Saturday, April 13, 2019

Now We Know: The 2017 Tax Law’s Big Winner Is the Millionaire CEO

Treasury Secretary Mnuchin
Writing about "Hyper-Local" news nearly always requires perspectives and different angles on the stories posted here. Images selected for insertion are intended to make visual impacts of editorial content by sight.
They send a message. Now some numbers:
The top 0.1%, who make more than $3.4 million a year, made out with $193,380.
The top 1% of income earners made out with $51,140
Average Americans made out with $1,610
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Follow along if you can . . . It's not meant to-be-easy. Somehow readers of this blog need to do more work to connect-the-dots when information, comments, and opinions are presented side-by-side. For example, why this opening image with one guy gesturing on the left?
It's too early to get puzzled, but if you know about Mnuchin to start with, there's more from the federal level directly impacting a city like Mesa, its mayor, more especially Opportunity Zones (Mesa has 11 if you didn't know that before), state and local sales and property taxes, commercial real estate, income inequality and what might help explain the crisis in affordable housing here. We're going to bounce back-and-forth and forward fairly fast - and finally get to what is featured in a post on this blog yesterday.
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Distressed Entire Downtown Mesa Has Been Bought (Just In Case You Didn't Know)
Your MesaZona blogger has been saying this all along since 2017. Now you can hear that fact directly from Caliber's CEO Chris Loeffler right here and right now in 4 minutes.
They started out flipping houses and now they've bought an entire downtown: Mesa.
REAL ESTATE PRIVATE EQUITY
MONOPOLY JOCKS
REAL ESTATE SYNDICATION


The neglected and distressed downtown Mesa had turned into an Opportunity Zone for private wealth-creation.
Worsley did this in public office.
Mesa Mayor John Giles does this also from the time he filled in the unexpired term in 2014 for former mayor Scott Smith. Giles is now serving his first elected 4-year term

Featured Speaker: Mesa Mayor John Giles
Take a look at this upcoming 7th Annual Caliber Summit Arizona Access
EDUCATE UPDATE CONNECT
May 2 - 4, 2019 | Phoenix, Arizona
"The world of investing has fundamentally changed – knowing this, we’ve made it our mission to not only create a better way to invest, but to educate and empower individual investors along the way.
Join us for our 7th Annual Caliber Summit: Alternative Access 2019 for your chance to connect with world class experts in a fun and approachable environment. Guests will gain knowledge from seasoned industry insiders, stay up to date with live property tours and updates and connect with like-minded individuals – all while gaining access to wealth building alternatives you deserve. . . "
________________________________________________________________________
Alternative Access 2019 is for everyone.
Who's Speaking?
Through innovative, proven best practices in real estate, Caliber’s presenters are a world class mix of industry professionals. Thought provoking aspects of investment and financial planning will be presented to empower you to take further ownership of your wealth.
Connect with thought leaders

Through innovative, proven best practices in real estate, Caliber’s presenters are a world class mix of industry professionals. Thought provoking aspects of investment and financial planning will be presented to empower you to take further ownership of your wealth.
 

 
 


The 7th Annual Caliber Summit has been carefully crafted to cater to the needs of individual accredited investors and industry professionals such as CPA’s, RIA’s and more. Whether you’re an existing client or partner seeking performance updates or new to Caliber there’s something for you at Alternative Access 2019.
https://www.caliberco.com/annualsummit/

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Reference: The Tax Law’s Big Winner Is the Millionaire CEO
Cutting the top marginal rate was always going to help the wealthy the most.
By Joe Light
Bloomberg News 12 April 2019
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< Here's a 7-year projection for 2025 from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
New Tax Law Is Fundamentally Flawed and Will Require Basic Restructuring   
UPDATED August 14, 2018


The major tax legislation enacted last December will cost approximately $1.5 trillion over the next decade and deliver windfall gains to wealthy households and profitable corporations, further widening the gap between those at the top of the income ladder and the rest of the nation . . .
Note the income groups, the percentage change in after-tax income, and the average estimated changes.

