And sometimes there are so many great options you just can’t choose…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Amy Wojcicki, Communications Director amy [at] dpo [dot] org (503) 239-8636
Let’s just get this part out of the way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNnAvTTaJjM
Today’s Willamette Week reports a curious tax deduction Chris Dudley claimed in 2004. First Dudley asked his local fire department to burn down a home he owned, then Dudley turned around and asked the IRS for a $350,000 deduction for the FULL value of that very same home.
Not quite what most Oregonians would do with a 4 bedroom, 4 bath, 4-car garage, 4,900 square foot home in the heart of Lake Oswego. That they just paid $1.15 million for.
Tax experts looking at the Dudley case have flat out stated that deducting $350,000 for a home you already planned to demolish is an over-reach. In today’s Willamette Week it was reported that “Professor Steven Willis, who has taught tax law at the University of Florida for 30 years, is the most skeptical. ‘There’s no way he should get a deduction,’ Willis says. ‘By deciding to demolish the property, he’s saying he values it at nothing.’”
After having the fire department burn his home, Dudley built an 8,500 square foot home on the property.
Let’s talk quick look at Chris Dudley’s tax record:
Tax Avoidance:Helping others to avoid paying taxes as a wealth advisor to the “ultra-affluent.”
Tax Evasion:Dudley’s claim of residence in Washington while living in Oregon has raised serious questions that he has failed to answer.
Tax Fraud: The newest and possibly most creative tactic has raised questions of tax fraud. Dudley claimed what look to be false deductions with the IRS for having the local fire department burn down his home.
Dudley seems to have no problem using public resources for his own gain while finding creative ways to get out of paying for them.
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