot that had her as the financial equal of William Randolph Hearst III.

Bianchini declined to comment when asked whether Hendricks, who is chairman of ABC, had other income such as salary or dividends that could have been taxed in 2010.

He also declined to say why ABC's tax bill in 2010 was so low compared with what Hendricks had paid on its behalf in prior years, when its profits flowed to her bottom line.

"Diane is not willing to divulge any more," Bianchini said. "ABC converted to a 'C' corporation - that's a substantial part of why there's no 2010 tax liability (for Hendricks)."

He added that there were other reasons Hendricks paid zero state income taxes in 2010.

"We're just not willing to get into it," Bianchini said. "It's just digging, in our opinion, too deep into her taxes."

Hendricks, who worked with her husband, Kenneth, in building ABC, became chairman of the company after her husband died in 2007. The company now posts annual revenue of more than $4 billion.

Jon Peacock, research director of the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families - a liberal-leaning advocacy group - said the lack of a 2010 tax liability can make people question the fairness of the state tax code.

"It creates a suspicion that there is some gaming of the tax system going on," Peacock said.

Todd Berry, president of the nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, said legislators, not wealthy taxpayers, are to blame.

"If the legislators choose to create all sort of deductions, credits and exclusions to state tax law, then you're going to create strange situations," Berry said. "Both sides of the aisle have used the tax laws as a Christmas tree to hang all sorts of things on."

Bianchini said that despite the 2010 bills, ABC and Hendricks have paid their fair share in taxes.

"Diane Hendricks and Ken Hendricks paid $10 million in (state income) taxes since 2005," Bianchini said, adding that focusing on the tax bill of zero in 2010 is "meaningless and minutiae."

Besides, he said, ABC is a national company, and Hendricks and the company have paid millions of dollars in taxes in other states.

In addition, Bianchini provided records showing that the company paid Wisconsin income taxes of more than $1 million last year and said that Hendricks' 2011 income tax liability is "substantial." He declined to provide more specific information.

Hendricks declined to be interviewed, and the company declined to disclose any information about federal taxes paid by ABC or Hendricks.

The Journal Sentinel purchased from the Revenue Department records showing how much the company paid in taxes from 2006-2010 and the amount Hendricks paid from 2008-2010. ABC supplied information for prior years.

Above is from:  Beloit billionaire pays zero in 2010 state income tax bill

Top economies move toward crackdown on corporate tax dodging - Yahoo Finance

 

PARIS (AP) -- Dozens of world economies are close to adopting sweeping changes to international tax rules that could end tax-dodging by powerful multinationals — practices believed to deprive governments of up to $240 billion every year.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released Monday a plan that, among other things, aims to end tax shelters and require companies to pay taxes in the countries where they earn profits.

Aid groups say it isn't tough enough and won't start fast enough. And business groups fear the rules won't be applied the same everywhere and will unfairly punish some companies.

But everyone agrees it's an ambitious plan. The OECD says its proposal represents "the most fundamental changes to international tax rules in almost a century."

Sixty-two governments, companies and non-governmental groups were involved in negotiating it. Finance ministers from the 20 leading world economies will discuss the plan in Peru on Thursday, and their leaders are expected to finalize it at a G-20 summit next month in Turkey.

Google, Facebook, Starbucks and Amazon are among many companies criticized for shifting profits to low-tax jurisdictions.

Tackling corporate tax-dodging is especially important for developing countries that rely heavily on tax income to reduce poverty and build infrastructure. But it's also important for stagnant economies in Europe and elsewhere that are struggling to tax major global companies that make their money online.

Questions remain about how countries would put the measures in place — and crucially, how they'd be enforced.

Oxfam said in a statement Monday that corporations played too big a role in the negotiations. As a result, Oxfam said, the plan doesn't do enough to ensure that multinationals pay tax where they do business, and allows some practices to continue through 2021.

The International Chamber of Commerce warned of "significant challenges ahead to ensure rules are implemented in a coherent and coordinated fashion."

While the U.S. and other governments may not adopt all the OECD measures, global accounting firm KPMG urged corporations to take heed of Monday's announcement.

The plan should be "a call to action for many multinationals to focus on new transparency and reporting obligations that likely will become law in a number of countries," said Manal Corwin, a former U.S. Treasury official overseeing this issue for KPMG's international tax team.

