House quietly passes tax exemption for megadonors!
READ IT AND WEEP, LOWLY SERFS!
CONGRESS IS MAKING SURE ITS SECRET DONORS DON'T HAVE TO PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE OF TAXES, YET AGAIN!
The legislation, which now heads to the Senate, is seen by fundraising operatives as removing one of the few remaining potential obstacles to unfettered big-money spending by nonprofit groups registered under a section of the Tax Code — 501(c) — that allows them to shield their donors’ identities.
The gift tax bill was proposed by Rep. Peter Roskam (R.-Ill.), the chairman of Ways and Means subcommittee that oversees the IRS, but it had bipartisan support and passed on a voice vote.
That covers a wide swath of organizations including everything from the Karl Rove-conceived Crossroads GPS and the Tom Steyer-funded NextGen Climate (both of which are registered under section 501(c)4 of the Tax Code) to major labor unions (501(c)5) to the Koch brothers-backed Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce (501(c)6).
Critics decry such groups as corrupting, but they have played an increasingly prominent role in recent elections, and they’re expected to spend huge sums in 2016.
And, while fundraising operatives say most donors do not pay taxes on their donations to so-called 501(c) groups, the law is somewhat ambiguous on whether gift taxes could be assessed. That’s left donors fearing that such gifts could bring scrutiny from the Internal Revenue Service — which, in fact, has launched probes of major groups’ donors in recent years to determine whether they improperly avoided paying gift taxes.
For all the intense conflicts over campaign finance law, there should be bipartisan agreement that voters are entitled to some useful information about the hundreds of millions in political spending that, as matters stand, will go unreported. Action to rework the model of regulation we inherited from our grandparents’ concern over misbehavior in the 1972 presidential election is long overdue."
IN THEIR NEVER-ENDING QUEST FOR "MO' MONEY" AND THEN EVEN "MO' MONEY", OUR POLITICAL CANDIDATES, INCUMBENT AND NOT, HAVE MADE IT SO MUCH EASIER FOR THE BIG MONEY BOYS TO DONATE MILLIONS AND MILLIONS SO THAT EACH POLITICO WHO ACCEPTS BIG LUMP SUMS CAN BE "FOREVER INDEBTED TO" AND UNDULY INFLUENCED BY THOSE DISHING OUT THE DOLLARS!
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT, CONGRESS HAS ALSO MANAGED TO NEVER, EVER PASS A "BILL" THAT REVEALS THE NAMES OF THESE CAPITOL HILL "JOHNS" TO THE LOWLY PUBLIC!
YES, THEY'RE SELLING-OUT, BUT NO, YOU CAN'T SEE WHO IS BUYING YOUR CONGRESSMEN, NOR SEE HOW MUCH A CANDIDATE ( aka, HARLOT, aka, TWO-BIT WHORE) HAS SOLD HIMSELF/HERSELF FOR!
THE KOCH BROTHERS ALONE, THOSE BOYS WHO LOVE THEM SOME "CONSERVATIVES", HAVE PROMISED A COOL BILLION WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE TO ANYONE WILLING TO SPREAD THOSE LEGS AND PLAY BALL WITH THEM!
OTHER BILLIONAIRES, LIKE THOMAS STEYER, WHO LOVE THEM SOME DEMOCRATS WILL SCRAMBLE TO AT LEAST MATCH THE GOP's MEGA-DONORS.
GAME ON!
BOTH SIDES OF THE AISLE OF THE "BROTHEL GANG" WILL RUN OVER EACH OTHER GETTING TO THE KNEELING POSITION BEFORE THE KOCHS, STEYER AND THE REST.
"I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO MY BIGGEST CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTORS, AND TO THE WHOREHOUSE IN WHICH I NEGOTIATE FOR MY WIN..." IS SURELY ALL CONGRESSIONAL AND OVAL OFFICE CANDIDATES ARE TELLING THEMSELVES AS THE DRIVE TO WIN CHEAPENS THEIR VALUES MORE AND MORE EACH NEW ELECTION.
BUT, BUT WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THOSE PROMISES TO STOP THIS SORT OF GIDDY MUTUAL SUCK-UP, THIS FLAMBOYANT, BEHIND-THE-SCENES VULGAR DISPLAY OF WEALTH AND POLITICAL SUBJUGATION TO WEALTH?
THE POLITICIANS LIED TO US ABOUT THAT, AND THE ULTRA-RICH DONORS SAID, "WAY TO GO, SUGAR DUMPLINGS!"
YOUR ELECTED CONGRESSMEN DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU, LOWLY SERFS!
YOU DON'T CONTRIBUTE ENOUGH TO THEIR "WAR CHESTS" TO MAKE THEM CARE!
REFORM THE BUYING OUT OF AMERICAN POLITICIANS?
NO WAY!
MAKE POLITICAL CANDIDATES STOP SELLING THEMSELVES TO THE HIGHEST BIDDERS?
NO WAY!
THAT WOULD SHUT DOWN THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN THIS NATION!
"Our current laws target the disclosure of BROADCAST ADS, but whether spent on TV, mail or phones, big money is big money and should be reported."
IT SHOULD BE, COULD BE REPORTED, BUT CONGRESS WON'T CUT ITS OWN THROATS!
Super PACs accounted for $332 million in spending through the end of October, 2014, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
"Massive contributions from the wealthiest Americans, large corporations, dark money nonprofits and labor unions are behind this super PAC spending binge. A review of Federal Election Commission records... found that 140 donors who gave more than $500,000 each to super PACs accounted for $365.5 million in super PAC donations as of Oct. 15 -- 61% of all super PAC contributions in the 2014 cycle.
