Friday, February 16, 2007

Avoiding Taxes the Celebrity Way

Major Mike

I am shocked that Steve Duin of the Oregonian missed this gem..."Celebrity royalties flow into Dutch tax shelters". If you remember, Steve is all for higher taxes, and especially sticking it to Nike and other corporations.

He is interestingly silent when it comes to rockers like the Rolling Stones, and uber-celeb-de-cause Bono, denying their governments tax dollars by sheltering them in Holland. Remember, at about a 40% tax rate in Great Britian, the Rolling Stones have paid only about $7M in taxes over the last twenty years on generated incomes of over $450M...good for them, BUT these liberal do-gooders and neo-con bashers are at the same time denying their socialist style governments significant amounts of revenue...in other words...it OK for them to espouse the benefits of universal health care, massive social programs, and government welfare, and its OK for you to pay 40% of your income to support that; but they will deny the very systems they tout the actual monies it takes to finance their liberal agenda...they leave that to you and I.

And Steve Duin remains silent.

I am all for paying lower taxes, what I dislike intensly is liberal media's negative protrayals of companies that generate commerce for their States, and are viewed only as golden geese by MSM pratlers and neo-socialists...while liberal celebrities avoid the same scrutiny.

6 comments:

Shimmy said...

You're right. I never thought of it this way before. Hooray for our chains.

Boghie said...

What the Libs ain't quite figured out is that we Americans don't fight fair prices, fair fees, and even fair taxes...

When I was promoted (and, thus honored with many headaches) in 1994 I actually lost take home pay. I received a $500/month gross pay increase - but a $100/month net pay decrease. This was the result of Clinton's Tax the Rich. My promotion got me to the $45,000/year level - but, I can't remember dining with the Rolling Stones, Bono, or the Kerry's (I mean Kerry and Heinz).

Result, I learned some of the tax code. I ended up fighting for dimes and dollars on my 1040.

When I got married in October 2001 all was bliss till tax time... Then, my wife and I got whomped with a $4,000 tax bill because of the marriage penalty. I am probably still paying that thing off. And, the very next year Bush wiped out that lovely tax code injustice.

Guess what folks...

I actually pay more in taxes now than in the past because I make more (even in this Hooverville economy with Federal Deficits as far as the eye can see) and because the tax rates are fair (for the Feds). I no longer scrounge for all my deductions because the brackets are reasonable...

So, here it is Libs... If you want me to lay eggs for your silly programs don't squeeze me hard enough to use the 'Arianna Huffington Tax Avoidance Strategies'... She paid no Federal tax for 2002 and only $700 in State tax on income in excess of $4,000,000 that year. Lots of business expenses, eh...

Anonymous said...

you guys are so simplisitic as to be humorous. did it occur to you that duin writes about local issues and how much nike (or other companies) pays is a local issue. as to rockers and liberal, you need to read, "Perfectly Legal" by David cay johnston of the NY Times and get better informaed about how badly the middle c;ass gets screwed.

Major Mike said...

Anon...read the piece and the link to the original post. Duin's superficial approach to the Nike story doesn't pass journalistic muster. His biases shine through like a Portland sun break. The point is...he should be consistent and hammer on liberal rockers/celebs who espouse expensive socialistic style programs and governments, but refuse to contribute to their financing. Hypocisy must be a virtue to the left.MM

Purple Avenger said...

Screw up enough local issues and you got a national issue.

rich b said...

Liberals are do as we say, not as we do. They don't want to pay for the government programs, that we don't need, any more then conservatives do. But then liberals don't understand economics, and there is no free lunch.