Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Political News
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More on Mitt Romney’s Tax Returns
Linda Beale (Wayne State), What's Romney Got to Hide? (Part I) Linda Beale (Wayne State), What's Romney Got to Hide? (Part II) Linda Beale (Wayne State), What's Romney Got to Hide? (Part III) Len Burman (Syracuse), Gov. Romney: Just Release the Tax Returns Dan Shaviro (NYU), 2010 Romney Tax Return Story Bloomberg, Romney Should Release…
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Kleinbard & Canellos: Why Won’t Romney Release More Tax Returns?
CNN op-ed: Why Won't Romney Release More Tax Returns?, by Edward D. Kleinbard & Peter C. Canellos (Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, New York): Romney's 2010 tax return, when combined with his FEC disclosure, reveals red flags that raise serious tax compliance questions with respect to his possible tax minimization strategies in earlier years. The…
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Shaviro: Why Won’t Romney Release His 2009 Tax Return?
Dan Shaviro (NYU), Why Won't Romney Release His 2009 Tax Return?: Increasingly, everyone (including Republicans such as George Will, Matthew Dowd, and William Kristol) agrees that the reason for Romney's reluctance to release any pre-2010 tax return might be that what it would show is worse than all the heat he is taking for non-disclosure.…
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FactCheck.org: Is ObamaCare the Biggest Tax Increase in American History?
FactCheck.org: Biggest Tax Increase in History?: Will “Obamacare” be the largest tax hike in US history? Several readers have asked us about this since Rush Limbaugh made a hugely exaggerated claim that the new health care law is “the biggest tax increase in the history of the world.” … is this increase the largest in…
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Lindgren: Over 30% of President Obama’s 2009-11 Income Came From Foreign Sources
The Volokh Conspiracy: Over 30% of President Obama’s 2009-2011 Gross Income Came From Foreign Sources, by James Lindgren (Northwestern): I find it strange that the Obama campaign would be making so much of Romney’s income from foreign sources when Obama’s foreign source income appears to be a much bigger percentage of his income over the…
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NY Times: Mr. Romney’s Financial Black Hole
New York Times editorial: Mr. Romney’s Financial Black Hole: Paying taxes forthrightly has long been a matter of civic pride for most American politicians, a demonstration of honesty and of a willingness to share in society’s burdens. Since the Watergate era, presidential candidates have released several years of tax returns, allowing voters to peer at…
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Bartlett: Obama’s Health Care Win Could Lose Him the Election
The Fiscal Times: Obama’s Health Care Win Could Lose Him the Election, by Bruce Bartlett: Now that a divided Supreme Court has ruled that the Affordable Care Act is constitutional, it appears that it will be implemented on schedule. The cost, however, has been considerable—politically, constitutionally, and economically. … We now know two things about…
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Vanity Fair: Where Mitt’s Money Lives
Vanity Fair (Aug. 2012): Where the Money Lives, by Nicholas Shaxson: For all Mitt Romney’s touting of his business record, when it comes to his own money the Republican nominee is remarkably shy about disclosing numbers and investments. Nicholas Shaxson delves into the murky world of offshore finance, revealing loopholes that allow the very wealthy…
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David Cay Johnston: Five Tax Questions for Mitt Romney
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Tobin: The Tax Treatment of Ann Romney’s Dressage Horse Activity
Donald Tobin (Ohio State), Ann Romney’s Tax Deductible Horse Activity — The Tax Code Got This Right!: Ann Romney’s love of horses and Steven Colbert’s infatuation with Rafalca, one of her dressage horses, have created a buzz about horses, money, and taxes. Romney owns a one-third interest in Rafalca, and Rafalca will be competing, with…
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Winners of ‘Dinner With Barack’ Will Face a $560 Tax Bill
William Jacobson (Cornell) blogs the tax consequences of the Obama campaign’s Dinner With Barack fundraising raffle. Three winners and their guests will receive: Roundtrip airfare (valued at $1,200) One night in a hotel ($200) Dinner with President Obama ($200) The rules state that “all federal, state and local taxes associated with the receipt or use…
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IRS Denies 501(c)(4) Status to Emerge America — Is Crossroads GPS Next?
