Oh LOOK what a typist at the Los Angeles Times found out about the Romney’s multi-million dollar home in La Jolla (that’s pronounced La HOY-uh for you Midwesterners, and yes, this is the one with the $55,000 car elevator)! Turns out that the Romneys got a tax cut of about $109,000 by having their lobbyist/lawyer request that the county reassess the $12 million dollar home several times over the years. Of course, the Romneys used the money from this tax cut to trickle a bunch of good jobs with benefits and a living wage all over San Diego. KIDDING!
After paying cash for the Mediterranean-style house with 61 feet of beach frontage, they asked San Diego County for dramatic property tax relief.
Romney, the presumptive GOP nominee for president whose wealth is estimated at $250 million, has rejected calls from Democrats and Republicans to release his income tax returns prior to 2010. But San Diego County assessor records shed light on one sliver of the couple’s personal taxes during that time: a months-long effort to reduce their annual property tax bill. [...] As a result, the Romneys have saved about $109,000 in property taxes over four years. [...] The Romney campaign referred all questions about their La Jolla property taxes to Matthew A. Peterson, a lobbyist and attorney who helped the Romneys find the home. He has also guided them through the complex permit process for demolishing the home and rebuilding on the site.
Referring to their initial claim, Peterson said he did not know how the Romneys determined that their house value had fallen so dramatically, but he thought they may have been reacting to dismal news reports.
How dramatically did the Romneys’ beach house value fall? It fell by 45 percent just eight months after they bought it, according to the Romneys!
Therefore, ergo, and QED, Mitt Romney is a terrible businessman. Would you trust a man to be CEO of US America Inc. if he can’t even not pay 45 percent too much for his own beach house? It is just common sense.
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How much did the lawyer cost?
Mitt and his buddies trade tax lawyers like kids trade baseball cards.
If my mother hadn't thrown out all my baseball cards I'd be as rich as Mitt is.
I learned to my chagrin that unless they are all in perfect mint condition, and preferably still in the original wrappers, no you wouldn't be
Does slapped repeatedly against bicycle spokes qualify as mint condition?
The lawyer is "help" and a deductible expense. Not a problem.
I doubt if Romney hired the lawyer(s) himself. He has a personal lawyer who hires specialist and regionally specific lawyers, as needed. No snark, that is how the super wealthy operate, like corporations.
They outsource their lawyers.
For fuck's sake.
"It fell by 45 percent just eight months after they bought it, according to the Romneys!"
I'm surprised that Mitt didn't sell the house to himself at a loss and then take a tax write off.
No silly, he sold the house to his wife's dressage horse, THEN wrote them both off as a loss. Err, all 3, sorry.
according to harry reid that's exactly what he did!
Wait until he sells it … you'll be amazed at the millions of dollars in "capital improvements" Mitt had to make on his newly-built home.
That is some greedy shit, he would hire a lawyer to bargain for a better price on a whore. Just on Principle. ..
The only principal that Mittens believes in is that his principal should never be taxed.
Lawyer libel!
I don't think we are allowed to call Ann Romney a whore
Oh, so we can't call Ann Romney a whore? Just to clarify, the rules say that we must not call Ann Romney a whore? So none of posting on this site is allowed to write, Ann Romney is a whore.
WIN
Doesn't everyone have a lobbyist for their house?
No lobby, just a small entry.
When I'm feeling expansive I call it the "foyer". I used to call it the vestibule but that word always increases my tire pressure for some reason.
The value of the White House would decline at least 45 percent if the Romneys moved in.
The GOTeaPtards would be satisfied it is "white" again.
Looks like the Wasillabillies have one up on the snooty-not-so-smart Romneys, the Palin's simply didn't acknowledge property ownership – can't tax what you don't list.
http://www.adn.com/2010/02/04/1125241/palin-cabin…
OT but
FREE PUSSY RIOT!