Top economies move toward crackdown on corporate tax dodging - Yahoo Finance

Voodoo Never Dies - The New York Times Opinion Piece on Tax Cuts

Paul Krugman

So Donald Trump has unveiled his tax plan. It would, it turns out, lavish huge cuts on the wealthy while blowing up the deficit.

This is in contrast to Jeb Bush’s plan, which would lavish huge cuts on the wealthy while blowing up the deficit, and Marco Rubio’s plan, which would lavish huge cuts on the wealthy while blowing up the deficit.

For what it’s worth, it looks as if Trump’s plan would make an even bigger hole in the budget than Jeb’s. Jeb justifies his plan by claiming that it would double America’s rate of growth; The Donald, ahem, trumps this by claiming that he would triple the rate of growth. But really, why sweat the details? It’s all voodoo. The interesting question is why every Republican candidate feels compelled to go down this path.

 

You might think that there was a defensible economic case for the obsession with cutting taxes on the rich. That is, you might think that if you’d spent the past 20 years in a cave (or a conservative think tank). Otherwise, you’d be aware that tax-cut enthusiasts have a remarkable track record: They’ve been wrong about everything, year after year.

Every weekday, get thought-provoking commentary from Op-Ed columnists, The Times editorial board and contributing writers from around the world.

Some readers may remember the forecasts of economic doom back in 1993, when Bill Clinton raised the top tax rate. What happened instead was a sustained boom, surpassing the Reagan years by every measure.

Undaunted, the same people predicted great things as a result of George W. Bush’s tax cuts. What happened instead was a sluggish recovery followed by a catastrophic economic crash.

Most recently, the usual suspects once again predicted doom in 2013, when taxes on the 1 percent rose sharply due to the expiration of some of the Bush tax cuts and new taxes that help pay for health reform. What happened instead was job growth at rates not seen since the 1990s.

Then there’s the recent state-level evidence. Kansas slashed taxes, in what its right-wing governor described as a “real live experiment” in economic policy; the state’s growth has lagged ever since. California moved in the opposite direction, raising taxes; it has recently led the nation in job growth.

True, you can find self-proclaimed economic experts claiming to find overall evidence that low tax rates spur economic growth, but such experts invariably turn out to be on the payroll of right-wing pressure groups (and have an interesting habit of getting their numbers wrong). Independent studies of the correlation between tax rates and economic growth, for example by the Congressional Research Service, consistently find no relationship at all. There is no serious economic case for the tax-cut obsession.

Still, tax cuts are politically popular, right? Actually, no, at least when it comes to tax cuts for the wealthy. According to Gallup, only 13 percent of Americans believe that upper-income individuals pay too much in taxes, while 61 percent believe that they pay too little. Even among self-identified Republicans, those who say that the rich should pay more outnumber those who say they should pay less by two to one.

 

So every Republican who would be president is committed to a policy that is both demonstrably bad economics and deeply unpopular. What’s going on?

Voodoo Never Dies - The New York Times

2015 Tax Assessments for Boone County Townships Now Available

The 2015 assessments are available in this week’s Boone County Journal or BCJ’s website at:  http://www.boonecountyjournal.com/news/2015/Boone-County-News-10-02-15.pdf#page=1Our Quadrennial Tax Assessment

 

 DEADLINE FOR APPEAL is November 2, 2015.

This is the Quadrennial Assessment and will be the only review of all property for four years.  Very important to appeal this assessment if your assessment is out of line.

 

 

 

News and Investigations Mike Madigan's Folly? Don't Be So Sure

 

Illinois’ controversial "millionaires’ tax," one of Democratic House Speaker Michael J. Madigan’s top revenue-generating ideas and legislative causes, is alive and kicking even as it stirs continuing resistance from opposing lawmakers, Gov. Bruce Rauner and business interests, a BGA Rescuing Illinois report finds.

In an attempt to blunt Gov. Rauner’s budget ax, Madigan is pushing for Illinois to join a growing list of other states that have recently sanctioned variations of the "millionaires’ tax." Basically, Madigan’s plan calls for charging a 3 percent surcharge on annual income over $1 million.

