Black folks wrote off Clarence Thomas decades ago, but his billionaire buddy Harlan Crow has written him off to his own personal profit.
You might recall to your disgust that rich people can take a tax deduction on their luxury yachts and private jets. Look, America’s a meritocracy. Nothing’s preventing you from buying luxury yachts and private jets aside from your own personal broke-assness. Now, these tax breaks are premised on the adorable notion that the private jets are primarily for business purposes. Just check out these salt mines!
Harlan Crow has defied any congressional inquiries into his expensive relationship with Clarence Thomas, who coincidentally sits on the Supreme Court. ProPublica, however, has obtained tax data regarding Crow’s 162-foot yacht, the Michaela Rose, where Crow kept Thomas entertained in the manner to which he’d become accustomed. Apparently, these trips with Thomas helped reduce Crow’s tax bill because he technically charters his yacht through a separate company.
However, the law requires that Crow’s “yacht company” actually be a profit-seeking business, and ProPublica’s reporters could find no evidence of this claim, despite what Crow told the IRS. According to Michael Kosnitzky, from the hilariously named law firm Pillsbury Winthrop, “You have to be regularly chartering the yacht to third parties at fair market value,” and the former crew members of the Michaela Rose, whom ProPublica interviewed, have no recollection of the boat being chartered. (The Michaela Rose just isn’t that kind of yacht.)
“Based on what information is available, this has the look of a textbook billionaire tax scam,” Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden told ProPublica. “These new details only raise more questions about Mr. Crow’s tax practices, which could begin to explain why he’s been stonewalling the Finance Committee’s investigation for months.”
Yes, Crow’s tax practices and relationship with Thomas “raise more questions” that, like the final seasons of “Lost” and “X-Files,” will probably not have satisfying answers.
PREVIOUSLY:
Justice Clarence Thomas's Billionaire Benefactor Tells Congress To Eat Sh*t
Clarence Thomas Led Astray On Judicial Ethics By Everyone Else, Just Ask Him
I, Clarence Thomas Do Nazi Why My Friendship With A Billionaire Is Anyone's Business
Harlan Crow Collects Nazi Memorabilia, Hitler’s Crayon Drawings Because He Hates Nazis So Very Much
ProPublica broke the news back in April that Crow lavished gifts on Thomas like that famous scene from Pretty Woman. This went on for more than 20 years and involved quite a few luxury trips on Crow’s jet and yacht. Thomas spent summers at Crow’s private lakeside resort, Camp Topridge, in upstate New York. It’s the kind of place where you “summer” as a verb rather than “vacation” like a commoner.
The big question is whether Crow kept these trips on the down low to the IRS, because large gifts are subject to the gift tax. Sure, you can play Gatsby to all your friends and your very miscast Supreme Court Justice Daisy Buchanan, but you can’t also write off all those good times as the cost of doing business.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone if Crow treated his trips with Thomas as deductible business expenses. Personally, spending time with Clarence and Ginni Thomas would rank up there with ditch digging in Phoenix right now. It’s work. We all know the point of all the wining and dining and the VIP treatment on fancy yachts, jets, and unicorn-hunting resorts. However, it’s not politically convenient to admit what’s probably right there in plain black-and-white on Crow’s tax forms.
The mega rich are notorious for taking major deductions on expensive, luxury pastimes and daring the IRS to audit them. Republicans aren’t fighting increased IRS funding because they genuinely believe “87000” agents will hunt down normal people. They’re protecting people like Harlan Crow.
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OFFS, now I've gotta do a Pretty Woman gif with those two yucks. THANKS A LOT, STEPHEN 😒
THIS FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT COULD HAVE BUILT WATER FACETS IN DEVELOPING NATIONS WITH THE MONEY HE HAS SPENT TRYING TO ESTABLISH A CHRISTOFASCIST STATE.