Thursday, April 15, 2010
Terrence Wall Dodges Truth on Taxes
Despite Wall’s “Promise” to be “Truthful and Accurate” Republican Candidate Can’t Shoot Straight on Tax Issue
MADISON – As Wisconsin voters are paying their taxes today, they’re also wondering if multimillionaire, real estate magnate Terrence Wall, who hasn’t paid any state taxes in nine of the last 10 years, will pay his fair share.
“Terrence Wall has refused to shoot straight with Wisconsin voters about how he has used accounting gimmicks and tax loopholes to pay zero state income taxes,” said Mike Tate, Chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. “The only consistency in Terrence Wall’s shifting excuses for not paying taxes is his desire to mislead hard-working Wisconsin families who pay their fair share. Why does Mr. Wall think there’s one set of rules for him, and another for the rest of us?”
And in an interview last evening with WISN Milwaukee, tax-dodger Wall decided to mislead the public once again, this time on the issue of honesty:
“One of the things I promise the people of Wisconsin is that I’m going to always be truthful and accurate in my statements.”
From TV ads that were reported as “misleading,” to previous campaigns he doesn’t want voters to know about, Wall clearly has trouble with the truth – especially when it comes to his tall tales on taxes.
WALL’S TALL TALES ON TAXES
January 16: Wispolitics reports “Wall paid no personal state income tax in four of the past five years.” Wall claims he paid $30 million in taxes.
January 18: Wall’s campaign tells WTMJ 4 that the multimillionaire “Terrence Wall didn’t pay anything because he didn’t owe anything,” and that “tax incentives and charitable giving off set [his] income taxes.”
January 19: Wall decides to tell the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that “he paid no state income taxes for several years for two main reasons — he took advantage of investment tax credits and tax code provisions that permit offsetting income with depreciation of real estate.” The “charitable giving” excuse was not one Wall gave this time, even though he used it the day before.
January 19: Wall tells the media at his announcement kick-off that he and his companies have paid “over $65 million” in taxes – once again, different from the “$30 million” he claimed previously.
January 20: Wall tells radio host Charlie Sykes that he “took advantage of a tax credit program, amended and passed into law by Governor Doyle and the Democrats in the State Legislature,” in 2004. Of course this doesn’t explain why he didn’t pay any state income taxes from 1999-2004 or why he did pay state income taxes in 2005- the only year he paid state income taxes in the last ten years.
Sykes said: “Of course it’s going to be a problem. You know, and the more you try to explain it, the more you’re essentially explaining that you live in a completely different fiscal environment than most of the working people of Wisconsin.”
January 22: Wall’s campaign tells the Badger Herald that Wall paid no state income taxes because of “tax credits Wall received from the state for risky business investments, job creation and charitable contributions.”
January 23: The Wisconsin State Journal Reports Wall “has not paid personal state income taxes in nine of the last 10 years, according to state Department of Revenue figures.” The story states that the “document indicates Wall, a real estate developer, paid no net taxes from 1999 to 2008, except in 2005…”
February 3: Wispolitics.com reports that Wall paid no state income taxes 12 of the last 15 years.
February 11: Terrence Wall admits to radio talk show host Mitch Henck he asked his accountant to reduce his taxes.
February 16: Terrence Wall refuses to come clean to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about his failure to pay state income taxes, but according to the report: “Wall [also] paid no federal income tax in 2008…”
March: Terrence Wall, used his monthly soapbox in the pages of In Business magazine to point out that many people, like himself presumably, “find ways to shelter their income from the taxman.”
TERRENCE WALL ACCOUNTING GIMMICKS
Of course this isn’t the only tax issue Terrence Wall has been caught lying about. In an 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.”
Wall is infamous for owning a pumpkin patch in the center of Middleton’s commercial district. The media has reported that Wall has used a loophole a law meant to help hardworking farmers to avoid paying tens of thousands of dollars in property taxes.
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