In 2011, Gary Peters had an effective tax rate of 18.6%. In 2012 it was 18.9% and in 2013 it was 18%.
Over that same time period, Terri Lynn Land paid 2.7% (2012) and 2.2% (2013.) Land says her absurdly (and questionably) low rate is due to her charitable donations. In 2013 she claimed charitable deductions of $44,865 on an income of just $89,729.
Her tax questions are starting to raise eyebrows, especially since she has pumped several million dollars into her Senate race out of a joint bank account with her husband that she happened to just forget about, calling it an “administrative error”.
“How can you inadvertently do something involving a multimillion (bank) account?” [Norman Ornstein, a congressional scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute and contributing editor and columnist for the National Journal and The Atlantic] said. “I think she’s got a headache. … It’s like peeling layers of an onion. Each time you hear an explanation, it raises more questions.”
The Michigan Democratic Party also looked into Land’s humongous, gas-guzzling truck and learned that she didn’t include it on campaign finance disclosures until January 2014 despite using it in her campaign as early as July of the previous year. They also claim that she is paying less than fair market value by renting the $100,000 truck from her brother-in-law for only $1,000 a month.
“Terri Lynn Land is always looking for the latest sweetheart deal, whether it’s special perks from her family’s business Land & Co. or underpaying her brother-in-law for a billboard on wheels,” Kevin McAlister, spokesman for the Michigan Democratic Party.
“As a former Secretary of State, Ms. Land should know better than to think the rules don’t apply her but continues to potentially break the law.”
On her website, Land claims she wants “to take [her] work ethic and experience as a mother, small businesswoman and public official to Washington to show them how government should work for the hardworking taxpayers.”
Apparently she wants to school “them” about how to avoid paying taxes as a wealthy politician.
That’s something Terri Lynn Land surely knows a thing or two about.
[Caricature by DonkeyHotey for Eclectablog. Adapted from: Wikipedia – State of MI]
