If there's any immutable rule in politics, it should be: beware of candidates who try to be "bold" merely for the sake of looking bold.
Chris Christie, trying desperately to keep his Presidential hopes alive, wants to look bold, and he's not above throwing millions of elderly Americans under his campaign bus to do so. That's the only conceivable explanation for the New Jersey Republican governor's misinformed and dangerous proposals to "fix" Social Security.
In his big campaign speech delivered Tuesday in New Hampshire, Christie showed that he doesn't understand what Social Security is for, why it exists, how it's funded, or who gets benefits and why.
His major proposals are to cut off Social Security for high-earning recipients, and to raise the retirement age. Neither would significantly improve Social Security's fiscal condition, and raising the retirement age might even be damaging.
More on that in a moment.
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Tuesday, 14 Apr 2015 06:04 PM
By Mark Lagerkvist, Watchdog.org
Gov. Chris Christie failed to report as income or pay taxes on $380,000 in expense allowances he received from the state, according to a New Jersey Watchdog examination of Treasury data and the governor’s tax returns.
By not declaring the allowances on their joint returns, Christie and his wife, Mary Pat, avoided roughly $152,000 in federal income taxes over four years.
Despite an exchange of emails, Christie’s press office did not offer comment.
In addition to his $175,000 a year salary, Christie gets a $95,000 a year expense account. In the state budget, it’s described as an "allowance to the governor of funds not otherwise appropriated, for official reception on behalf of the state, operations of an official residence, and other expenses."
The governor is not required to provide receipts, refund surpluses, or provide information to the state on how the money is used. But failure to report a "non-accountable" allowance to the Internal Revenue Service is a different matter.
Contrary to IRS rules, Christie did not declare the allowances as income on federal returns for 2010, 2011, 2012, or 2013. The 2014 return is due Wednesday, but Christie typically receives six-month filing extensions.
The allowance is a New Jersey tradition that began in the mid-1970s. The original purpose was to provide funds to the state’s chief executive to run the governor’s mansion, now at Drumthwacket in Princeton, and hold official events there.
Click for rest of story at NewsMax
Poster Comment:
As if the bridge scandal isn't bad enough, Governor LardAss is a tax cheat who thinks senior citizens should have to keep working past their retirement years.
What an asshat.
