Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Cynthia Nixon’s tax hypocrisy...she may be loony but she's not stupid.

Cynthia Nixon’s tax hypocrisy


After intense prodding from Gov. Cuomo, Cynthia Nixon finally released (for a couple of hours, anyway) five years worth of her income-tax returns.
They show, not surprisingly, that as a successful actress, she makes a great deal of money. They also show that when it comes to everyone else’s taxes, she’s a hypocrite.
Just days before this week’s only debate in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, Nixon finally succumbed to Cuomo’s needling and allowed reporters to inspect (but not copy or photograph) her tax returns dating back to 2013.
Predictably, for someone with well over $1 million a year in income, she uses various loopholes, like significant deductions and an “S corporation” (dubbed Fickle Mermaid) to lower her tax bill.
She even paid her wife, Christine Marinoni, nearly $100,000 as a “business partner” — until Marinoni got a city job with a similar salary after Nixon pal Bill de Blasio took over as mayor.
The tax games are all perfectly legal and quite understandable. Nixon’s far from alone in using such devices.
But here’s the thing: Even as she takes advantage of legal loopholes to lower her own tax bill, she wants to raise taxes on those earning a lot less money than she does.
Last June, Nixon unveiled a plan to fund an extra $7.4 billion in K-12 school spending and expand access to college. Where’s the money to come from? Why, that old progressive chestnut, a “millionaire’s tax.”
Except that Nixon’s definition of “millionaire” starts with a married couple earning $300,000 — the very people already hit hardest by the federal cap on state and local tax deductions.
And they don’t take five-figure deductions for voice lessons and makeup.

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