STATE NEWS -- IN A TAX DODGE that appears to be an open attempt to loot the state treasury, CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS is hoping to lower its tax bill by subverting the democratic process. MONTANA COWGIRL Corporation Seeks to Bypass Politicians and Just Buy a Montana Law Posted: 29 May 2014 06:02 AM PDT We know that corporations and special interests have already figured out how to buy Montana politicians to influence Montana laws. Now one national corporation has decided to get around the middle men and just buy the laws directly. Tom Rutledge, Charter Communications CEOTom Rutledge, Charter Communications CEO, of Connecticut Enter Charter Communications, a large national corporation that provides phone, internet, and television services and is delinquent in paying its Montana taxes. The corporation is working on a ballot measure that will force you to pay them instead. This in spite of the fact that it boasts more than $8.4 billion in annual earnings. Charter’s CEO Tom Rutledge earned a cool $5.3 million last year alone. The company is seeking its own personal loophole to Montana laws. It says the value of its taxable holdings should not be “centrally assessed.” Rather, it would like to be taxed is if its network were made up of discreet, disconnected components. In other words, rather than being taxed based on the actual value of its multi-billion dollar communications network, Charter wants its property to be taxed instead as individual telephone poles. The corporation has more than $275 million worth of property in Montana. The ballot initiative asks voters to cut Charter Communication’s property tax rate in half–and would leave Montanans holding the bag for the rest. Of course, the corporation knows this wouldn’t be too popular with the voters. So it is apparently paying its signature gatherers to lie to the voters, claiming the ballot measure will “lower your cable bill” instead of telling you the truth. That your taxes will go up while their profits soar. mtcowgirl/2014/05/29/corporation-seeks-to-bypass-politicians-and-just-buy-a-montana-law/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MontanaCowgirlBlog+%28Montana+Cowgirl+Blog%29
Posted on: Fri, 30 May 2014 15:39:14 +0000
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