Goldman Sachs Succeeds In Tax Evasion Where Al Gore Fails
Goldman awards Blankfein before the tax deadline.
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The tax hypocrisy in this story should become legend.
Al Gore was not the only one who tried to avoid the higher tax rates that took effect in 2013.
Gore tried, but failed, to push through the $500 million sale of Current TV to Al Jazeera by Dec. 31 to avoid paying the higher tax rates that came with the fiscal cliff deal.
Unlike Gore, however, Goldman Sachs succeeded in evading the tax hike by awarding $65 million to its top executives one month ahead of time.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
As 2012 wound down, Goldman Sachs awarded 10 of its top executives a combined 508,104 shares one month earlier than normal and ahead of higher tax rates that kick in this year.
At Monday's $127.56 closing price, the shares were valued at $64.8 million.
The grants are related to restricted shares awarded as part of prior years' compensation, according to a series of filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Monday. They are not related to 2012 compensation, the filings said. About 48%, or 245,838 of the shares granted overall, were withheld by Goldman to pay taxes, the filings show.
Such awards are typically paid in January, when Goldman also pays out bonuses for the prior year. The early awards weren't limited to the top of the company, either. "The December delivery of shares went to a wider group of employees than the named executive officers," a spokesman said, though he declined to elaborate.
In December, Mr. Blankfein received 66,065 shares, 33,245 of which were withheld, netting him an award valued at more than $4 million.
Mr. Blankfein wrote in a November op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal that tax increases are a necessary part of U.S. fiscal reform. "I believe that tax increases, especially for the wealthiest, are appropriate, but only if they are joined by serious cuts in discretionary spending and entitlements."
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More on Current TV's sale to Al Jazeera
Gore Pockets $100 Million on Current TV Sale...
Green Gore sells to one of world's biggest oil exporters!
NYT: Gore tried to complete deal by Dec. 31 'lest it be subject to higher tax rates'
Time Warner Cable Immediately DROPS Current TV Upon Sale To Al Jazeera
Jan 4, 2013 at 4:22 PM
Reader Comments (12)
Current TV is a money-losing failure that no one watches.
http://247wallst.com/2013/01/03/did-al-jazeera-pay-0-for-current-tv/
Reuters reported that the price paid in the transaction was $500 million. That almost certainly is not true. During its most highly rated hours, Current TV is lucky to have 20,000 or 30,000 viewers.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2012/12/21/Elliot-Spitzer-Nobody-s-Watching-Al-Gore-s-Current-TV-Network
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/a-tale-of-two-als-why-al-gore-sold-out-to-al-jazeera-8437727.html
A tale of two Als: Why Al Gore sold out to Al Jazeera
One's a former Vice-President turned environmental activist, the other's a fast-growing media brand owned by one of the world's biggest oil exporters. So why has Al Gore sold his TV channel to Al Jazeera?
Al Gore’s Payday From Oil-Rich Qatar ‘Reeking With Irony’
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-04/nobelist-gore-getting-70-million-from-qatar-funded-al-jazeera.html
[snip]
Current Investors
The network’s investors included funds controlled by Los Angeles billionaire Ron Burkle and San Francisco money manager Richard Blum, according to the 2008 filing, when the company unsuccessfully sought to sell stock to the public. Blum is married to U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from San Francisco.
When governments become banks
http://coppolacomment.blogspot.fr/2013/01/when-governments-become-banks.html
Swoooosh!---The Sound of All the Money Going into the Gorge of Goldman Sachs
http://www.goldmansachs666.com/2013/01/swoooosh-sound-of-all-money-going-into.html
Taxpayers kept on the hook for risky derivatives
JPMorgan to BofA Get Delay on Rule Isolating Derivatives
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Bank of America Corp.won a delay of Dodd-Frank Act requirements that they wall off some derivatives trades from bank units backed by federal deposit insurance.
Commercial banks including the Wall Street firms may get as long as an additional two years -- until July 2015 -- to comply with the rules, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said in a notice yesterday. The so-called pushout provision was included in the 2010 financial-regulation law as a way to limit taxpayer support for risky derivatives trades.
more
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-03/jpmorgan-and-bofa-get-two-year-delay-in-dodd-frank-swaps-pushout.html
or this?
The Banks and other Bloodsuckers like GE really scored
Fiscal Cliff Deal Brings Business Big Benefits Even As Execs Carp
snip
Many multinational corporations, including those whose executives have come together as part of the Campaign to Fix the Debt, enjoy a benefit that allows them to indefinitely put off paying U.S. taxes on interest income earned overseas. They have lobbied for more than 15 years to preserve the so-called active-financing exemption, and Congress has repeatedly extended it.
This year was no exception. The active-financing exemption was one of the corporate tax benefits included in the fiscal cliff deal earlier this week. The exemption for overseas investment income is estimated to cost more than $11 billion over the next two years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/05/fiscal-cliff-business_n_2412778.html?utm_hp_ref=business
If you read it they are the same people who want SS cut and they will be working on that again even though SS is entirely self funded (Real reason they want it cut is so or the age changed is so they can get out of or at least not have to pay a substantial portion of their unfunded pension plans that just reached another record unfunded high link in this piece below )
Social Security Does Not Add To the Deficit Nor Is It A Welfare Program - Setting The Record Straight On Social Security
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/13681270/content/95795711-social-security-card?clear_cache=true?clear_cache=true?clear_cache=true?clear_cache=true#?clear_cache=yes?clear_cache=true?clear_cache=true?clear_cache=true?clear_cache=true
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