Under Tax-Dodging Cloud, Wall Launches Attack Ads
As DC Insiders Look to Tommy, Wall Gets Desperate
Madison, WI – According to the public files at television stations around Wisconsin, multimillionaire, real estate magnate Terrence Wall is set to blitz the airwaves with television ads this week. Wall wrote a check to his campaign for $275,000 late last year and this ad buy likely means that he’s written another. Wall has already run a misleading, statewide radio ad that has been fully debunked.
This comes as many questions surrounding Wall’s candidacy continue to emerge – primarily that he has not paid, and did not owe, any state income taxes for 12 of the last 15 years. This also comes on the heels of reports that Secretary Tommy Thompson is scheduled to return to Wisconsin this week to discuss healthcare – Thompson supported the Senate version of the health care bill. Reports have surfaced that insiders and party bosses have pushed Thompson to leave his job representing corporate interests at a D.C. lobbying firm to run for the Senate.
Below are just a few troubling examples of the Republican primary candidate Wall not shooting straight with Wisconsinites:
Wall Paid No State Income Taxes 12 of Last 15 Years
First reports surfaced that Wall didn’t pay state income taxes for four of the last five years, then it was nine of the last 10 years, and most recently, reports indicate that Wall has not paid state income taxes for 12 of the last 15 years. Wall’s justifications for why he doesn’t have to pay state income taxes have also changed over time – from claiming he’s paid $30 million in taxes, to $65 million in taxes. At times he’s said he didn’t owe taxes because of charitable giving. Other times he said it was because of deprecation of real estate. He even claimed to take advantage of a tax credit program – that didn’t even exist before 2004. Right-wing radio hosts Charlie Sykes, Mark Belling and Jeff Wagner have also slammed the multimillionaire for not paying taxes.
Wall Claims Commercial Property is a ‘Pumpkin Patch’
Previous news reports indicate Wall has also dodged over a hundred thousand dollars in property taxes by claiming commercial land he owns in the Madison area is for “farming.” The most infamous is a supposed “pumpkin patch” located in the heart of Wall’s Middleton development projects.
As the Capital Times reported, “The law has shifted millions in property taxes from farms to other types of property, including homes and businesses. Wall has tried claim that it’s the same thing as taking a “home mortgage deduction,” but that’s simply not true. Regular Wisconsinites don’t have a loophole that allows them to take a property tax deduction for their backyard vegetable and Mr. Wall doesn’t call a pumpkin patch “home.”
Terrence Wall (R – Delaware)
In a recent interview with Wisconsin Eye, Wall claimed to have only four companies registered in Delaware when public records indicate that at least 16 of Wall’s businesses are incorporated in Delaware, not Wisconsin. The media has reported that the practice is used “to help corporations avoid paying taxes in other states,” and that it is “an alleged ruse,” where Delaware acts as an “onshore Cayman Islands.”