My dad always told me that the two best things in life were free beer and strange pussy. I guess free pussy would be good too, but there really is no such thing.
But once it starts rioting, things can get hairy.
Hairy? Not so much, these days.
Well, maybe not in a Brazilian riot.
Yeah, we don't want some disgusting 70s jungles here.
One of the most awkward conversations I ever had with my mother began with her reciting the phrase, "You know, I hear girls today don't have pubic hair."
I guess the managers over at the lady factories just took out the standard bush option in the newer models.
I humbly offer to mormon marry them all so they can get asylum/citizenship/soshulizm benefits here.
The value of the home went down because the value of the neighborhood went down when the Mitwit and clan moved in. You know what they say, "There goes the neighborhood."
I'da been lookin' to move if those wackos had moved into my neighborhood.
Between all those sons & their families clogging up the neighborhood with their limos (or whatever they arrive in for family events) and Rafalca shitting in the back yard, I'd move too.
… the Romneys got a tax cut of about $109,000
This must be quite thought-provoking for all those people who live in a home not even worth the value of that tax cut.
What's a "thought" and why would I want to provoke it?
-Romney supporters
That would include me, but it's paid for and taxes are <$600/yr.
Poor Mitt and Annie! Caught in the sub-prime housing collapse. I know they can relate to the rest of us who have seen the value of their homes decline as a result of the Great Recession. Makes them a little more human, doesn't it?
Cept the part of them being able to afford a lawyer to get a huge tax-writeoff out of it.
They could barely afford to demolish the house and build a brand new mansion with a car elevator. I feel so bad for them.
It shows Mitt in a new light. He is not afraid to stick it to the MAN, that's taxMAN in this case. He still is the MAN and by the way his campaign is going, he has been generously sticking to himself.
If I was the city of La Jolla, I'd be pissed at missing out on those property taxes.
Mitt assures me La Jolla just would have blown it on the needy, anyway.
The needy in La Jolla = 17 year olds who don't yet have Benzes
Fun Fact: La Jolla is technically a neighborhood in the City of San Diego.
I''m sending him a dollar.
With Nixon's picture on it?
I was thinking Chuck Woolery
I don't know why.
D'oh!
"Get off my sand you pot smoking heathens, you're de-valuing my fancy sand castle."
–Mitt Romney.
People are saying this. I read it on the internet.
"When life gives you underwater mortgages, go yachting!"
- Mitt Romney
so that’s how the 1% keep their head above water when the going gets rough.
"When life gives you lemons, make a fine lemon sorbet with vanilla bean accents."
- Ann Romney/Martha "It's a Good Thing" Stewart
I bet the Romneys are shitty tippers, too.
Mitt loves firing waiters.
He's a NO TIPPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/2012/07/give-barri…
Oh for fucks sake.
Did they pay taxes on the horse's house?
The only taxes the Romneys are ever going to pay is the one when they are standing at the pearly gates. Thats gonna be SOME bill.
Her probably obtained an Agriculture exemption.
Did they pay taxes on the horse's house?
No way. The horse had its own real estate agent/lawyer
That's a write-off — because, apparently, owning a horse, paying for someone else to ride it, someone else to feed and care for it and someone else to train it is part of Ann's MS therapy.
Now that you say that, I bet they got their medical insurance to cover some of the costs too.
Tell me again he has nothing to hide in his Federal tax filings. Not only is he so rich that the 27k a year was totally irrelevant to him he is a politician. Look when you are running for POTUS this comes up he had to know it would come up yet he just couldn’t stop himself.
I think it was Ann who first yelled at him, "You're running for President, for Pete's sake!"
I think Ann is probably more of the, "who cares what those people think?" variety.
She's probably also the person who told Zsa Zsa, "you don't have take that from this cop – you're a star!"
And after the taxes were reduced the Romneys celebrated with a nice turnip blood beverage.
Polite golf clapping
Well, their beverage options are pretty limited, y'know?
Washed down with water from a stone?
