Obama Stimulus Bill Rescues Microsoft Billlionaire Paul Allen

• February 20, 2009

Well, I for one am happy the stimulus plan is helping out only the needy.

Billionaire Paul Allen is a Microsoft cofounder, the owner of the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and the owner of the NBA’s Portland Trailblazers.
And, thanks to the stimulus bill President Obama signed this week, he’s also about to be as much as a billion dollars richer.
Here’s how:
* Allen owns a majority stake in cable provider Charter Communications.
* Charter Communications this month said it would reduce its debt load by $8 billion and enter Chapter 11.
* Normally, partners at a firm like Charter Communications would have to pay taxes on the amount of debt forgiven in this process, which is, in a sense a one-time income windfall. Tax law calls it a “deemed distribution.”
* But under the new bill, companies like Charter Communications will be able to avoid paying taxes on forgiven debt until 2014. Even then, Paul will have until 2018 to pay it completely off.
* Paul owns about half of Charter, so his share of the Charter Commuincations’ $8 billion debt forgiveness is around $4 billion. At a tax rate of 25%, Allen could avoid paying as much as $1 billion in taxes until 2014.

Hope ‘n Change, Hope ‘n Change.
Now I see why Democrats (like Rob’s Senator Kent Conrad) were in such a rush to pass this piece of crap.

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http://www.valleydeals.com/cgi-bin/board2/YaBB.pl Kevin

Paul doesn’t pay any taxes; his customers do and they are none the wiser.
docdave

This whole post is speculative and hypothetical with no fact in it at all except that Obama is trying to help out the small business owner as he promised to do.

buzz, where have you been not that anyone here has missed you. Anyway if Obama is trying to help the small business owner who really hasn’t ask for help, why has the bulk of the money gone to big business and to business/organizations like ACORN that helped him get elected?
dawneyr

Oh dear. Does this mean now it’ll be mandatory that Charter preach climate change alarmism and such, rather than doing it out of freewill? It’s like a sadistic infomercial. We get to pay for this PLUS, if we act now (remember how quickly this was pushed through before date night) we get to be the recipient of the social engineering propaganda that will be excreted through the media, the same media that elected Obamarxist.

As with all workers of such deals, the deal is never a done deal even when obligations have been met. It always comes back to haunt the parties with the vilest exchanges of back-scratching favors. Maybe Mr. Allen will have been abducted by his “alien guru” by that time. Phew.
bill-tb

Billionaires need bailouts too, especially Democrat donor billionaires. As people disconnect, will they then get subsidies for the users who give up cable.
Buzz

This is why I like reading the the evolution of these blogs.

1. Obama’s administration writes into the Stimulus package a provision to help out the small business owner. If the business goes bankrupt the owners can DELAY paying tax on “deemed distribution” profit for that year. Possibly saving them losing there house, cars, etc.

2. Whistler finds one instance where the business owner does not need to take advantage of this provision, and no one says he will for sure.

3. Keven makes some snide remark that this guy doesn’t pay taxes.

4. Now -suitepotato- thinks that Obama has inserted a provision into the plan to directly help this alleged political donor personally.

This whole post is speculative and hypothetical with no fact in it at all except that Obama is trying to help out the small business owner as he promised to do.

Retards, complete and utter retards.
Buzz

You hit the nail on the head, what Democrats have been saying all along.
“The rich don’t need tax breaks.” I’m glad you finally see it in the correct light. He should be paying WAY more than 25%.
dawneyr

Don’t we want tax breaks for companies that plan to succeed, not that plan to fail? This seems to be rewarding poor management like the bank bailouts. I’m not against people making money or genuinely filing for bankruptcy, but if a company with its unique capital capabilities couldn’t figure out a way to stay out of chapter 11, then either their mismanagement shortcomings are way beyond help or they are misusing the filing.
http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

Apparently Buzzed doesn’t get it that this bill was pretty much stupid all the way around.

Pretty much what you expect from the Dems.
jimmypop

tax cuts are good. Im cool with this.

i like rich people. they buy things from me so that i may be rich one day. plus, ive never gotten a job from poor people, so i find the wealthy useful.
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

At a tax rate of 25%, Allen could avoid paying as much as $1 billion in taxes until 2014.

What do you want to bet that he takes some of that money and invests it in…politicians?
Mickey

Nice boat
R4Freedom

The rich get richer, the poor get a little more, and the middle class get poorer by paying the taxes for both. Ah, lightbulb went off. What happens when the middle class move to the poor status and there is noone else to pay taxes? Perhaps a financial melt down.
http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

That is the best investment these days.
http://suitepotato.blogspot.com/ sayanything-4808

Kevin might not seriously understand how right he is. I worked for Charter and they are not your most forward thinking cable company when it comes to the Internet age. Paul used to go on at great length but incredible vagueness about his “wired world”.

While other providers had multi-meg speeds standard, he had partnered with Earthlink and was charging as much as other cable outfits for speeds that didn’t break one meg. In areas that were thick with wealthy customers. 768k for almost $100 per month???

Charter out of all cable companies gets this sweet deal? Clearly the market is not being allowed to do its work and the idiocy of its participants not being allowed to follow natural selection rules. Thanks to Obama and company.

How twisted is it that a socialist control freak like O is helping give such savings to a billionaire whose company is more often staying in business despite his leadership than because of it?
http://suitepotato.blogspot.com/ sayanything-4808

Buzz:

4. Now -suitepotato- thinks that Obama has inserted a provision into the plan to directly help this alleged political donor personally.

Where did I say in all this that it was personally:

Charter out of all cable companies gets this sweet deal? Clearly the market is not being allowed to do its work and the idiocy of its participants not being allowed to follow natural selection rules. Thanks to Obama and company.

How twisted is it that a socialist control freak like O is helping give such savings to a billionaire whose company is more often staying in business despite his leadership than because of it?

Whether purposeful or accidental, it’s happening. I don’t recall any such help for the common people being in there. I just did my taxes and I’m sure there’s been no similar help for me.

SayAnythingBlog.com

Obama Stimulus Bill Rescues Microsoft Billlionaire Paul Allen

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