Carl Icahn appealed the taxes on the Taj Mahal and was given a refund by whatever or whoever is deputized to make the decision to give rich people their taxes back in New Jersey. I don’t have a platoon of accountants handy to explain it to me.
I can’t tell the size of the tax refund Carl *achieved* through his hard work, or even what year’s taxes he was fighting over, which is not a criticism of this excellent story from the Press’s Michelle Brunetti Post. It didn’t seem like Dennis Levinson knew the details either. The county only found out after someone called the state Board of Taxation. Chris Christie, in 2017, said that he and his team of lawyer overlords had settled all the tax appeals.
Carl Icahn, who is 82 and unscrupulous, went to Princeton in the 50s. People sometimes ask me when they find out I went to a fancy-ass college by accident (Yale, football recruit) if that’s why I’m now a “liberal” or somesuch nonsense, but half the assholes I went to college with wanted to be just like Carl Icahn. Another 50% wanted to make the world a more just and equitable place, after they made a trillion dollars. The other 30% wanted to be doctors or poetry professors or whatever. I’m not good with math.
But back to Carl, where’s he going with this? What’s the point of conquering the world if you leave it a stinking husk? Maybe I just answered my own question.
Elsewhere in financiers, Phil Murphy devoted a chunk of his State of the State address to NJ’s $11 billion tax incentive program which did not make Steve Sweeney very happy, seemingly, as Sweeney wants to keep the GrowNJ and ERG programs very big. Here’s a list of the ten biggest subsidies in the state. Three of them–Revel (A.C.), Holtec (Camden) and American Water Works (also Camden)–might seem relevant to this discussion.
The FBI is looking for an 80+ year-old sculpture–a “bust of a Sudanese woman”–that went missing from an apartment in Cherry Hill.
The Funny Farm in Mays Landing has goats that will eat your Christmas tree, which is definitely something I’m adding to the to-do list for next year, along with not buying a Douglas Fir again because that thing was excruciatingly painful to pick up/decorate. Maybe I’m allergic. If the goats can eat those needles, they deserve your #respect.
For more feats of journalism…
Where do plastic bag fees go? In Somers Point, one store is donating to charity–SOMERS POINT — Santori’s Produce & Deli co-owner Gino Santori says the small grocer on Route 9 could bring in hundreds of extra dollars a month. www.pressofatlanticcity.com
Jack Hummel, longtime journalist, author of the BEN column, dies–It was the late ’90s and I was a nervous 22-year-old fresh out of college, reporting for my first day of work at the Bridgeton Evening News. Jack Hummel made it clear right from the start that he was the top dog around those parts. www.nj.com
Maynard’s Café to host first-ever Pop-Up Market–MARGATE – Maynard’s Café on Amherst Avenue is hosting its first-ever Pop-Up Market 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 20, and two other businesses are jumping on board the holiday weekend event. www.downbeach.com
The richest town in all 21 counties, ranked–The places on this list are the most well-off in their county. For context, the New Jersey median income was about $76,475, according to newly released Census data. www.nj.com