California, New Jersey, Oregon, Hawaii, Maryland, Vermont and New York have each created income tax brackets that compel the wealthy to pay a greater percentage of their riches to the state.

In 2014, Illinois had an estimated 265,000 millionaires, reports Phoenix Global Wealth Monitor, a market research firm. If Illinois passes the millionaires’ tax it could mean up to at least $1 billion annually in added revenue, according to Madigan’s estimate.

Gov. Rauner, who made millions as a private equity investor before being elected, has shot down the idea of generating more revenue by raising taxes and spoke out against the Madigan tax while campaigning for governor in 2014. Instead, Rauner’s 2016 Illinois budget philosophy centers on reducing costs by pulling back on state services while also trimming the overall size of the government.

Illinois is in the clutches of a mammoth budget crisis with an estimated $6 billion deficit and over $110 billion in unfunded pension liabilities.

"The governor has said that he feels that he can eliminate the deficits just by cutting state services. I disagree," said Madigan, (D-Chicago), during a press conference after the governor’s annual budget address in February.

TAX HISTORY

Last year, Madigan proposed—but failed to gain support — for the same millionaires’ tax.

Yet there appears to be populist support for Madigan’s plan.

While voters in November sent fiscally conservative Republican Rauner to the governor’s office with about 51 percent of the vote, even more — roughly 63 percent — said they like the idea of taxing the rich when asked about that possibility in a statewide advisory referendum.

Moreover, an estimated 75 percent of 1,000 registered voters statewide said they’d back a 3 percent millionaires’ tax, according to a recent poll conducted by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University.

Now, Madigan has resurrected his pet proposal, which also comes after the state’s income tax rate in January dropped to 3.75 percent, following a temporary increase to 5 percent in 2011.

Some Republicans contend Madigan is posturing and isn’t serious about pursuing the tax this session. But Steve Brown, Madigan’s spokesman, said passing the millionaires’ tax is a top priority this legislative session, which ends in late May. However, the Democratic House Speaker does not have a set timetable, he added.

"We’re letting the result of the [advisory] referendum sink in. People are a little shell shocked about the budget," said Brown.

Madigan has introduced the tax as a House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment. Such resolutions require adoption by both the Senate and the House, at which point it's then put on the ballot for voters to accept or reject in a binding resolution that allows the tax rate change under the state constitution. House rules also require such resolutions be approved by 71 votes, a threshold that will likely require "aye" votes from several Republicans.
Madigan has acknowledged the challenge of gaining support in the House, despite presiding over a Democratic super-majority and having what appears to be adequate support for the measure in the Senate, where Democrats also have a majority.

"The answer . . . lies among Republicans from central and southern Illinois who represent areas that would profit greatly from the imposition of the surcharge," Madigan said at the recent press conference.

 

Rep. Jack Franks
(D-Marengo)

Rep. Jack Franks, (D-Marengo), who’s among those denying Madigan support needed to pass the measure with Democrats alone, said that time was ultimately on Madigan’s side.

"There’s no rush," said Franks, who contends the proposed tax is "bad public policy" that will chase wealthy people from Illinois and hurt its economy.

Brown wouldn’t say if any House Republicans were on board with the proposal yet, but suggested they should fall in line with "the vote of their constituents."

"It was never intended to be an all Democratic proposal to begin with," he added.

OTHER STATES TAX BIG INCOMES

Reviled by fiscal conservatives who contend a millionaire’s tax will damage corporate job-generation and incite the rich to flee for low-tax states, the measure has nonetheless proven to be a way to raise revenue in a handful of states, the BGA Rescuing Illinois examination found.

Some examples:

• California: Golden State millionaires pay an income tax rate of 13.3 percent. California has a progressive tax scale with nine brackets. The very lowest rate for those earning up to $7,749 is 1.0 percent while the second-highest tax rate (beneath millionaires bracket) is 12.3 percent.
• Oregon: When faced with massive budget cuts, voters in Oregon, which does not have a state sales tax, approved a temporary 11 percent tax rate on incomes above $250,000. That rate ended in 2011, but Oregon still taxes incomes above $125,000 at a rate of 9.9 percent. Those beneath $125,000 pay at a 9.0 percent rate.
• New Jersey: Anyone making over $500,000 a year has paid a nine percent income tax since 2004. In 2009, the state also imposed a temporary one-year tax on top of that, boosting the top tax rate to 10.75 percent on incomes above $1 million. New Jersey also uses a sliding scale of six brackets for taxing at various income levels.