From the figure first presented at the start of this post for the top 0.1% $193,380 is higher, $252,300.
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BOTTOM LINE 
Mnuchin and others in the Trump administration pledged that the tax law wouldn’t benefit the wealthy, but that promise was doomed from the start
BLOGGER NOTES:
< An image taken from Twitter of Mesa Mayor John Giles (at center) in Washington DC having a talk with Steve Mnuchin, the U.S. Secretary of The Treasury a couple of months ago.
A couple of years earlier at a U.S. Mayors Conference, Giles stated that except for an aircraft carrier, you get everything from cities. That's a paraphrase, but it certainly looks that things have changed.
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There’s a particular type of rich person, probably living somewhere in Florida, Texas, or another low-tax state like Arizona who did even better. This person runs his own company or companies, likely in the real estate business.
He got his first windfall from the new tax law back in 2017, before it even passed. As Republicans floated their proposal for a massive cut to the corporate tax rate, from 35 percent to 21 percent, investors began buying corporate shares in anticipation of its passing, says Todd Castagno, an analyst for Morgan Stanley.
Our hypothetical rich person’s businesses are probably in commercial real estate.
Those are most often structured as pass-throughs, such as LLCs or other partnerships, which are taxed not at the corporate level but at their owners’ marginal tax rate, and the new law lets their owners shield 20 percent of their business income from any taxes at all. This deduction was intended to benefit small businesses. Congress blocked high-income owners of some service providers from taking the break in most cases, including lawyers, doctors, and athletes. But lawmakers gave it to commercial real estate developers regardless of income.
Real estate dodged other bullets, too.
For most businesses, Congress killed so-called like-kind exchanges, which let sellers of certain property such as machinery or artwork avoid capital-gains taxes so long as they reinvested the proceeds in similar property.
But the provision was preserved for real estate. If our rich person invests in property in a qualified opportunity zone,” QOZ a designation created by the new tax law to encourage investment in low-income areas, he’ll be able to avoid some capital-gains taxes and defer the rest for years. Many opportunity zones are indeed in low-income areas, but others include fast-gentrifying neighborhoods . . .where the developer stands to make a much larger return.
For a lot of accountants, the law has been a real godsend precisely because it’s so complicated.
Take state and local income and property taxes: SALT* (see below for explanation)
The new law capped the amount of those that Americans can deduct from their federal taxes at $10,000 a year—that’s why the tax winner probably lives in or is planning to move to a low- or no-tax state such as Texas or Florida or Arizona, where the state and local tax (SALT) cap matters less.
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“At the end of the day, when your central policy calls for lowering maximum rates, it’s not going to be easy not to benefit rich people,” says Trier. “It’s just a fact.”
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*About SALT State and Local Income and Property Taxes 
Are Individuals Moving to States With Little to No Income Tax?
Blogger Note: The excerpts inserted below are taken from City Data three years ago, that includes shows interactive infographic Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data.
It can help you understand all the recent reports that Maricopa County and the City of Mesa are growing fast - some of the fastest growth in the entire United States.
The maps, of course, do not prove causation or correlation. That’s up to the statisticians, or really, the individual evaluating the evidence.
With that said, what is the general connection between income tax burden per household and net income migration?
 
R.T. Young
R.T. Young, Ph.D. Business Economics
Are individuals moving from higher tax states to lower tax states?
The hotly-debated issue has two components:
  • First, how big is the movement of individuals between states? Is the shift something worth worrying about?
  • Second, could taxes be a possible explanation for the movement of individuals from one state to another? In particular, is income tax a major culprit?
 Here’s what the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data looks like on these two questions.
(As a note for the migration data, the data are essentially a matching of tax returns across time – for instance, an individual files in, say, Wyoming in 2008 and then files in New York in 2009.)
First, the following animated GIF shows the shift of individuals by county since 1997 across the United States. The color represents whether a given county was a net gainer or loser of migration income, with the darker the red representing a bigger net loser of migration income and the darker the green a bigger gainer in net migration income.
Besides the shift from the West Coast and northeastern portions of the United States to the Mountain West and South, it’s a little difficult to tell exactly where the geographic losers are. Here are the animated GIFs broken down by a more zoomed geography.
The western United States is below. From this, it’s pretty clear individuals have been consistently shifting away from southern California. In fact, for most of the years, the vast majority of the counties in the Golden State have experienced a net decrease in income migration. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a good deal of the shift from southern California has gone to neighboring counties in neighboring states.
Overall, and no doubt unsurprisingly, the IRS data show that about $20 billion in income, or about $100 billion in wealth, shifts between states each year. The shifting slowed down during the recent recession, and has since been on a strong growth path. In terms of magnitude, the $20 billion in income represents about 0.2 percent of total expected income in the U.S. for 2013. The $100 billion in wealth also represents about 0.2 percent of the total wealth of businesses and individuals living in the U.S.
With the shift in income established, the second question is – how does the net income migration connect with tax burden by state?
Where is Arizona? Take a look
http://www.city-data.com/blog/135-individuals-moving-states-little-income-tax/
 

Did Somebody Say Monopoly? ....Let's Say "Consolidation"

Massive consolidation going on all over.


