Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Political News
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NY Times: A Tax Tactic That’s Open to Question
New York Times: A Tax Tactic That’s Open to Question, by Floyd Norris: There is no evidence that Mr. Romney has violated the law. The principal means he used to pay low taxes on his hundreds of millions of dollars in income was the technique known as carried interest, which allows managers of private equity…
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Barone: Obama is the Odd Man Out on 1986-Style Tax Reform
Washington Examiner op-ed: Obama Could be the Odd Man Out on Tax Reform, by Michael Barone: One of the services of the Simpson-Bowles Commission was to set out a path for tax reform, with lower income tax rates and removal of many tax preferences or, to use the commission's term, tax expenditures. It's an approach…
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Bergin: Tax Policies of Romney, Obama Make Me ‘Sick to My Stomach’
Christopher E. Bergin (President, Tax Analysts), Where’s the Tax Plan, Man – Uh, Men?: In a taped interview, host [Meet the Press host] David Gregory repeatedly asked Romney for details of his tax plan. He ended up practically begging for just one detail – any morsel, please. He got zip, zilch, nothing. I don’t care that…
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Rosen: Growth, Distribution, Tax Reform, and the Romney Tax Plan
Harvey S. Rosen (Princeton University, Department of Economics), Growth, Distribution, and Tax Reform: Thoughts on the Romney Proposal: Governor Romney has proposed a personal income tax reform that would lower marginal tax rates and broaden the tax base. Critics of the proposal have argued that high-income taxpayers would receive a tax cut, and given that…
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Biden Mischaracterizes Clausing Study in Claim That Romney’s Territorial Tax Plan Would ‘Create 800,000 Jobs, All of Them Overseas’
Bloomberg, Reality Check: Biden Misleads on Impact of Romney’s Tax Plan: The Claim: Biden said in his prepared remarks that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney “has a new tax proposal — the territorial tax — that experts say will create 800,000 jobs, all of them overseas.” The Background: Romney has proposed changing the basic principles…
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Johnston: Romney, Ryan, and Tax-Free Living
Reuters: Romney & Ryan on Tax, by David Cay Johnston: Together Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have put human faces on how the super-rich game the tax system to pay less, pay later and sometimes not pay at all. Both want to expand tax favors for the already rich, like themselves. Their approach favors dynastic…
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Tax Foundation: Romney’s Tax Plan Is Far Closer to Simpson-Bowles Than Obama’s Tax Plan
Tax Foundation: Romney, Obama, & Simpson-Bowles: How Do the Tax Reform Plans Stack Up?: Among the tax reform plans of the major presidential candidates, Mitt Romney’s proposal to lower rates and eliminate credits and deductions comes far closer than that of President Obama to the widely-praised and bipartisan framework of the Simpson-Bowles tax reform commission.…
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Report: Hackers Stole Mitt Romney’s Tax Returns From PwC, Demand Ransom Payment
Bloomberg BuzzFeed CNet Going Concern Huffington Post NPR Politico U.S. News & World Report Wall Street Journal (Hat Tip: Bob Kamman.) Update #1: Glenn Reynolds (Tennessee): UPDATE: In the comments, a suggestion that this is just a cover story: “As many observers have noted, there’s little question the Obama campaign has Romney’s tax returns. That’s…
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Tax Planks in Democratic Party Platform
2012 Democratic National Platform: Moving America Forward: We are committed to defeating efforts that would return us to the failed economic policies of the past, in which tax relief for the wealthy explodes the deficit and asks the middle class to shoulder that burden. To help spur economic growth, President Obama and the Democratic Party…
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WaPo: Mitt Romney Exited Bain Capital With Rare Tax Benefits in Retirement
Washington Post, Mitt Romney Exited Bain Capital With Rare Tax Benefits in Retirement: Before Mitt Romney retired from Bain Capital, the enormously profitable investment firm he founded, he made sure to lock in his gains, both realized and expected, for years to come. He did so, in part, the way millions of other Americans do…
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Mitt Romney’s Tax Mysteries: A Reading Guide
Pro Publica: Mitt Romney’s Tax Mysteries: A Reading Guide: Last week, the website Gawker published more than 900 pages of documents from Bain Capital, the private equity firm Mitt Romney founded, and headed from 1984 until 1999. The document dump didn't reveal much about Romney's personal investments, but it added a bit more to the…
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Feldstein: Romney’s Tax Plan Can Raise Revenue
