Roger’s Rules

By Roger Kimball

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February 19, 2009 - 10:02 am - by Roger Kimball

You can help this billionaire, or you can turn the page . . .

Yes, that’s right folks, Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Paul Allen, owner of various sports teams and some really big boats, is lined up to be a conspicuous beneficiary of the Pelosi-Reid-Obama Payback Scheme for Democratic Special Interests, sometimes referred to by its sponsors as a “stimulus package.” The Business Insider explains how it works:

* Allen owns a majority stake in cable provider Charter Communications.
* Charter Communications this month said it would reduce its debt load by $8 billion and enter Chapter 11.
* Normally, partners at a firm like Charter Communications would have to pay taxes on the amount of debt forgiven in this process, which is, in a sense a one-time income windfall. Tax law calls it a “deemed distribution.”
* But under the new bill, companies like Charter Communications will be able to avoid paying taxes on forgiven debt until 2014. Even then, Paul will have until 2018 to pay it completely off.
* Paul owns about half of Charter, so his share of the Charter Commuincations’ $8 billion debt forgiveness is around $4 billion. At a tax rate of 25%, Allen could avoid paying as much as $1 billion in taxes until 2014, tax expert Robert Willens told the WSJ.

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Think about that the next time you look at the various taxes that are listed on your paycheck. Chances are, some of that money is going into Paul Allen’s coffers.
(h/t The Drudge Report.)

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3 Comments, 3 Threads

  1. 1. elvis

    TEA PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!

    February 19, 2009 - 3:01 pm   Link to this Comment | Reply
  2. 2. Whistle_Blower

    Ooops:The Gray Lady Bites The Dust
    - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

    Not relevant to the article at hand, but still
    financial news of note sure to warm the cockles of some hearts.

    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aiJbMfUTOpcI&refer=us

    February 19, 2009 - 9:16 pm   Link to this Comment | Reply
  3. 3. Gaffe Prices

    Yeah, and Eric Holder got members of the terror group FALN granted pardons that not one of them, not a single one of them, even petitioned or asked for. Submitted. No paperwork. No Nothin.

    And Allen got his without asking neither.

    Some of the FALN cold blooded cop killers refused to leave prison, because they still felt justified in their acts of murder/terror.

    Some people are just, you know, more special than others

    February 20, 2009 - 2:40 am   Link to this Comment | Reply

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