"In Detroit, Romney says wife has 2 Cadillacs" by Matt Viser | Globe Staff, February 24, 2012
DETROIT - Mitt Romney set out yesterday to deliver a much-publicized speech thick with policy, one that would redirect the campaign conversation back to his experience in the economy, his prescriptions for reining in entitlement programs, and his ability to weave through tax policies involving terms such as “C Corporations’’ and “Sub S.’’
Instead, it was an SRX that tripped him up.
“I drive a Mustang and a Chevy pickup truck,’’ the self-proclaimed car guy said in an unscripted nod to the hallowed but hollowed-out Detroit auto industry. “Ann drives, a couple of Cadillacs, actually.’’
Romney, who usually doesn’t deviate from his script, has had a number of misstatements that magnified his wealth. During a December debate, he offered to make a $10,000 bet with Texas Governor Rick Perry.
Related: Don't Bet on Mitt Romney
Don't Bet Against Mitt Romney
Better off not betting.
Also see: Utah Abstention
Is the Zionist American media against Mitt?
After all, you can't buy him off and if he has a change of heart (not beyond the realm of possibility)....
When talking about the debate over releasing his tax returns, he dismissively referred to the speaking fees he earned mainly in 2010 as “not very much.’’ The $374,327 he made was about eight times the median income for Americans....
See: Mitt's Money Man
Romney finds himself in a tight contest in his native Michigan with Rick Santorum days before the Tuesday primary.
See: Romney Campaign Going to the Dogs
Some campaign watchers have blamed Romney’s struggles on his difficulty in connecting with average voters, and Santorum increasingly is trying to target his pitch to blue-collar workers by playing up his working-class roots.
See: Labor Can't Count on Santorum
Santorum, a former senator from Pennsylvania, is running a new ad that criticizes Romney for supporting the bailout of Wall Street in 2008 but not the one for auto industries.
“Who’s on the side of Michigan workers?’’ the narrator asks. “Not Romney.’’
Neither is Rick.
Romney’s attempts to focus on cars yesterday appeared to be an effort to lower the heat he has taken for his opposition to the auto bailout.
Several times he declared he was a “car guy,’’ even as he explained his reasons for objecting to the bailout.
The speech had been promoted by Romney advisers as a major address. It was even moved from a hotel to Ford Field, after the sponsor, Detroit Economic Club, received so much interest. That decision, too, backfired.
Better pull into the next garage.
The stage was positioned at the 30-yard-line, with about 1,200 seats on the field. But the stadium’s 65,000 unoccupied seats accentuated a sense of emptiness. Applause was swallowed by the domed building. Romney tried to make light of the scene.
That's how us voters feel about the campaign.
“I want to thank the folks at the Ford Field for making this space available for us. I guess we had a hard time finding a large enough place to meet - and this certainly is,’’ Romney said. “By the way, congratulations to the Lions on a great season.’’
Many details from Romney’s address had already been outlined earlier in the week, when he unveiled a tax policy that would reduce by one-fifth the overall rates that Americans face and eliminate the estate tax and the Alternative Minimum Tax.
“I’m offering more than just a change in policy,’’ Romney said. “I’m offering a dramatic and fundamental change in perspective and philosophy, for Washington and for the nation.’’
We hear that crap every four years.
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During the address, Romney also declared that he is the only GOP candidate who can beat President Obama.
“The only way to defeat him is to have someone who runs against him who is very different than he, who can present a clear contrast,’’ Romney said.
We have him already, and his name is Ron Paul.
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Time to stop for the night and get a room:
"Marriott used tax shelter while Romney was on board" by Jesse Drucker | Bloomberg News, February 25, 2012
NEW YORK - During Mitt Romney’s tenure as a director for hotel operator Marriott International Inc., the company repeatedly used complex tax-avoidance maneuvers, prompting at least two tangles with the Internal Revenue Service, records show.
Related: Marriott Copley Violates Massachusetts Prevailing Wage Law
And didn't Mitt use illegals at his home here in Massachusetts?
Related:
"illegal immigrants, who mow the lawns, trim the hedges, clean the swimming pools, park the cars, serve the hors d'oeuvres, tidy up the mansions, and do many of the other things that make life so enjoyable for the rich"
Yeah, Mitt will solve immigration, yup.
In 1994, while he headed its audit committee, Marriott used a tax shelter known to attorneys by its nickname: “Son of Boss.’’ A federal appeals court invalidated the maneuver in a 2009 ruling, siding with the Department of Justice, which called Marriott’s transaction and attempted tax benefits “fictitious,’’ an “illusion,’’ and a “scheme.’’
Marriott had asserted that the plan predated government efforts to close such shelters.
During Romney’s years on the board, Marriott’s effective tax rate fell as low as 6.8 percent, compared with the federal corporate statutory rate of 35 percent.
Romney’s business experience is the cornerstone of his presidential campaign. Opponents have focused on his leadership of the investment company Bain Capital and his personal income tax rate of 13.9 percent.
As a Marriott director, his responsibilities included oversight over the tax planning conducted by management, according to Marriott.
Romney has long had close ties to the hotel chain. The candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, whose full name is Willard Mitt Romney, was named after the chain’s founder, J. Willard Marriott, a friend of his father. He joined the company’s board in 1993 and has served on it for 11 of the past 19 years, including six as chairman of the audit committee.
That position gave him and the other members responsibility to review financial reporting, according to Marriott’s annual proxy filings....
In 2004, Marriott’s tax planning drew the ire of Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona. Marriott received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal tax credits meant to promote so-called synthetic fuel through a business purchased by Marriott in 2001 while Romney sat on the audit committee.
That's where your green tech is going.
“One of the greatest beneficiaries of this tax shelter - and that is all that it is, a tax shelter - is a very profitable hotel chain: Marriott,’’ McCain said at the time. He called the program a “scam.’’ Congress let the subsidy expire in 2007.
McCain endorsed Romney in January.
Pfft!
During his campaign for the Republican nomination, Romney has called for lower taxes almost across the board. He wants to cut the corporate rate to 25 percent; end the estate tax; end taxes on corporate profits reported offshore; cut the top personal income tax rate to 28 percent; and eliminate taxes on investment income for people with adjusted gross income below $200,000.
In its “Believe in America’’ jobs plan released last year, the Romney campaign criticized federal policy for fostering corporate tax avoidance.
Oh, he is a real piece of work.
Marriott clashed with the IRS on another issue. In 2000, 2001, and 2002, the company took $1 billion of deductions related to an employee stock ownership program from the forgiveness of principal and interest on a loan, Marriott securities filings show. The IRS challenged the deductions and, in 2007, Marriott agreed to pay about $220 million in taxes and interest to the Treasury and various states.
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Will be up and at 'em early in the Morming:
Romney’s early push paying off in Arizona