Wall Street Journal op-ed: Romney's Tax Plan Can Raise Revenue, by Martin Feldstein (Harvard University, Department of Economics): Mitt Romney's plan to cut taxes and offset the resulting revenue loss by limiting tax breaks has been attacked as "mathematically impossible." He would reduce all individual income-tax rates by 20%, eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax and…
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Tax Planks in 2012 Republican Platform
Tax Relief to Grow the Economy and Create Jobs Taxes, by their very nature, reduce a citizen’s freedom. Their proper role in a free society should be to fund services that are essential and authorized by the Constitution, such as national security, and the care of those who cannot care for themselves. We reject the…
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Romney Tax Returns Show Strategy for Moving Money to Kids
Bloomberg: Romney Tax Returns Show Strategy for Moving Money to Kids: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, have used sophisticated estate- planning techniques for more than a decade to minimize taxes and amass at least $100 million for their family outside of their estate. The couple created trusts as early as 1995,…
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Romney Reaped Huge Tax Benefits From ‘Active’ Role at Bain Capital
Huffington Post: Mitt Romney Reaped Huge Tax Benefits Based on 'Active' Role at Bain Capital: When tax experts charged that he benefited from legally dubious tax avoidance strategies employed by Bain, his campaign noted that the investments are kept in a blind trust completely out of his control. … But according to his 2010 tax…
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NY Times: Two-and-Twenty Tax Dodges
New York Times editorial: Two-and-Twenty Tax Dodges: Mr. Romney and his partners may have abused the tax system by paying far less in taxes than they should have. Back in 2007, The New York Times published an editorial that explained what was wrong with the tax treatment of Bain-like pay. It cited the work of…
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NY Times: Tax Credits Shed Light on Romney
New York Times: Tax Credits Shed Light on Romney, by James B. Stewart: The presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s refusal to disclose more than his most recent two years of tax returns has spawned wide-ranging and sometimes far-fetched speculation from water coolers to talk shows. But a few tax experts are zeroing in on an esoteric…
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WSJ: A Clue Emerges to Romney’s Gift-Tax Mystery
Wall Street Journal: A Clue Emerges to Romney’s Gift-Tax Mystery, by Mark Maremont: One of the mysteries surrounding Mitt Romney’s taxes is how the former private-equity executive managed to get $100 million into a family trust for his children without incurring federal gift taxes. A potential clue may be found in a previously unreported 2008…
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Confidential Bain Financial Documents Released on Romney Family Trust Investments
New York Times, Documents Show Details on Romney Family Trusts: Hundreds of pages of confidential internal documents from the private equity firm Bain Capital published online Thursday provided new details on investments held by the Romney family’s trusts, as well as aggressive strategies that Bain appears to have used to minimize its investors’ and partners’…
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Bartlett: Exploring Mitt Romney’s Taxes and Tax Plan
New York Times: Exploring Mitt Romney’s Taxes and Tax Plan, by Bruce Bartlett: An examination of the two years of tax returns that the Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has made public sheds light on some fundamental concepts of taxation that illuminate his proposed tax cut. These include the meaning of “taxes” and “income.” For…
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Kleinbard: Paul Ryan’s Tax Roadmap to Inequality
Edward D. Kleinbard (USC), Paul Ryan's Roadmap to Inequality: The purest articulation of Paul Ryan’s fiscal belief system is his 2010 Roadmap for America’s Future. The tax provisions of this extensive proposal would convert the current personal and corporate income taxes into two consumption taxes, and repeal the gift and estate tax. This report explains…
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NY Times: Paul Ryan and Tax Policy
New York Times op-ed: Paul Ryan and Tax Policy, by Ross Douthat: Scott Galupo, the former Capitol Hill staffer turned blogger for the American Conservative, responds to my last post on Paul Ryan’s policy record, mixing some praise for Ryan with the following critique: My problem with Ryan isn’t on the entitlement reform side; it’s…
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Fleischer: Romney’s Tax Claim Is Bulls***
Following up on Friday's post, Romney Says He Paid 13% in Taxes for the Last 10 Years: A Taxing Blog: Romney Paid 13% in 2009? I Call BS, by Victor Fleischer (Colorado): What’s interesting is that Romney’s claim could be literally true but misleading — which means that Romney is full of bullshit, but not…