Disclosure reports: Corzine gave cash gifts to top aides [each gift was kept under $11,000 so that.

Press of Atlantic City ^

[Sub-Driver]

Disclosure reports: Corzine gave cash gifts to top aides The Associated Press Published: Saturday, May 6, 2006 Updated: Saturday, May 6, 2006

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - New Jersey's multimillionaire governor dipped into his personal fortune to give nearly $100,000 cash gifts to top aides late last year, just weeks before his Jan. 17 swearing in, according to recently released financial disclosure reports.

Officials in Gov. Jon S. Corzine's administration acknowledged that each gift was kept under $11,000 so that neither the staffers or Corzine would have to pay taxes.

"A gift is just that, and a number of Jon Corzine's family and friends have received them over the years," Anthony Coley, a Corzine spokesman who received one of the gifts, told The Record of Bergen County for Saturday's editions.

Corzine gave the gifts to nine top aides in his gubernatorial campaign, as well as staff members from his U.S. senate office. All the staffers now work in the governor's office.

[Sub-Driver]

well, well.....this sure stinks of you know what....

[nmh]

Here we go again ... bribing people to get his way.

[avile]

I don't know who is more of ahore -Corzine or his voters.

[avile]

I don't know who is more of a whore -Corzine or his voters.

[nmh]

And history repeats itself:

"Earlier this year, the former Goldman Sachs chief executive spent $5,000 on bail for Karen Golding, a former campaign volunteer and lobbyist charged with stalking a state assemblyman. And during his run for governor, Corzine found himself criticized for paying $470,000 to settle a home mortgage for Carla Katz, a former girlfriend and leader of a labor union for state workers."

[ml/nj]

BFD !

ML/NJ

[GSlob]

"well, well.....this sure stinks of you know what...."
Pecunia non olet. Even his personal pecunia.

[raybbr]

So what? They were his aides and it was his money. So what?

I think Corzine is the worst of the Dems but it was his money. He's free to do whatever he wants to with it.

[connectthedots]

As long as none of it was used for illegal putposes, such as evading campaign finance laws, etc., this is a non-starter even if I think corzine is a slime ball.

[nh1]

What's the difference between a gift and a bonus or even pay, other than the fact that you don't pay taxes on a gift.

I'm thinking I should exchange gifts with clients instead of billing them. I give them my services, they give me money. If they go over the 11k threshold, the gifts can go to my wife or kids. It'll be like Christmas all year long.

[Hildy]

Why does that stink? He did what millions of people do every year in order to avoid taxes. Please explain what's bad about what he did.

[goodnesswins]

Ya know.....dentists, doctors, etc, might like this idea....but, I'm not sure how my insurance company would take to it.....HOWEVER....if I already pay cash, and the insurance doesn't cover the bill...then, hmmmm....maybe it would behoove the doc to give me a DISCOUNT!

[norwaypinesavage]

Where is it written that a payment of less than $11,000 from an employer to an employee isn't taxable, even if came from personal funds?

[Blue Jays]

Hi All-

This is New Jersey we're talking about here, so these are just the gifts that were reported in the newspapers...

~ Blue Jays ~

[OldFriend]

Don't forget the $5,000 in cash he just happened to have in his office when an old flame needed to bailed out of jail.

Corslime is beginning to make Sharp James look honest.

[raybbr]

Where is it written that a payment of less than $11,000 from an employer to an employee isn't taxable, even if came from personal funds?

If it was a gift the IRS has it written.

[American in Singapore]

I didn't read where the guy broke any law... so what if he wants to give money to people that work closest with him and probably are his trusted confidants? I don't see anything wrong with this.

[socialismisinsidious]

"maybe it would behoove the doc to give me a DISCOUNT!"

Can't, by law. Thanks to Hitlery and BJ. If a doctor charges you less than what is charged to an insurance company for the same procedure (does not matter that the insurance company reimburses less than what is charged) then the doctor is committing insurance charge....up to 100K fine and jail time.

[socialismisinsidious]

I want to know how this would help him tax wise....isn't he getting hit by the AMT which means no deductibles (personally I can't wait for more people to get hit by the AMT so that maybe the masses will care to scream about this evil tax!)

How do rich people not get hit by the AMT? Cheney for instance...a few weeks back there was a big deal about how much he made and deducted for charities...um, shouldn't he have been hit by the AMT and not been able to deduct? I just don't get it.

[socialismisinsidious]

"committing insurance charge" should read: committing insurance fraud. It is obviously past my bed time.

[goodnesswins]

Yeah...but, my insurance won't pay for some of my care (think Naturopath).....

[theBuckwheat]

Well, at least he is giving his own money away. However, he is keeping it below the limit at which gift taxes would be owed.

Why is a gift taxable???

I wonder if he would vote to retain the power (notice I didn't say 'right'), of the government to tax a gift. Our founding fathers would have put that abomination of a tax in the list of tyrannies they wrote up on how the King of England abused the colonists.

The "Gift Tax" is yet another reason to abolish the 16th Amendment and replace it with the Fair Tax.

[JerseyHighlander]

This entire story, the facts behind it, are all manufactured smoke and mirrors. There are probably more gifts given out that aren't reported, and the Corzine handlers are trying to defray any further actual investigation and public outrage by making this current story big news. When the next revelation of improper gifts is made public, Corzines media handlers will call it old news, the NJ media will parrot the Corzine line, and it will fall away from the public's perception in less than a 24 hour news cycle.

The current story is a non starter, right now the harpies in the NJ press are acting like dead cowpox cells. The state has yet to suffer the coming political and economic smallpox epidemic once Corzine passes this budget and moves on to his "political agenda".

[frannie]

You are limited in what you can DEDUCT, it was 10% of your income. I don't do taxes at this time, so am not sure what the percentage is today. I am sure Cheney paid on all of his income that was taxable and it was more than if he were allowed to use the AMT schedule.

If he hadn't you know the media would have been all over him. As a matter of fact there was little coverage of his income tax papers.

[aShepard]

...........Where is it written that a payment of less than $11,000 from an employer to an employee isn't taxable, even if came from personal funds?..........

That is an excellent point!

I'm going to talk to my boss Monday to be sure that this year's bonus is a personal gift!

[aShepard]

...........Where is it written that a payment of less than $11,000 from an employer to an employee isn't taxable, even if came from personal funds?..........

That is an excellent point!

I'm going to talk to my boss Monday to be sure that this year's bonus is a personal gift!

[Mixer]

Why does that stink? He did what millions of people do every year in order to avoid taxes. Please explain what's bad about what he did.

_____________________________________________________________

So you don't mind that the guy who wants us to pay more is using the system to avoid paying them? Figure if he would just go ahead and pay them we won't have top have a raise at all. Now that seems fair to me.

[Hildy]

As I understand this story, he gave his aides bonuses out of his OWN POCKET. That's ok to me. It's perfectly legal to give gifts under $10,000 in order not to pay taxes. People do it all the time. You don't think he should take advantage of things that are legal? Because he's a Democrat, they should pay taxes on it? Please, I'm curious as to your thinking on this.