A 2011 study co-authored by two sociologists from Stanford and Princeton University, published in the National Tax Journal, found a small and statistically insignificant number of millionaires left New Jersey after taxes on the rich increased.

"I’m sure we lose a few here and there and some may have left because of taxes," said Jon Whiten, deputy director for the New Jersey Policy Perspective, a nonpartisan research group. "But even if wealthy individuals are leaving, the state . . . continues to generate new ones. So it really hasn’t affected the state."

In Maryland, state political leaders allowed a temporary 6.25 percent tax rate on millionaires to expire in 2011 after a drop in the number of millionaires filing state tax returns. Maryland still taxes those making more than $250,000 at a rate of 5.75 percent compared to the 4.75 percent rate charged to those making less.

Any decision to leave a state involves more than just taxes, even when it comes to millionaires, says Jason S. Seligman, an economist and tax expert with the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at the Ohio State University.

Urban centers with the cultural and economic appeal of Chicago, which Seligman referred to as "a rare and precious city", tend to hold on to the well-heeled, even if they resent paying more.

"I am not being smug or smarmy. The question is begged: where would they go?" said Seligman when asked about the potential of a millionaires’ tax in Illinois. "They would have to look for states under 6.75 percent and they would pay big costs moving there."

WHAT IF TAX PASSES?

Madigan says revenue raised by the tax would go toward funding K-12 education, boosting by $550 the state’s per-pupil allocation — currently pegged at $5,782 under Rauner’s budget proposal. Money would be distributed directly to local school districts beginning in January 2017.

No sooner had Madigan announced a renewed push for this tax, a powerful coalition of union leaders and schools advocates announced their support.

Robin Steans, Executive Director of Advance Illinois

"Money alone will not improve education or close achievement gaps, however, money matters," Steans said."This proposal is an important first step toward restoring the millions that have been cut from K-12 education in recent years," said Robin Steans, executive director of Advance Illinois, a business-backed education reform group, who said the measure is "not a complete solution" but amounts to progress toward solving "education funding concerns."

POLITICAL OPPOSITION

Critics argue that the imposition of a millionaires’ tax could lead to a drop in overall revenue because the wealthy will take their money to lower-tax states such as Florida, Indiana or Texas.

The Illinois Policy Institute (IPI), a Chicago-based nonprofit research group that advocates for free market-based legislation, castigates the tax as an unwanted drag on the state economy, especially small business owners, who tend to create entry-level and local community-based jobs.

"A millionaire’s tax won't solve Illinois' budget problems and neither will any other tax hike proposals. Illinois has record revenues, and yet lawmakers cannot balance the budget. Why is that? Spending is out of control and much-needed reforms are long overdue," said Kristina Rasmussen, executive vice president of IPI.

"Many of the so-called 'millionaires' who would pay higher taxes actually are small business owners who are creating jobs in Illinois – jobs this state desperately needs," she added.

Some Republicans doubt Madigan is serious about pursuing the tax plan. Instead, they speculate he may have proposed the tax with an eye toward using it as a bargaining chip when budget negotiations with Rauner heat up later this session.

A spokesman for Rauner did not respond to requests for comment.

Jim Durkin
Republican House Minority Leader

Jim Durkin, Republican House Minority Leader, blasted the Speaker’s proposal.

In a statement, Durkin, (R- Western Springs), suggested it would "drive high wage earners out of the state" and have "an adverse impact upon small business owners."

"When we have high unemployment, billions of dollars in unpaid bills, and unbalanced budgets, is this the way to put Illinois back on track?" Durkin asked.

Brian Slodysko is a BGA freelance contributor. BGA policy analyst/researcher Alex Gilewicz and Robert Reed, director of programming, contributed to this article.

Michael Madigan image courtesy of Chicago Sun-Times.
Robin Steans image courtesy of Advance Illinois website.

News and Investigations Mike Madigan's Folly? Don't Be So Sure

IL Governor Rauner Gets $750,000 Tax Break, Proposes Slashing Services to Middle Class and Poor | Robert Creamer

 

Illinois' new GOP Governor, Bruce Rauner, will personally receive a $750,000 per year tax cut as a result of his decision not to continue the state's temporary 1.25% income tax surcharge that expired last year.

