Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekkah are among the highest level right wing donors. They supported Ted Cruz in the Republican primaries and Trump ever since.
Yet before 2010, most of their donations were to non-political charities and medical researchers. But after that year, they suddenly started contributing to right wing political groups.
Why? The answer seems to be $7 billion in possible tax liabilities:
According to Salon
Rebekah Mercer began redirecting the family’s philanthropy after her father’s primary company, Renaissance Technologies, became the subject of an IRS inquiry into its practice of temporarily storing investment income in bank accounts as a method of avoiding higher tax rates. In 2010 the agency ruled that firms utilizing “basket options” were engaged in illegal tax avoidance and warned Renaissance Technologies, the world’s most profitable hedge fund, to discontinue the practice.
Jane Mayer elaborated in The New Yorker last month:
Renaissance’s profits were further enhanced by a controversial tax maneuver, which became the subject of a 2014 Senate inquiry. According to Senate investigators, Renaissance had presented countless short-term trades as long-term ones, improperly avoiding some $6.8 billion in taxes. The Senate didn’t allege criminality, but it concluded that Renaissance had committed “abuses.” The I.R.S. demanded payment.
Not sure where this fits into the Trump Tax “Plan,” but somehow I think the IRS may be limiting its pursuit of this $7 billion.
Greed and More Greed.