So, John McCain has decided to make up with Phil Gramm and once again list him as an adviser to his campaign. Well, folks, Gramm is the gift that will continue to give.

The story has been brewing for several months now, but has come to a head this week ending with a Senate Hearing by Senator Carl Levin. It starts off with a disgruntled computer tech in Liechtenstein who came forward with the names of several super rich citizens, US Citizens included, who had secretly set up bank accounts there with the purpose of avoiding paying taxes on the money. Join me below as I connect the dots to John McCain.

Trolls on your marks.  Get Set.  Counting down: 3, 2, 1.  Go.

John Ashcroft thinks it's okay to torture members of the United States Armed Forces.  However, Mr. Ashcroft sometimes has problems with facts and reality.  It seems unlikely that he would approve of the use of waterboarding on his own person.  Perhaps waterboarding would help change his mind.

A special shout out to Michael Savage.  The "brats" aren't faking autism.  In Michael's case I'd say he's not faking stupidity either.

Just for the record, in case anyone gets confused, I'm voting for the candidate who works out (That's bad, Nutz?).  He's a strong man, both physically and of character.  You may have heard of him.  His name is Barack.

Number of times I wanted Ron Paul to run the show: -1000
Number of insane things Congress has done:  I lost count.
Keep your head down, this bazooka has a hair trigger.
Onward.

Originally I wondered why there was no form W-2G.  You probably are wondering, "What the heck is IRS Form W-2G, and who cares if McCain ever filed one or not?"  

Those are fair  questions.  IRS Form W-2G is similar to the W-2 form we all know and hate.  However, instead of declaring wages, you use the W-2G to declare Gambling Winnings.  

Now why should anyone care to ask John McCain about his W-2G filings?  Answering that is slightly more complicated given his many years of marathon gambling sessions at the craps table and his ties to the gaming industry.  However, let's start with the fact aides say McCain tends to play for a few thousand dollars at a time!  Over the years that adds up to a big chunk of change.  And that has potential tax consequences.   Apparently, I was asking the wrong question.  The real question is why hasn't he ever declared ANY winnings on his 1040, or any losses on his Schedule A?  So....

UPDATE II - note title change... apparently this is the real mystery. (h/t to Mrick for really spelling this out)

This really could just turn out to be a paper work error.  However, since Congressman Vern as been involved in too many shady business activities to remember (including tax issues) - it's worth a second look.  

More after the jump...  

A quick diary to add more to the growing UBS/John McCain story, MarketPlace reports this morning that the bank that caters to the very wealthy has warned some of its employees not to travel to the U.S., for fear that they might be arrested.

A couple of weeks back, a UBS banker was indicted on tax evasion charges, after it was alleged that he helped an American real estate developer to avoid taxes. Apparently, this was no rogue employee.

Forbes has the story, via Atrios:

UBS has told members of its former private banking team responsible for rich US clients not to travel to America, the Financial Times reported.

The Swiss bank has also made lawyers available to the more than 50 bankers involved, many of whom have left UBS since it decided last November to wind down its cross-border private banking business for US customers.

UPDATE x 2 below the fold:

"Four years into the Iraq war, Americans are still living with the consequences of this White House's efforts to quell dissent. This commutation sends the clear signal that in this Administration, cronyism and ideology trump competence and justice."

Statement of Senator Hillary Clinton on President Bush's commutation of the prison term for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

The Scooter Libby commutation is a microcosm of the Culture of Corruption, a key issue in the Democratic party's takeover of Congress in 2006.  It shows the disregard for judicial norms, the corruption, and the abuse of office that have come to characterize the Bush Era.

Unfortunately, Hillary Clinton is not a credible critic of this Culture of Corruption, and certainly not of this episode.#  

In 2008, we need someone with credibility on the issue of corruption and abuse of office if we are to take on St. John McCain, whose reputation for ethical behavior is overstated, but whose track record still outshines that of the Clintons.

The full vetting below the fold.

Warren Buffett complains that he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary: But lets get real, most of Buffett’s income is derived from dividends and capital gains, which are taxed at only a 15% Federal rate, as opposed to a Federal rate more than twice that for other ordinary hard working Americans earning regular income, bonuses, etc.

Or start paying for it!

