Tax professionals have doubts about Romney's tax returns
...Kleinbard also had some questions about Romney's tenure as chairman of the audit committee at Marriott--whose founder, J. Willard Marriott, was Romney's namesake. The hotel giant has a reputation among tax experts for going after tax shelters like a moth goes to a flame. According to Bloomberg, back in 1994 Marriott created a tax shelter called "Son of BOSS" designed to create paper losses in order to offset taxes. The IRS challenged it, and in 2009 a court threw it out--costing Marriott $29 million in back taxes. Kleinbard thinks Romney shouldn't have signed off on setting up this shelter.
"It's the job of the chair of the audit committee of Marriott to say, 'Hey, wait a minute, just because we have an opinion from Winkin', Blinkin' and Nod saying that this is a terribly clever idea, I need to apply some common sense as opposed to just signing on the bottom line,' " Kleinbard says. A statement from Marriott says the company only engages in tax deals it believes are lawful.
"Marriott only engages in transactions that we believe are in accordance with the tax code and that we think will create shareholder value," it said.
The Bloomberg story highlights another Romney-approved tax strategy that drew the IRS' ire. From 2000 to 2002, it took $1 billion in deductions from an employee stock-purchase plan. The IRS objected, and in 2007 Marriott had to pay $220 million in back taxes. Romney has staked his campaign on his business record. But with this much evidence of his questionable handling of taxes, can we really trust him with our money?
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