JAMIE AND FRANK MCCOURT
According to the Los Angeles Times business section, Los Angeles Dodgers owners Frank and Jamie McCourt earned $108 million from 2004 through 2008. They paid $ 0 in federal income tax and $0 in state income tax on that income. They are probably not going to pay a dime in taxes this year either.
There is no indication that the McCourts did anything untoward or illegal in escaping a tax bill. They simply took advantage of existing tax law, particularly in the commercial real estate business. In addition to real estate loopholes, the McCourts also took out a $140 million bank loan against the value of the Dodgers. Included in that loan was $20 million the McCourts paid themselves to “fund their lifestyles.” Tax free.
The McCourts also used “depreciation” rules quite liberally. For instance, they purchased the Dodgers from Rupert Murdoch of NewsCorp and Fox TV for $430 million in 2004. On paper, the McCourts could actually claim a financial loss for the Dodgers by using existing tax laws. They simply claimed the standard depreciation deduction for the first five years that they owned their baseball team. Even though the Dodgers made enormous amounts of money during that time. Last year, the Los Angeles Dodgers brought in $275 million in revenues. Their team payroll was $100 million. Also, keep in mind, Frank McCourt paid NO MONEY to acquire the Dodgers. He simply flipped a parking lot that Murdoch wanted in Boston and parlayed that into his ownership of the club.
Even Jamie McCourt’s own lawyer seemed embarrassed by the Times’ findings and admitted about the money the couple “lost” from ’04-’09, “They’re tax losses. I don’t mean REAL losses.” The McCourts’ tax issues are just another thing being made public in the couple’s ugly divorce. Jamie McCourt had also revealed that she and her husband paid themselves between $2 million and $3 PER MONTH in salary and expenses from the Dodgers. That money was also tax free which is a good thing for Mrs. McCourt considering her poor choices in boy toys.
TMZ.com also ran an article that showed Frank McCourt spent $52,000 on clothes since November and recently took an $81,000 vacation. Jamie McCourt also wants her spousal support raised to $2 million per month. Since Frank McCourt has no other job or business that produces ANYTHING, that money would come straight from Dodgers fans.
