DL Open Thread: Saturday, June 12, 2021
Trump Handed Private Equity Firms License To Avoid Taxes. The day before the Capitol riots:
There were two weeks left in the Trump administration when the Treasury Department handed down a set of rules governing an obscure corner of the tax code.
The rules were approved on Jan. 5, the day before the riot at the U.S. Capitol. Hardly anyone noticed.
The Trump administration’s farewell gift to the buyout industry was part of a pattern that has spanned Republican and Democratic presidencies and Congresses: Private equity has conquered the American tax system.
Some more, just to make you angry:
The industry has perfected sleight-of-hand tax-avoidance strategies so aggressive that at least three private equity officials have alerted the Internal Revenue Service to potentially illegal tactics, according to people with direct knowledge of the claims and documents reviewed by The New York Times. The previously unreported whistle-blower claims involved tax dodges at dozens of private equity firms…
…One reason they rarely face (IRS) audits is that private equity firms have deployed vast webs of partnerships to collect their profits. Partnerships do not owe income taxes. Instead, they pass those obligations on to their partners, who can number in the thousands at a large private equity firm. That makes the structures notoriously complicated for auditors to untangle…
…By one recent estimate, the United States loses $75 billion a year from investors in partnerships failing to report their income accurately — at least some of which would probably be recovered if the I.R.S. conducted more audits. That’s enough to roughly double annual federal spending on education.
BTW, this is bipartisan corruption. When Coons talks about reaching across the aisle, this is where he finds willing partners.
Garland Announces Expansion Of DOJ’s Voting Rights Unit. About time he took a bold stand on something:
Attorney General Merrick Garland pledged Friday to double the size of the Justice Department’s voting rights enforcement staff to combat efforts to restrict ballot access and prosecute those who threaten or harm election workers.
Garland said the additional trial attorneys, which he plans to hire over the coming 30 days, will scrutinize new laws and existing practices across the nation for potential discrimination against Americans of color, including in new measures GOP state lawmakers are pushing. They will enforce provisions of the Voting Rights Act by challenging such laws or practices in court — and prosecute anyone found to intimidate or threaten violence against election officials.
The expanded unit will also monitor the growing number of post-election ballot reviews being called for around the country by supporters of former president Donald Trump in search of signs of violations of federal laws, Garland said, and will watch over upcoming redistricting efforts to call out discriminatory practices.
Stoopid Cop Trix: Chicago cop took selfie on Jan. 6. Yet another piece of work. You gotta read his tweets. Here’s one: “Im fuck up some commies.” So. That’s at least 18 cops who have been arrested for taking part. Along with at least 50 with military ties.
It’s Not Just Manchin And Sinema. But of course here in Delaware we already knew that:
At least nine Senate Democrats have unofficially formed a Not-So Progressive Caucus to block progressive legislation and throw shade at abolishing the filibuster, without always explaining why. Besides Manchin, Sinema, and (occasionally) Feinstein, it can include Montana’s Jon Tester, Delaware’s Chris Coons and Tom Carper (often viewed as home-state Biden stand-ins), Maine independent Angus King, New Hampshire’s Maggie Hassan, and Maryland’s Ben Cardin. When it came to scuttling a $15-an-hour minimum wage, not just Republicans but also Sinema, Tester, Hassan, King, Coons, and Carper went along with Manchin.
That’s why Carper and Coons are such phonies–they ‘support’ a $15 minimum wage, they just oppose ending the filibuster that kills it.
Human Composting? Coming To Delaware? Just something else I never thought of…and don’t particularly want to think of.
The Story Behind The FOIA Bill. Some background on the bill’s intent:
The Delaware Department of Justice, headed by Jennings, said that the bill would not lead to routine requests being rejected and is aimed at bad-faith requests.
State solicitor Aaron Goldstein told lawmakers that the attorney general’s office conducted a 50-state review of FOIA laws to propose language addressing “real scenarios of abuse towards public employees or in situations where the good intentions of FOIA are intentionally turned into a weapon to unduly waste government resources,” according to reporting by The Associated Press.
Examples of such abuse include a person filing requests for identical records on a weekly basis for several months and using FOIA information “in an effort to harass or stalk” a public employee.
Some such requests have included personal threats, such as one requestor who knew an employee was pregnant and said they hoped the baby died; asking for the address and phone number of specific employees and driving by their homes; and asking for employee parking locations and building schematics, according to DOJ spokesman Mat Marshall.
In a written response to the open government coalition, officials listed examples like a prisoner requesting information about a prosecutor and said public bodies have received FOIA requests that are “massive, broad” and would require multiple staff members work for weeks on end to complete.
What do you want to talk about?
So my guess about what’s behind the FOIA bill was correct.
The trouble is that the bill would allow the state to deny legitimate requests more easily. While I trust Jennings, I don’t trust whoever will follow her.
I agree. The bill needs to be tweaked. But Kowalko misrepresented the bill with his ‘Nightmare On Legislative Avenue’ screed. There was no malevolent intent behind the bill. This is why nobody trusts him in Dover.
You’re leaving out the possibility that those in power took a legitimate reason for tweaking the law and used it as a stalking horse for some of their other wishes.
As I said a couple of days ago, the DOJ already places too much internal documentation outside of public view. Open up police reports and I’ll let you charge more — that’s how you trade horses.