Word: coaling
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...space program has already shown that the required scientific know-how exists. What of the staggering costs? Glaser argued that after the turn of the century, when such satellites could be in operation, their electricity probably would be no costlier, and perhaps a lot cheaper, than power from oil, coal and nuclear plants. As for the danger from microwaves, Glaser conceded that this needs further study. But he pointed out that a satellite's beam would always be locked on target; in fact, it would disperse altogether if the satellite did not receive continuous electronic cues from a transmitter...
...those all too tempting tax dodges. Invest $30,000 in Wyoming coal fields, the pitch went, and use a loophole in the law to take a legitimate $150,000 deduction on Form 1040. Like many tax-shelter schemes, the offer attracted big names with big money: Basketball Stars Spencer Haywood and Earl ("the Pearl") Monroe, Candid Camera Host Allen Funt, Rock Singer Alice Cooper and Model Margaux Hemingway. The late Elvis Presley was the biggest customer of all: he sank $500,000 into the enterprise...
That was four years ago, and those Wyoming "coal fields" are still virgin grassland. Last week eleven of the 13 men involved in promoting the deal appeared in U.S. District Court in Boston for arraignment on charges that they fraudulently induced investors to take the write-offs. The Government also charges that the deductions were in fact illegal...
...alleged leaders of the group are George Osserman and Paul Garfinkle, a pair of freewheeling tax attorneys, along with Irwin Meyer and Stephen Friedman, two producers of the hit Broadway musical Annie. According to federal investigators, the four built a tax-shelter empire selling interests not only in American coal but also in distribution rights to European films and a Namibian diamond mine. They funneled investment money through a string of paper corporations with headquarters in the U.S., and such offshore havens as the Cayman Islands and Curaçao. Although the current charges concern only the coal caper, which...
Over the years, Congress has fiddled with the tax code to allow deductions for investments in ventures considered worthwhile but risky, like coal mining, oil drilling and public housing construction. The shelters encouraged the wealthy to invest chunks of income that would otherwise have been heavily taxed. The problem was that in some cases lawyers and accountants found clever ways to make such investments appear much larger on paper than they actually were. In 1976 a major revision of the tax code eliminated some of the most abused shelter provisions...