Guys, he's only worth $250 million. 27K per year on a property like that is TYRANNY.
250 million… that WE KNOW ABOUT.
ETA: 250 million is what he has in his wallet and can show us immediately.
C'mon! Tis a far far better thing to put the money in the hands of an asshole lamprey lawyer, vs. the San Diego county govt. all full of brownz and blahs and socialists.
I've heard there are actually people of Messican descent in San Diego. And some of them might partake of… government services! (Or even just paved roads, whatever.)
SOCIALISM!
Yes not only messicans, but blahs, and get this, ORIENTALS!
So Mitt Romney lowered the property values in his residential suburb? James David Manning was right! Mitt Romney really is secretly blah!!
You know what I REALLY hate? Paying for Mitt's tax breaks.
Supporting the jerb creators is the patriotic thing to do. Why do you hate Amercia?
Mittens thinks if we just would cut all taxes to those earning more than
$1M$500K$250K per year America would be awash in jobs. Maids, gardeners, au pairs, the opportunities would be endless.Sure the car elevator cost $55k, but everyone knows their value depreciates at least 50% the second you ride it down the shaft.
(I'm going to see if I can incorporate the word 'shaft' in each comment this afternoon).
Damn straight.
Who's the black private dick who's a sex machine with all the chicks?
sarge? rosemary the telephone operator?
Shut yo' mouth!
"…Peterson said he did not know how the Romneys determined that their house value had fallen so dramatically, but he thought they may have been reacting to dismal news reports."
That's what I'm looking for in POTUS candidate – someone who over-reacts to dismal news.
This is exactly the kind of business and political acumen that we have been looking for in American leadership!
Yeah, sure want that guy answering the red phone at 3 AM.
61 feet. Where the hell did that extra foot come from? Or does he only buy property whose dimensions are prime numbers?
PRIMZAHLEN LIBEL
My parents have a small cabin on a lake, and I think the standard waterfront width is 25 feet. The club next door recently decided that they actually owned 4 feet of our waterfont, and they came over (through the gate) and dug into the concrete (my parents weren't there, but renters were) and drew new boundary lines.
I figure that that is how Romney dealt with getting a few extra feet out of his neighbors, too.
Meanwhile, my county uses real estate values to tax me based on sales 2 years ago. Here is my solution to county assessors overvaluing real estate. If I show up at the county office with my assessment, they have to write me a check for 90% of assessed value on the spot.
I'll bet that will keep those ass holes assessors in line.
Meanwhile, the California budget crisis continues…
Can we all agree, Mitt's the first head-on-a-spike when the revolution comes?
What a DOUCHE.
and Marie AnnToinette follows.
As long as Cheney is on another Spike!
Pffft. he's an amateur compared to what we got here.
http://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/3-millio…
Larry Ellison, ranked 12th on the Forbes 500 list with a net worth of $25 billion, has bagged a $3 million tax break after arguing that his flamboyant Japanese-style estate in Woodside is functionally obsolete.
He spent $200 million building an authentic Japanese castle, and then claimed it's not worth anything because the design is not up to modern standards.
Romney/Ellison '12!
At least Ellison made his money by making something!!!
Yeah, and those freeloading schoolkids won't be getting any of his hard earned money.
I also am lousy at home renovations – I feel a major windfall coming.
I mean cash – not the house blowing over.
He spent $200 million building an authentic Japanese castle, and then claimed it's not worth anything because the design is not up to modern standards.
Wait … there are modern Japanese castles?
Rich Business Fuck Games System; Rich News Fucks Pretend to Care
Hey Wonkette, if you add a picture of Rafalca, a car elevator and some other .gifs to the graphic, you would have a new Blingee!
Well duh-see how much less your house is worth after you run a bulldozer through it!
Rmoney's savings of $109,000 in property taxes translates to about two years of salary for a laid-off teacher.
But, look at the brightside, Rmoney needs that money more than public school kids need a decent education.
