Archive for May 15th, 2008

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If the federal government told you that they were going to take $5,000 of your money because you’d never miss it, how would you feel? I don’t care what your income level is, I think $5,000 makes a difference. I think you and your family would “miss it.” It’s your hard earned money, and you should be able to decide how it’s spent.

But U.S. Representative Mike Ross sees it differently. He’s supporting a proposal to make taxpayers with incomes of $1 million or more pay an extra one-half percent income tax. This is in addition to the high tax rates they already pay on much of their income by virtue of our tax system that has higher rates for higher income brackets.

Ross said, “So someone who earns $2 million a year would pay $5,000… They’re not going to miss it.” Really? I don’t think it’s fair to keep piling taxes on the rich just because it sounds good to those in lower tax brackets. No one minds a tax, so long as they’re not the ones who have to pay it.

What’s this new proposed tax for? More education benefits for veterans of the war in Iraq. I’m not necessarily for or against the education benefits, as I’m not up to speed on exactly how the money would be spent. But I am definitely against more taxes. We are already overburdened with federal, state, and local taxes. There’s no need for one more tax, even if it would only be paid by those naughty rich people who some politicians think should be flogged over and over again.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

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The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE: BX) has reported earnings this morning, and the initial response is lower. The private equity giant posted a GAAP net loss of $246.7 million after items, and its “economic net income” was also a loss at -$93.6 million.

The company stated that its total net reportable segment revenues were $32.3 million, driven down by declines in all business segments from $1.23 billion in 2007. Its GAAP revenues were $68.5 million.

Corporate Private Equity had negative first quarter revenues; Real Estate revenues down 94%; Marketable Substitute Asset Management down 81%; Financial Advisory Revenues decreased 24%

You can look through the entire release, but as the company noted, most business segments were indeed lower.

Interestingly enough, the company now has $113.53 billion in assets under management. It has also decided to make a dividend payment of $0.30.

Shares of Blackstone are down about 4% at $18.70 in pre-market trading.

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