Being 1 of the 1%: Nice Work if You Can Get It

I use 'work' in the loosest possible sense here.

Fun article in the Times today ('A Family's Billions, Artfully Sheltered') about the Lauder family and their hijinks.  Apparently the Lauders are not really into the whole taxpaying thing.  And who can blame them?  Asking people who are worth $3.1 billion to pay more than 17% in taxes is just so unjust.  If Ronald Lauder hadn't dodged $135 million in taxes, he just might not have been able to afford that Klimt painting--which he so generously donated to his own private art foundation.  And then deducted the 'gift' from his taxes, as one simply must, n'est ce pas?

Apparently the Lauders have so aggressively pursued every possible tax shelter, loophole, and ambiguously worded tax code that several loopholes have been closed just because of them.  Does that make for some awkward moments in St. Bart's, I wonder?*

A few minutes later I came across this little blurb from Progress Illinois.  Apparently a bill has been introduced in the Illinois state senate that would give tax breaks (amounting to $250 million a year) to a couple of companies, including one CME Industries.  That name rang a tinny little proletarian bell of rage in the back of my mind, so I went back to the Times article.  Sure enough, CME Industries is one of Lauder's 'companies,' which is organized as a Dutch holding company, conveniently headquartered in the Bahamas, and 'operated' in Central Europe.  Yet they forced the Illinois senate to give them tax breaks by threatening to leave the state.  Fascinating.

*'Don't be silly, darling, only the plebes go to St. Bart's now.  We all have our own islands. Ronald had his constructed out of a mixture of diamond dust and rabbit tears.  Isn't that fun?'

A Modern Revision

The Moving Finger texts, and, having texted,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit,
Shall lure it back to cancel half an :)
Nor all thy Tears wash out an LOL of it.