When was the last time a public school teacher gave you a job? Hennngggh?
It's as if Mitt knows he's got this thing already bought and paid for, that's what has me worried…
Doesn't this rich twit realize how bad it looks, that he's spending all this dough on expanding a mansion while he's running for president? And he's nickel and diming the county over property taxes? You would think one of his advisors would tell him to hold off on that shit until January 2013.
He got a huge tax break since the building is made of recycled materials: the bricks and mortar are comprised of 70% orphans.
That's just your standard lower-my-property-assessment tax dodge — hell, my middle-class neighbors do it too. They brag about that, and then in the same breath complain about how lousy the schools are here and how they'll have to move to the suburbs once their little angels reach kindergarten age. No wonder I drink.
Twitt gets the elevator, the rest of us get the shaft.
"I laid-off a firefighter with my property tax write-off."
Laying them off is not bad, just not quite as rewarding as firing people.
the home value dropped when they tore it down!
When they tore it d-… Hey! Look over there! A bird!
Mitt, go dodge taxes in a RED state. We don't need you free-riding in one of the finest, bluest states in America, a state that could actually use the money to pay for the fire and police force defending your fine mansion.
Ha. He knows how high property taxes are in Texas. He's not building any mansions there.
I think I understand. Romney overpaid because either he's stupid or he didn't overpay and he is a parisimonious patrician poltroon partial to plundering the public pelf!
Awesome alliterative animadversion alert!
If you're trying to increase your p, yer doin' it rong.
$100K over four years.
Or, as Mitt Romney would call it, "spare change."
(All snark aside, that's such a paltry amount to him I'm kinda surprised he even bothered.)
Maybe one of his sons needed a new car, and he didn't want to pay the short term capital gains tax on cashing out stock? I'm sure this just made more sense. Or maybe his lawyers are under standing orders to lower his taxes in any way possible.
"After paying cash for the Mediterranean-style house with 61 feet of beach frontage . . ."
The only thing that would make this story complete would be finding out that later the Rmoneys pulled all of their cash out of the house with a sweetheart mortgage given to them by Tangelo Mozillo's Countrywide Financial and since pulling all that cash back out, the Rmoneys haven't made one single payment on the mortgage and have been enjoying the beach front house ever since, "rent free" because the lender is taking its sweet ass time to foreclose so as to disguise the fact on its books the Rmoney mortgage ain't worth $12.2 Million but instead is worth maybe $5 Million, if that.
the more we know about romney, the less there is to like.
it's almost as if his name was willard or something.
So this lawyer doesn't know how the Romneys did what the lawyer was paid to do?
Not if he wants to keep his job, he doesn't.
Now that, ladles and germs, is Trickle-Down in action.
I think the value of Merika fell 45% when Romney clinched the Repiglican nomination.
Christ, what an asshole.
PRESIDENT ASSHOLE,
probably not
WHAT??? HE LOWERED TAXES! May god bless Mitt and his magic underwear. OK, admittedly he didn't lower taxes for many people but at least he lowered taxes.
Sincerely,
48% of America
Can Mitt fit his short bus on the car elevator?
You can't make this shit up.
"Peterson said he did not know how the Romneys determined that their house value had fallen so dramatically, but he thought they may have been reacting to dismal news reports."
So, in other words, this too was Obama's fault.
There goes the neighborhood.
Exactly. Or stored them all in shoe boxes, with elastic bands wrapped around them to keep them together and cut into the sides. All dog-eared and shit. Worthless.
Christine O'Donnell libel!
Dude, do you shave your junk?
Huh. In that case, I seem to keep getting obsolete models.
You don't think I could get a tax write-off for that, do you?
No, the ladies are still all being made with the bush option. More and more are engaging in aftermarket modifications, however.
Son, is that you. Seriously, I asked my son about this very topic and I was told, "Mother, this is an inappropriate conversation."
Of course I do; it's common courtesy.
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