Obama Kneecaps Gore For 08

And well deserved, at that. No matter how altrustic Gore's motive in lending his name to the UK's Generation Investment Management, with a wholly owned US subsidiary capable of taking investment dollars off shore to benefit from the UK's tax laws driven by the Kyoto Accord, as Chairman and Founding Partner, he'll also enjoy tax savings while collecting approximately $100,000 a year pension in tax payer dollars and an annuity for his wife. It's anticipated Gore will benefit to the tune of $6 Million dollars given average life expectancy.

And now comes this. It might be time to roll up that sophisticated Draft Gore site, as, even though legal, it's hard to imagine Obama not painting Gore as an old Washington hand who decided to cash in, betraying any sense of the public trust he once presumably held.

2/17/07--WASHINGTON – Today, citing $100 billion in revenue drained from the U.S. Treasury at the expense of honest, hardworking American families who pay their fair share, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., introduced comprehensive legislation [pdf] to stop offshore tax haven and tax shelter abuses.

We cannot tolerate tax cheats offloading their unpaid taxes onto the backs of honest taxpayers. Offshore tax havens have declared economic war on honest U.S. taxpayers by helping tax cheats hide income and assets that should be taxed in the same way as other Americans. This bill provides a powerful set of new tools to clamp down on offshore tax and tax shelter abuses.”

“It is simply unacceptable that some individuals are using offshore tax havens and secrecy jurisdictions to shelter trillions of dollars in assets from taxation,” said Coleman. “These tax schemes cause a massive revenue shortfall and, sadly, it is the honest American taxpayer who must bear a disproportionate burden of investing in areas like education and healthcare. We are introducing this bill to close these loopholes, shut down offshore tax schemes, and ensure that every American pays their fair share of taxes.”

“This is a basic issue of fairness and integrity,” said Obama. “We need to crack down on individuals and businesses that abuse our tax laws so that those who work hard and play by the rules aren’t disadvantaged.”

Comments

[Darth Malice]

Obama forces me to give respect...bravo.

[scarshapedstar]

I thought the party line was that any effort such as this is futile because the rich will always get around it, and we ought to just give up and go straight to a ~40% national sales tax.

[Darth Malice]

Scar,nailing Gore is always a good thing.

[Andrew]

This post is complete nonsense. The Gore pship is set up in the UK for UK citizens to take advantage of it. It is NOT a tax shelter for US citizens. What this legislation is directed at is to shut down abusive offshore tax shelters for US citizens. Think Channel Island/Cayman Island companies.

[Zifnab]

Man, check out Obama's scathing accusations at Gore. Why, Al Gore is mentioned exactly zero times in the entire article!

Of course, if Republicans had really been concerned about off-shore banking abuses, perhaps they should have dealt with it in the 6 years they had control of the Federal Government. Alas, its up to the Democrats to clean up the mess that Republicans have left behind.

[yyy]

Offshore tax havens are generally taken to be places like the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas, not England.

What a dope.

[seekeronos]

Nah, no 40% tax.

How about an AMT (Automatic Minimum Tax) of 70% for all income earners grossing over $2M per year, and scaling it back progressively to reduce a tax burden of 3% for earners making $50,000 p/a or less?

--OR--

No income federal income tax whatsoever, and go back to protectionist import tarriffs - high enough so as not to wreck trade, but sufficient enough to fund the government... with "Liberty Bonds" to sell as needed to raise additional income? It would also spur American manufacturing to produce for the domestic market as well.

The amount of tax and tarriff income generated would be enough to limit the size and deployability of the Army to within the USA only, and still be able to float a powerful blue-water navy and strategic missile defense.

[Zifnab]

Seeker, your first proposal is the tax set-up Reagen overturned after Carter.

Your second would fly in the face of about every Free Trade agreement we've made in the last twenty years and would send every single major corporation (that relies on outsourcing) into a furious lather.

[Dan Riehl]

Offshore tax havens are generally taken blah blah blah

Must you always be such an idiot. The tax breaks for carbon trading in the UK make them ideal. Try reading something besides web porn. Also read the bill. The Caymans and such are only one piece of the issue.

[seekeronos]

I never said I completely agreed with Free-Trade policies as they currently stand. I think it is part of the reason why most of manufacturing sector has been sent overseas, and why China owns nearly half the value of the US dollar in its hands.

Concerning income taxation of the extremely rich vs. "trickle down" economics, I'm hard pressed to say which is better at this point. There is still much money that comes to the government (and gold-digger types) when the ancient rich die, and estate taxes are collected... but that is a matter of out-waiting those pesky old codgers who have the world's best medical care at their disposal.

On the one hand, freeing up all that capital lead to better economic growth as companies and individuals were free to pursue wealth for its own sake, as well as drumming the word "malaise" into our collective conscience for most of 1979 and 1980; on the other, those policies have helped to thin out the middle class out (along with overextended consumer credit, lowered interest rates, and the general personal irresponsibility of the 1990's) much like we thinned the great roaming herds of 600 million head of bison that once thundered accross the Great Plains, casting dust up and flinging bovine sweat all around as a great cloud.

Concerning ___mild___ protectionism, I guess that in some ways, I am a just a paleo-con at heart.

However, I only tossed that out those suggestions as a mostly-facetious reply to Scar....'s suggestion of a blanket 40% VAT.

Both have about the same chances of being implemented, and I think "Slim" slipped through the cracks a number of years ago.

[Jeff]

Hmmm no John Kerry, no John Edwards, no Hillary Clinton... must just be a coincidence... I wonder if they'll even vote for it, it would cost each of them tons

George Soros gonna be mad!

I really support this bill whoe heartedly. Kudos to those three!

[Zifnab]

Nice try, Jeff. But Edwards isn't a sitting Senator. Might as well ask why Guiliani and Mitt aren't on it. Of course... McCain is conspiciously absent too. But I guess IOKIARDI.

[Jeff]

My bad. Honest mistake, you could say brain lapse. Thanks for pointing it out.

[Buzzy]

Actually Obama sighted this one in on Gore quite accurately while at the same time following the left's tax the rich to extinction mantra. Maybe Obama isn't a cookie cutter liberal and isn't afraid to gig his own kind when needed. Will he also denounce this carbon offset scam as a blatant ponzi scheme aimed more at money than environment? Well see.