Bruce Rauner: Three cheers for offshore tax havens!
Here's the thing about really rich guys: Odds are, they've done a thing or two along the way to becoming really rich that ordinary folks probably wouldn't approve of. Balzac may have been exaggerating when he said that behind every great fortune lies a great crime, but a little offshore tax evasion, the likes of which little people would never be able to take advantage of? You bet!
And billionaire venture capitalist Bruce Rauner, the Republican nominee for governor in Illinois, has turned out to be no different than the Mitt Romneys of the world. According to a new report in the Chicago Sun-Times, Rauner's stashed some unknown part of his fortune in the Cayman Islands, where their zeal for secrecy is matched only by their aversion to income taxes (they have none).
Of course, Rauner's refused to release his tax returns, so it's impossible to know just how much offshore money he's got parked in the Caribbean. Rauner, as these zillionaires always do, swears that everything is above board, but as ever, the crime is what's legal. And compliance with the letter of the law is hardly insulation against devastating political attacks. Remember this?
Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, who's been well behind in the polls and could really use a break, has already issued a couple of press releases slamming Rauner, and attack ads can't be far behind. After all, Rauner wants to become governor of a state whose taxes he tried to avoid paying. For 99 percent of us, that's no winning message.