His taxes were cut by an amount equal to the annual income of 14 families of four making the median income. And remember that after adjusting for inflation, that median income number has not materially increased in about 35 years, since virtually all of the income growth resulting from the massive increase in worker productivity over that period has been siphoned off by speculators like Rauner.

Rauner, who made $61 million in 2013 - or $29,000 per hour - is one of a small group of multi-millionaire speculators who would directly benefit enormously from lower state tax rates. Among them is his friend Ken Griffin, reputedly the wealthiest man in Illinois, who contributed $2.5 million to Rauner's campaign for Governor - and has also pitched in $10 million to a $20 million campaign war chest that Rauner plans to use to run opponents to members of the Legislature that oppose his policies.

Griffin and his soon-to-be former wife, Anne Dias Griffin, are involved in a high profile multi-million dollar divorce battle. He and Dias are fighting over the control of tens of millions of dollars.

One filing by Dias, quoted by CNBC, gives you a flavor:

Dias said she and their children have come to "enjoy a lifestyle reserved only for the very wealthy," including houses in Chicago, Aspen, Hawaii, Miami Beach and New York. They also have "unrestricted access" to two private jets "to travel to the aforementioned homes" as well as other destinations.
She said the family has a "large group of staff members assisting the family, including extensive household, security and family office employees," and their own company that employs staffers, called "Griffin Family Services."

Dias is asking a million dollars a month -- $12 million a year -- in child support. That's right, $12 million per year in child support - you can't make this stuff up.

Just by way of comparison, remember that a highway worker for the state of Illinois who makes an average income of $49,000 a year laying hot asphalt and filling pot holes, would take about 244 years to make $12 million. But Griffin's pal, Rauner, says he wants to cut the pay for such workers - claiming they make too much and should be paid something closer to the $39,000 a year he says they make in surrounding states.

None of this seems to bother Rauner one bit, since at the same time he and his friends get that big tax cut, Rauner's new state budget promises draconian cuts in services that benefit the middle class and the poor.

Rauner proposed six billion dollars in cuts for state spending on universities, health care, local governments and pensions for state employees.

Here are some high points:

• Limiting eligibility for Department of Aging Community Care Programs.
• Cutting health care benefits for homecare workers.
• Slashing funding for the Department of Children and Family Services.
• Eliminating all Department of Children and Family services for youths 18-21.
• Cutting adult dental and podiatry services as well as kidney transplants for undocumented children.
• Eliminating exemptions for drugs for severe mental illness from a state 4-prescription limit.
• Reducing payments to facilities for children on ventilators, supportive living facilities and children with severe mental illness.
• Cutting Medicaid spending by1.5 billion - including735 million in cuts to hospitals serving Medicaid patients.
• Eliminating assistance to families with Hemophilia.
• Freezing intakes on childcare for children over 6.
• Increasing childcare copays for working parents.
• $27.5 million in reductions to community substance abuse programs.
• $82 million reduction to community mental health programs.

Eliminating State funding for specific organizations providing: - Services for people with disabilities - Services to children with autism - Services to homeless young people - Services to run away teenagers - Immigrant integration services - Advanced placement classes - After school programs - Agricultural education - Arts and foreign language programs - Parent mentoring - Safe Schools initiatives

• Cuts to breast and cervical cancer programs.
• And a 31.5% cut to higher education.

His plan would also move state employees - most of whom make middle class salaries or less - into pension plans with lower benefits.

Rauner claims that his proposal is a "turnaround budget." "Like a family, we must come together to address the reality we face. Families know that every member can't get everything they want," he said. Unless, of course, you are Bruce Rauner or one of his mega-wealthy friends.

Seems that the state can't afford more childcare for working parents, but it can afford huge tax cuts for the very rich. After all, Ken Griffin needs to make that million dollar a month "child care" payment.

The fact is, of course, that Illinois - like most other states - are not in the midst of dramatic declines in economic performance that would require this kind of "belt tightening." In fact, Illinois, like most of America, is wealthier today per person, than at any other time in its history.

