Official's Tax Break: on Firm Ground? (Miller -R, avoided paying millions)

[Rose Siding]

When U.S. Rep. Gary Miller (R-Diamond Bar) sold 165 acres to the city of Monrovia in 2002, he made a profit of more than $10 million, according to a financial disclosure form he filed in Congress. Ordinarily, he would have had to pay state and federal taxes of up to 31% on that profit.

Instead, Miller told the Internal Revenue Service and the state that Monrovia had forced him to sell the property under threat of eminent domain. That allowed him to shelter the profits from capital gains taxes for more than two years before he had to reinvest the money.

But there is a problem with Miller's claim: Monrovia officials say that Miller sold the land willingly and that they didn't threaten to force him to sell.
...
In an earlier interview, Miller described being threatened by Monrovia during the bargaining process and said the city gave him no choice but to sell. He said that he prided himself on transparency and noted that he fully disclosed all of his property transactions.....

But records and interviews in Monrovia show that the sale of Miller's land was voluntary.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-miller13aug13,0,2223572.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. Damn. If that guy lived in my community...

...he would have gotten away with it.

Open up your eyes, folks. This is more rampant than you think.

And you know what scares me? You know bankers and loan officers? You would think that with computers they would be able to compute things to the penny, but they don't. It is customary in the banking industry to round off to the nearest thousand. If I were a clever guy...

[gratuitous]

2. Uh oh, Gary

See, this is what really crumbles my cookies over these sorts of things. Miller made a $10 million profit on the sale of his acreage. Now, state and federal taxes would have reduced that amount to a paltry $6.9 million (absent any other offsets, which would increase that amount). Most people would be happy to pocket a $6.9 million profit for nothing more than holding a parcel of land and then selling it when the market was right. But not Mr. Miller. No, he wanted the entire $10 million and was willing to lie and cheat to steal it.

And, since the sale occurred in 2002, the taxes would have been paid in 2003 (and why has it taken three years for this bit of chiseling to come to light?), the country was at war, which means that Miller was stealing tax dollars and impoverishing our war effort. Is he some kind of a traitor, as well?

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Wow. Good point. If you cheat on your taxes, you're unpatriotic

because it means you're not supporting Bush's war.

[WhiteTara]

7. Republican Values=Money Money Money!

creepy greedy lying bastards.

[indypaul]

4. What, another cheating congressperson.

I'm shocked, shocked.

[jpak]

5. A repug in a tax evasion swindle???

ya don't say

[Joanne98]

6. Do we have anybody running against him?

[bluestateguy]

8. Never mind that. It's the people who claim the EITC that should be audited

They don't pay enough in taxes anyway.