Norm Coleman opposes tax shelters? It must be an election year

Submitted by The Big E on February 10, 2008 - 10:33am.

Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) joined Senators Levin and Obama to crack down on Caribbean tax shelters for the wealthy. If your first reaction to the previous sentence is "Huh!?! Is this the same Norm who has never found a tax break for the wealthy that he wouldn't vote for?", remember that Norm is up for reelection. We'll be seeing plenty more of his spectacular political gymnastics as he tries desperately to save his political career.

Offshore tax shelters cost the US Treasury more than $100 billion a year and a senior lawmaker said he wants to curb them through legislation he is offering along with Senator Barack Obama.

Senator Carl Levin told the Reuters Regulation Summit he hopes tax-dodging schemes will get more attention in the presidential campaign as an economic fairness issue, adding that an investigative panel he heads will stay focused on the issue.

"We're after offshore tax havens and their use in tax avoidance, where they serve no economic purpose except to avoid taxes," said Levin, a Michigan Democrat who chairs the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

Levin, Obama and Sen. Norm Coleman last year introduced a bill to crack down on tax evasion schemes involving offshore shelters in places such as the Cayman Islands.
(Caribbean Net News)

What will Norm's rich donors think about this? I can't imagine that they'll be happy.

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Questions for JNP folks...

Submitted by grassroots.progressive (not verified) on February 10, 2008 - 11:25am.

Speaking of the economy... I'm watching the KSTP debate right now (Sunday 2/10) and JNP talked about two items I'm not familiar with.

First, JNP said something about changes in the tax code that penalized labor unions. There have certainly been many challenges to labor unions' ability to organize workplaces, but what's Jack referring to in the tax code? The only thing in the tax code I can think of that would apply to labor unions would be their PAC designations...?

Secondly, JNP used the word "depression" to characterize the current economic situation. This seems to bear explanation to me. I remember our last major recession in this country, and the current economic situation seems no worse than that. What am I missing? How does Jack differentiate between "depression" and "recession," or is he just sensationalizing the economic condition?

More info would be greatly appreciated...