The problem is that the wealthy have rigged the economic rules of the game to allow people like Bruce Rauner and the millionaires who got him elected to siphon off most of the wealth for themselves and leave middle income incomes flat.

One of those rigged rules is found in the Illinois State Constitution. It would make sense to get much of the money needed to finance public services from those who have benefited most from the state's economy - rather than those whose incomes have been flat. You'd do that with higher income tax rates on millionaires and billionaires than the one charged for ordinary working people.

But when the state constitution was rewritten in the 1970's, the wealthy organized to insert a provision preventing State Government from having progressive income tax rates. They wanted to keep their own share of taxes low, and to shrink state revenue in general by requiring that if tax rates go up for them, they have to go up for ordinary people as well.

That problem needs to be fixed with a Constitutional amendment that allows a progressive income tax - which of course Rauner adamantly opposes. But in the meantime it would still be possible to raise desperately-needed revenue in ways that mainly target the wealthy taxpayers by providing substantial personal exemptions in any new tax aimed at replacing the state's temporary income tax surcharge that expired last year.

Rauner, of course, opposes any new state taxes and if you want to know why, just ask the mega-wealthy donors who financed his $63.9 million campaign to occupy the Governor's mansion.

Through his new state budget, Rauner intends to continue his life's work excavating the pockets of the poor and middle class in order to benefit himself and his wealthy associates. That's why Rauner serves as the personal embodiment - the poster boy -- for Wall Street's War on the Middle Class.

Bruce Rauner may think that he is auditioning for a spot on the 2016 GOP ticket or a cabinet post in a Bush, Walker or Christie administration.

In fact he could easily become the national symbol of the trickle down economic theory that has failed to produce benefits for everyday Americans and is at the core of the economic philosophy of every one of the 2016 Republican Presidential aspirants and their billionaire backers.

Robert Creamer is a long-time political organizer and strategist, and author of the book: Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win, available on Amazon.com. He is a partner in Democracy Partners and a Senior Strategist for Americans United for Change. Follow him on Twitter @rbcreamer.

Above is from:  IL Governor Rauner Gets $750,000 Tax Break, Proposes Slashing Services to Middle Class and Poor | Robert Creamer

U.S. Senate's Hatch sees support for tax reform -

 

Though there are disagreements on the details, there is bipartisan support for tax reform in Congress," said Orrin Hatch, Republican chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, at a conference for tax lawyers, analysts and economists.

"Members of both parties have expressed their support for a tax overhaul. And, I believe there is real momentum to get something done on tax reform this year, if we remain committed. And, believe me, I’m committed," he said.

Hatch took over leadership of the committee this month when Republicans gained control of the Senate. He has divided the panel into five working groups. He said he expects to get recommendations from the groups "later this spring."

The groups are looking at the individual income tax, business income tax, savings and investment, international tax and community development and infrastructure.

The U.S. tax code has not been overhauled thoroughly in 28 years. In that time it has become riddled with loopholes. As a result, tax avoidance is a growing problem.

The loopholes, together with deep tax cuts some years ago, means the government does not raise enough revenue to pay its bills.

At the same time, tax experts also generally agree that the system is so complex and often contradictory that compliance costs are excessive and economic productivity is harmed.

The main obstacle to fixing the code is that special interest groups immediately leap to the defense of their particular loopholes whenever lawmakers start talking reform.

Finding a way to overcome the gridlock that results is a task that has defied Congress and the White House since 1986.

Hatch has laid out basic principles for reform. At the conference, he said he has the impression that Democratic President Barack Obama might be willing to do a deal on business tax reform alone, setting aside individual income tax issues.

"We need to lower corporate tax rates and transition toward a territorial tax system," Hatch said. A territorial system is one that would exempt all or most of the foreign profits of U.S. corporations from the corporate income tax.

"The Senate Finance Committee is already fully engaged in a very real tax reform effort ... My goal is to introduce such a bill and mark it up in the committee later this year," he said.

U.S. Senate's Hatch sees support for tax reform - Yahoo News

Tax Justice Blog

 

January 7, 2015 11:24 AM
By Richard Phillips, Research Analyst at CTJ | Permalink |

The new budgetary mantra of the House GOP appears to be: if you can't make the math add up, change the rules of math.

