Posted on 03/22/2011 4:49:33 PM PDT by Kaslin
Hypocrisy: A Missouri senator up for re-election is the latest administration crony to overlook or avoid paying all her taxes. Funny, they have no problem raising them on or collecting them from the rest of us.
If you ever wonder how we could find ourselves $14 trillion in debt and sinking fast, consider how fast and loose the mythical guardians of the public purse are with keeping their own finances in order and meeting their own tax obligations.
As Politico has reported, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said Monday that she will sell her private plane and pay $287,273 in back Missouri property taxes that somehow slipped her mind while she was supporting ObamaCare and spending the rest of us into oblivion.
"This is not good," McCaskill said during a conference call with reporters on Monday as she detailed the Missouri property taxes she owed: $72,790 in 2007, $74,699 in 2008, $69,394 in 2009 and $70,401 in 2010. Meanwhile, other Missouri property owners struggled to keep up with far lesser means.
The property taxes are owed on a plane — a 2001 single-engine, turbo-prop Pilatius PC-12 valued at $2.2 million — acquired in July 2006 during McCaskill's Senate run against Republican incumbent Jim Talent. It had been registered in Delaware, where no taxes were imposed. Then it was moved to Illinois, which imposes no personal property taxes on private aircraft.
Because planes are not licensed in Missouri, the state has no record of who owns them, so local governments — which levy property taxes — send no bills. As a result, McCaskill said, her husband and the company owning the plane had no knowledge that the property taxes were owed. Ignorance of the law, it is said, is no excuse, especially if you're the state's U.S. senator.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
ObamaClaire is done.
Before her election to the U.S. Senate, McCaskill was State Auditor of Missouri from 1999 to 2007.
Shoulda put it in the marina in Newport.
Property tax on a depreciating transportation asset?
Wow, I’ll NEVER own anything in Missouri. I think I’ll never use that state name again, since they may try to tax its being verbalized!
The focus on taxes owed is a distraction from the real issue. She funded political travel using taxpayer funds.
“The senator had used the plane she co-owns with her husband and other investors for political purposes, paying for the travel with taxpayer money from her Senate office, which she now calls a mistake, for which she will reimburse the government nearly $89,000. Oops.”
I believe that many states have taxes on depreciable business property. The taxes seem very high for a depreciating asset. Instead of calling for reform of these onerous tax laws, she sells the plane to pay the taxes.
A Missouri senator up for re-election is the latest administration crony to overlook or avoid paying all her taxes... Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said Monday that she will sell her private plane and pay $287,273 in back Missouri property taxes that somehow slipped her mind while she was supporting ObamaCare and spending the rest of us into oblivion... Missouri property taxes she owed: $72,790 in 2007, $74,699 in 2008, $69,394 in 2009 and $70,401 in 2010... The property taxes are owed on a plane -- a 2001 single-engine, turbo-prop Pilatius PC-12 valued at $2.2 million -- acquired in July 2006 during McCaskill's Senate run against Republican incumbent Jim Talent. It had been registered in Delaware, where no taxes were imposed. Then it was moved to Illinois, which imposes no personal property taxes on private aircraft...
ping
Don’t you think it would be appropriate for her Constituents to call and remind her to order her packing boxes early so she can be ready to move back to the “real” world that she helped destroy while in office?
Looks like classic “soak the rich” taxation policy that both kills jobs and business efficiency.
I so agree.
I can actually see how this situation would have ocurred. With no letter informing you of a tax owed, how would you know?
The only problem I have is with her paying for trips through her senate office. You need to fly 89 times? Do it like the rest of us or pay for it out of your own pocket.
Personally, I wouldn’t get rid of the plane. It saves you so much time and is just more convenient.
The cost to operate isn’t all that much more for each passenger you take and depending on the configuration you can take as many as 8 others with you.
It is way faster to roll up to your plane and leave when you want and exactly when you are ready. As opposed to all the things one must do to fly commercial.
Still, when she does sell it she can still charter from a private company for about $3-5k each way. It wouldn’t be more than $100k a year and she even have some trips catered for a couple bucks more.
If I had private jet money that is the way I would do it.
Counties DO send a form that residents are required to return listing their personal property assets that were in the county as of January 1 each year. Failure to declare is NOT the fault of the taxing authority, any more than failure to declare purchases made out of the country upon returning to the US is the fault of the Customs Service. You screw up you pay. Or, in Claire’s case you screw up, you’re screwed.
And, as previously mentioned, Claire was an auditor and certainly knows the law — hell I DO!
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