The top donor to these unlimited money groups is Thomas Steyer, the billionaire environmentalist and former hedge fund executive. Steyer launched his own super PAC last year as part of an effort to elect politicians who will act to slow climate change. He has pumped $74.2 million into his own group, NextGen Climate Action, and other super PACs supporting Senate Democrats.
Steyer is approaching the $100 million given by casino oligarch Sheldon Adelson and his family in the 2012 election. This big giving is part of an emerging trend of Democratic-oriented mega-donors dominating the disclosed unlimited money scene.
Overall, mega-donors giving solely to Democratic Party groups pumped $228.4 million into super PACs, or 62 percent of the total, compared with $109.6 million for Republican mega-donors.
This is a significant change from the 2012 election. At this point in 2012, Republican mega-donors were the source of 61 percent of all contributions over $500,000.
By no means does this mean Democrats are winning on the independent spending front. Republicans are buoyed by spending from dark money nonprofits. These groups are not bound by disclosure laws, so it's impossible to know the size or number of mega-donors giving to them.
PLAYING BOTH SIDES
Aside from the partisan donors who dominate the list, there are a handful of givers to super PACs who back both parties. These include former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the third-largest super PAC donor with more than $20 million contributed. Bloomberg's Independence USA PAC is supporting both Republicans and Democrats at the federal and state level. He has also donated to Senate Majority PAC, the main unlimited money arm of the Senate Democratic party leadership.
Others giving to both sides include Facebook and Napster billionaire Sean Parker, energy investment billionaire John Arnold, and labor unions and business trade associations including the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and the National Association of Realtors.
THE REALLY BIG BUYERS
Steyer, Bloomberg, Parker and Arnold are part of a strong contingent of Forbes 400 billionaires who are putting their money into politics this cycle. Of the 95 individuals donating to super PACs, 34 are billionaires. These plutocrats favor Republicans.
Billionaires lined up on the Democratic side include Steyer, James Simons, George Soros, David Bonderman and Laurie Michaels, Reid Hoffman, Jon Stryker, Pat Stryker, John Doerr, Robert and Ann Bass, Marc Benioff and Laurene Powell Jobs.
In addition to Adelson and Charles and David Koch, Republican billionaire super PAC mega-donors include Paul Singer, Joe Ricketts, Joseph Craft, Robert McNair, Warren Stephens, Jerrold Perenchio, Ken Griffin, Linda McMahon, Seth Klarman, B. Wayne Hughes, Daniel Loeb, Paul Foster, Diane Hendricks, Julian Robertson, Richard DeVos and his family, Bernard Marcus and Robert Rowling.
Super PACs were created by the Federal Election Commission after the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision, which holds that spending by independent groups funded by corporations could not lead to corruption or even its appearance. A lower court ruling based entirely on Citizens United extended the decision to individuals, allowing them to pool unlimited sums in independent political groups.
Since then, the groups have been dominated by billionaires, unions, and to a lesser extent, corporations.
In September, Chevron Corp., the oil giant, made a $1 million donation to the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC dedicated to electing Republicans to the House.
The Republican-led House has worked hard to roll back Environmental Protection Agency regulations of greenhouse gas emissions and to PROTECT (PROTECT AND SERVE!) oil and gas company tax breaks. One House committee has gone on record refusing to acknowledge climate change.
Other large corporate contributions came from Mountaire Corp., Contran Corp., Rooney Holdings and Weaver Holdings."
MONEY TALKS, FELLOW AMERICANS!
MONEY HAS BOUGHT EVERY CANDIDATE WHO HAS EVER RUN THEIR SEAT ON THE HILL.
AND THOSE WHO WIN OWE A DEBT....NOT TO AMERICA, NOT TO THE PEOPLE, BUT TO THOSE WHO CAN FORK OVER THE MOST MONEY TO HELP THEM WIN.
WHY IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO WIN THAT THOSE WHO RUN WILL SPEND MILLIONS FOR CONGRESSIONAL JOBS THAT NEVER OPENLY, NEVER MATHEMATICALLY RETURN THAT KIND OF PAY-IN IS SOMETHING WE REALLY NEED TO THINK ABOUT.
WHY SPEND MILLIONS PER CAMPAIGN FOR A JOB THAT PAYS A SENATOR LESS THAN $170,000 A YEAR?
WHY SPEND A BILLION DOLLARS ON A PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN WHEN THE OFFICE OF THE U.S. PRESIDENT PAYS $400,000 A YEAR?
WHAT GOES ON BEHIND ALL THOSE CLOSED DOORS IN D.C.?
WHO IS REALLY RUNNING THIS SHOW IF NOT THE ONES WHO BUY THOSE OFFICES FOR THEIR CANDIDATES OF CHOICE?
WHY NOT TELL US WHO'S BUYING AND HOW MUCH IS BEING SPENT FOR CONGRESSIONAL AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES?
SHOW US WHO THE TOP WHORES ARE AND WHO'S PAYING THEM THE MOST FOR THEIR "SERVICES"!
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[PLEASE NOTE: THE HEMLOCK TEA ROOM BLOGS ARE OFTEN IN ALL CAPS AND IN BOLD TYPE ON THOSE DAYS WHEN MY EYESIGHT IS WORSE THAN OTHER DAYS.
I'D LIKE TO USE ALL-CAPS ALL THE TIME.
IF YOU WANT TO SEE THIS AS "SHOUTING", YOU GO RIGHT AHEAD.
I DON'T CARE.
ALL-CAPS MAY BECOME THE RULE HERE.
MY BLOG, MY WAY.
THANKS FOR ALL THE UNPUBLISHED COMMENTS ABOUT MY ALL-CAPS.
PLEASE NOTICE, I SAID "UNPUBLISHED". ]
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