On Tuesday the House did exactly that with its passage of a new rule requiring the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) to use "dynamic scoring" rather than static scores for official cost estimates on proposed tax changes. Dynamic scoring is a controversial method of assessing the effect of tax cuts. It allows lawmakers to claim that a tax reform proposal is revenue neutral, even if it would lose revenue under a conventional score.

Read more...

Tax Justice Blog

Scorekeeping change may help GOP pass tax reform - Yahoo News

 

The rules change promises to make it somewhat easier for Republicans to advance legislation such as an overhaul of the loophole-ridden tax code, since the positive economic effects of such legislation would generate greater tax revenue. That means lawmakers would have to come up with less in offsetting revenues to make up for bold cuts in income tax rates.

The House adopted the rule changes on a nearly party-line vote on Tuesday.

Republicans call it "macroeconomic scoring." The rule would direct congressional scorekeepers to incorporate the macroeconomic effects of major legislation into their official cost estimates.

Democrats say the shift to dynamic scorekeeping will drive up the deficit.

"The bottom line is that this is a way to try to fast-track tax cuts for millionaires and make it look like there are not large costs," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Budget Committee.

The rules change comes as Republicans appear likely to replace Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Elmendorf, a Democratic appointee, whose term expired last week. Democrats fear that a new GOP appointee to run the agency would be more likely to take liberties with the new scorekeeping mandate to help drive the GOP agenda. There are several competing models for evaluating the economic effects of legislation and estimates can vary widely….

The new scoring approach would only be required for major legislation in which the budgetary effects of legislation — meaning an increase or decrease in revenue, spending or deficits — are at least 0.25 percent of the size of the economy. Had the rule been in effect last year, the threshold would have been $43 billion.  ….

Read more by clicking on the following:   Scorekeeping change may help GOP pass tax reform - Yahoo News

 

Also see this piece on Scoring in Canada’s Parliament :  http://boonecountywatchdog.blogspot.com/2015/01/who-right-on-dynamic-scoring-ask-canada.html

Walgreen becomes government whipping boy

By Jeff Macke

 

Using the threat of an unlimited Treasury investigation, the President and Senator Dick Durbin stopped Walgreen (WAG) from moving to Switzerland. The wreckage of some $10 billion in lost stock value for mostly Main Street investors was left as a grim reminder not to cross the government by, in this case, following the letter of our own stupid laws.

Read the following for full details:  http://finance.yahoo.com/news/walgreens-becomes-government-whipping-boy-121835957.html

Proposed tax credit changes could propel projects in downtown Rockford - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

 

Developers apply for state or federal tax credits, which are dollar-for-dollar reductions in the amount of income taxes owed. Developers can use them to offset their own income, or sell them at a discount to investors.

Here’s an example of how River Edge credits work now and how projects could be affected by the proposed changes.

Gorman & Co., a Wisconsin developer, wants to do an estimated $50 million rehabilitation of the Amerock/Ziock building downtown. The 25 percent River Edge tax credit would provide Gorman with $12.5 million in tax credits to use or sell to an investor to help finance the project. Gorman also is eligible for a 20 percent federal historic tax credit, worth $10 million.

Click on the following for more details:   Proposed tax credit changes could propel projects in downtown Rockford - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

These businesses want the largest declines in property assessments in Winnebago and Boone counties - Blogs - Rockford Register Star

 

Boone County
1. Northwest Bank of Rockford wants to lower the value of 65 lots in Deer Hills subdivision in Belvidere from $3.3 million to $520,000.
2. Inland American/Belvidere Atlas LLC, which was set up by the massive Inland American real estate investment trust, wants to lower its Americold Logistics warehouse at 6765 Imron Drive, Belvidere, from $10.4 million to $8.6 million.
3. The Green Giant Co. wants its General Mills plant's value decreased from $5.3 million to $3.7 million.
This is a major issue for everyone in the Rock River Valley. The way the tax system is set up if these large property owners are granted these decreases it will RAISE the taxes on the surrounding property owners.
Taxing bodies set their levies — or how much money they want from property owners. The assessment creates the pie. When one property owner lowers his portion of the pie through a property assessment appeal the portion of the pie increases for the other property owners who pay to those taxing bodies

Click on the following for more details:   These businesses want the largest declines in property assessments in Winnebago and Boone counties - Blogs - Rockford Register Star