Obama & Biden put pressure on McC/P to disclose tax returns.

[Waiting For Everyman]

Oh boy, this should get good.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13397.html

[godai]

1. Todd's $100,000+ BP oil money could be an issue.

What does he actually do for that money? Seems like an obvious conflict of interest, enough that he quit the job when she was running for Governor but then quickly rejoined BP when she was elected. I don't see how they could whitewash this as an issue.

[napi21]

2. I like it that they're putting the pressure on, but it's foolish to

persue the per diem stuff.

News reports from Alaska have said that Palin collected per diem travel payments even when she was at home, and the Obama-Biden campaign wants reporters to see if she paid taxes on it.


Per diem payments are NOT TAXABLE! HOWEVER, the pressure to release the returns will make the Pubs uncomfortable, and you never know what other little tidbits might be there!

[yellowcanine]

3. Per diem payments ARE taxable if you collect them while living at home. Just as mileage costs paid

paid for your daily commute are taxable. Per diem is only not taxable when you are traveling on company time.

[napi21]

4. Her case gets tricky though. Her office claims that her duty station is Juno,

and that she was working out of a satellite office. I'm honestly not sure how the IRS would rule on it.

I know I used to buy lunch for MY employees, like when we were taking inventory, and my bosses used to buy lunch or dinner for Me and my coworkers and the only tax implication was a tax deduction for the company.

[yellowcanine]

5. Working lunches are not a problem. But it is the IRS that makes the rules, so she may have a

problem if she was saying it is not income based on what state officials were saying. Any state benefits person worth their salt would say "consult a tax attorney".

I should note that "working lunches" are not a problem if they are ad hoc special event kinds of deals. However, if your employer provides you with lunch every day, you had better report it as income.

[yellowcanine]

6. The IRS will take a dim view of it if most of the year was spent at the "satellite office".

It doesn't matter what your employer calls it or what you call it. What actually happens is what matters. You can't create your own loopholes with word play.

[Motown_Johnny]

8. Per diem would not be taxable if you were being reimbursed for money you spent.. at a hotel etc

but in this case she was basically acting as the hotel owner. She collected money for renting the room to herself.

I am not so sure that this should not be taxable income because it was not a reimbursement.


Not that I am any type of tax expert.. I defiantly am not.

[flamingdem]

7. k & r ---- This is a great move. What about the millions that Palin acquired

during her stint as gov?

[damndude]

9. kick