I will not have a god damned bill of indebtedness of half a trillion dollars or more handed to my children, my grandchildren, my great grandchildren, etc., and so forth, because of Bush's god damned invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Rescind all of Bush's tax cuts. Now!

I just picked this link up off another web site. I can't attest for its accuracy but but I'm placing it here for confirmation or denial.

Apparently the democratic "leadership" headed by Charles Rangel (D-NY) is trying to ram  secret Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Columbia, Panama, South Korea and Peru, through congress. Some of the trade agreements are apparently benign (then whey are they secret?) but the one with Panama caught someones attention.

Economist and investment/globalization specialist Peter Riggs of the Tax Justice Network, which describes itself as an outfit devoted to "combating tax evasion by corporations and the rich", took a good long look at the Panama trade deal. After noting that the Panama and Peru deals have been considered "relatively non-controversial and will probably pass", he explains that the deal with Panama has nothing to do with trade

www.taxjustice-usa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=119

In case you wondered why the Bush administration would go through all the trouble to sign a trade pact with Panama (where, as we've been reporting, major FTA-related labor disputes are underway), you MUST read Peter Riggs' latest piece for Tax Justice USA.

Hey all. Greetings from the great state of Oregon. Had to diary this story since I seem entrenched in the middle.
It all started this last winter when I read about Ed and Elaine Brown's legal problems with the IRS and federal Government. Just the other day this was posted on kos.

Apparently this is happening right now in New Hampshire:

Authorities Converge On Ed and Elaine Brown's Home

Plainfield, New Hampshire - June 7, 2007

State and federal authorities have converged on the home of a New Hampshire couple involved in a tax standoff.

People are being kept several miles away from the Center of Town Road in Plainfield, where Ed and Elaine Brown live. Neighbors, including some who have been evacuated, reported police SWAT teams, a helicopter and at least one armored vehicle converged on a field near the home Thursday morning.

Rudy ain't backing down:

So no, I haven’t paid taxes on those rings. And I’m not going to. Because the Yankee pride they represent belongs to all of us. As a city, we’ve paid enough already, in blood and tears and misery and medical costs from all the lung cancer. (I swear, the best knowledge we had said that the air around the site was safe; Bernie Kerik oversaw the study himself.) I’m not going to let the Village Voice and Al Qaeda win this round.

What a man, what a man, what a mighty dumb man.

Today's Washington Post has an article on John Edwards working for the past few years as a consultant to a hedge fund firm, Fortress Investment Group, with $30 billion in assets. According to the Post article, he's "raised $167,460 in donations from Fortress employees for his 2008 presidential campaign, his largest source of support from a single company."

What ever happened to Edward's description of the "Two Americas" - (the very rich + the merely rich) and (the rest of us). Was it just overblown campaign rhetoric? Was his vision of defending the common person only so much hot air? Someone needs to figure this one out soon...

I have noticed that most people without a direct connection to Mexico don't get how the Mexican economy works. They assume that it is more or less just like the American with problems caused by corruption and poverty. So many Americans from the right and the left offer solutions that cannot apply to Mexico. It is even more ironic when the proposed solutions have been Mexican policy for years, and in some cases, sometimes decades.

Mexico has been a free-market country for about 20 years now. The policy has failed mainly because free-market thinking ignores politics and the power of monopolies or quasi-monopolies.

Just a thought: if congressional Dems really want to show some cojones, why not have them draft a bill that states the following:

If Halliburton moves its headquarters and financial roots to the United Arab Emirates, all contracts said company has with the United States government shall be null and void.

Granted, it doesn't stand a chance of being signed by the numbskull in the White House, but it would be a start.  

And fine: let Waxman and Co. have their protracted (and warranted) investigation; but show that we, the people, don't want to be fleeced by tax evading weasel companies, either.

Any thoughts?

Guess what?
Fox News political hack Dick Morris hasn't paid his taxes for a long, long time.

See also
Matt Browner Hamlin at MyLeftnutmeg

Ed Brown,63,is holed up in his home in Plainfield,NH and has no desire to move from his home. That's because as soon as he moves, he's busted. He may be busted even if he doesn't move.

Brown and his wife,Elaine,65 were convicted on Thursday in Concord of shielding their income so they could avoid paying income taxes. A warrant was issued for their arrests when they failed to show up for their trial on charges of income tax evasion.