Bloomberg, IRS Denial of Tax Exemption to U.S. Political Group Spurs Alarms: An IRS decision revoking the tax-exempt status of a small political nonprofit organization may foreshadow an investigation into groups such as Crossroads GPS and Priorities USA that spend millions on the 2012 U.S. presidential election. At risk would be the groups’ nonprofit status,…
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Sen. Hatch Demands Investigation of IRS’s Leak of Mitt Romney’s Contribution to Pro-Marriage Group
Following up on my prior post, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, has sent this letter to the IRS, demanding an investigation into whether the IRS leaked an official tax form listing a $10,000 contribution by Mitt Romney's PAC to the National Organization for Marriage during NOM's campaign to repeal…
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Is Mitt Romney’s Plan to Release Only Two Years of Tax Returns Consistent With John Kerry’s Approach?
New York Times, Was Romney Right About John Kerry?: George Romney released 12 years of income tax returns when he ran for president in 1968. George Romney’s son, Mitt, plans to release just two, so his campaign’s looking outside the family for precedent. Eric Fehrnstrom, a Romney spokesman, told The Huffington Post: “John Kerry released…
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Eric Zolt Launches Repledge to Divert Political Contributions to Charity
Washington Post, New Group Hopes to Divert Campaign Contributions to Charities: Eric M. Zolt [a tax professor at UCLA] has come up with a unique approach to getting money out of politics: Instead of contributing to their favorite candidates, donors would send their money to charities instead. Zolt is co-founder of a company called Repledge,…
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National Organization of Marriage Demands Investigation of IRS’s Leak of Mitt Romney’s Contribution
The National Organization of Marriage has sent this letter to the Treasury Inspector General of Tax Administration demanding an investigation of the IRS's leak of an official tax form listing a $10,000 contribution by Mitt Romney's PAC to NOM during NOM's campaign to repeal California's gay marriage law: Last week, NOM became aware that its…
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Mitt Romney’s New Tax Plan
Restore America’s Promise: More Jobs, Less Debt, Smaller Government: Mitt Romney’s Bold, Pro-Growth Tax Cut Proposal Reducing and stabilizing federal spending is essential, but breathing life into the present anemic recovery will also require fixing the nation’s tax code to focus on jobs and growth. To repair the nation’s tax code, marginal rates must be…
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More on Presidential Charity
Following up on yesterday's post, Which of the Presidential Candidates Is Most Charitable?: Len Burman (Syracuse), Stingy Rich People, Santorum-Gingrich Edition:
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WaPo: Which of the Presidential Candidates Is Most Charitable?
Washington Post, Romney and Obama Vie for Title of Most Charitable; Santorum Gave Least to Charity: President Obama and his wife, Michelle, despite having the second-lowest income of the four candidate/spouse combos, gave the highest percentage of their $1.8 million income to charity in 2010. … He and Michelle gave 14.2% of their AGI, while…
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Rick Santorum Releases Tax Returns
Rick Santorum yesterday released his 2007-2010 tax returns: 2010 Return 2009 Return 2008 Return 2007 Return Press and blogosphere coverage: Bloomberg CNN The Hill MSNBC New York Times Politico USA Today Wall Street Journal Washington Post
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More on the Tax Portions of President Obama’s 2013 Budget
Bloomberg, Geithner Says ‘Modest’ Tax Increases Better Than Deeper Cuts Bloomberg, Obama Aims $1.4 Trillion Tax Increase at Highest Earners Bloomberg, Obama's Budget Misses an Opportunity to Tackle Tax Reform Citizens for Tax Justice, President Obama’s 2013 Budget Plan Reduces Revenue by Trillions, Makes Permanent 79 Percent of Bush Tax Cuts Financial Times, Obama Targets…
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Side-by-Side Comparison of the Obama and Romney Tax Plans
Washington Post, Comparing Taxes Under Obama’s and Romney’s Budget: Anthony J. Nitti (WithumSmith & Brown, Aspen, CO), A Comprehensive Comparison of the Obama/Gingrich/Romney Tax Proposals): )Hat Tip: David Herzig.)
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Sullivan: Apple Paid a Lower Tax Rate in 2011 Than Mitt Romney
Martin A. Sullivan (Tax Analysts), Apple Reports High Rate but Saves Billions on Taxes, 134 Tax Notes 777 (Feb. 13, 2012): By taking advantage of lax U.S. transfer pricing rules, Apple Inc., the world’s most valuable company, cut its federal tax bill by billions of dollars in 2011. Moreover, by taking advantage of flexible accounting…
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Bartlett: Only Obama’s Re-election Can Prevent a Massive Tax Increase on Jan. 1, 2013
Fiscal Times, Election 2012: Obama Is Misplaying the Tax Card, by Bruce Bartlett: Barack Obama has a potentially strong hand on the tax issue, but is misplaying it. An enormous opportunity was missed when he ignored the issue of tax reform in his State of the Union address on Jan. 24. But it’s not too…