Published on May 6, 2018
Views: 240,411
Robert Reich looks at antitrust laws and corporate giants.
Watch More: 3 The Failure of Trickle Down Economics ►►
https://youtu.be/cABuFmA3nhY
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In A Press Release: What Caliber The Wealth Development Company Wants You To Know

Readers of this blog have had the opportunity to see multiple posts on the subject of federal OZones time-and-time again. The clock is currently ticking on yet another fast-approaching deadline for investors wanting to fully use the benefit to shelter last year’s profits from hedge funds and other partnerships, the deadline is June 29.   
There seems to be some urgency from Caliber to start a blitz in public relations that only gets a quick mention about "a passing window", despite a feverish push from developers, accountants and law firms, investors are hesitating before jumping into Opportunity Zone funds, according to wealth advisers. As we know now  here in Downtown Mesa there wasn’t “much time” for “extra due diligence” on the Opportunity Zone funds, and unless someone else wants to state otherwise, the amount of capital closed so far is small.
Some are awaiting more guidance from the Treasury Department, which is expected to release rules this month, while others are heeding caution that some funds are riskier bets or aren’t yet up and running.
The Treasury Department is expected to issue a second round of regulations governing the provision sometime this month, fleshing out a first round last October.
 
Bloomberg News had this to say two days ago:
Opportunity Zones Knocking, But Few Answering the Call So Far
Lack of Treasury rules and vetting of funds are slowing buy-ins. . . Investors eyeing President Donald Trump’s Opportunity Zones face a ticking clock if they want to fully capture one of the biggest tax breaks in decades.
But few so far seem ready to make the leap
"Tucked into the 2017 tax overhaul, Opportunity Zones let investors reduce and postpone taxes on profits from stocks, businesses and investment partnerships provided the money is reinvested in one of more than 8,700 low-income communities across America. Investors can also avoid tax on future profits from those investments, on which they must make “substantial improvements.”
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Caliber-The Wealth Development Company
Releases Q1 Update On Qualified Opportunity Zone Fund
April 10, 2019 8:01am
Leading the industry, the Caliber Tax Advantaged Opportunity Zone Fund, LP is one of only a few actively investing capital into opportunity zones
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (PRWEB) April 10, 2019
"Caliber-The Wealth Development Company has released a Q1 update focused on its growing Qualified Opportunity Zone Fund (QOF).
During the past year, Caliber has emerged as an early adopter and industry-leading expert in opportunity zones and is one of the only funds currently taking in capital.
The Caliber Tax Advantaged Opportunity Zone Fund, LP. has raised more than $30 million since its launch in Q4 2018 and it is expected to reach the $500 million goal within two years.
"There is a finite time limit for reinvesting capital into a qualified opportunity zone fund and our capital commitment pipeline is filling quickly," said Caliber co-founder and CEO Chris Loeffler.
"By launching our fund early, we've been able to offer more investors the chance to take advantage of the incredible tax incentives associated with this program before their window closes."
The fund invests directly into a diversified portfolio of assets located in qualified opportunity zones across the southwest.
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Blogger Note: Not mentioned in this press release is the Downtown Mesa OZone
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There are currently three projects being developed as part of the fund, with a combined worth of more than $65 million.
Caliber has an additional $250 million in projects under LOI/PSA and an additional $4 billion of projects in its growing diligence pipeline.
Some examples of owned or contracted projects include:
Tucson Convention Center Hotel: a 170 room Doubletree by Hilton property with 4,000 square feet of meeting space and multiple bar/dining options
Roosevelt Townhome Community: 42 units in downtown Tempe, Arizona - within walking distance to Arizona State University - complete with integrated smart home technology and sustainable features
Pre-Leased Medical Office: offers 10% cap rate on investment basis and 20-year, guaranteed lease term - the property is located within 10 miles of 25+ other medical facilities
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Caliber provides individual accredited investors and registered investment advisors with well-structured alternatives to traditional investments.
  • In addition to Opportunity Zones, the company builds wealth by forming and managing real estate private equity investments, either through individual assets or multi-asset funds. Caliber will be hosting its annual summit – focused on access to alternative investments – in Phoenix, May 2-4.
  • The company is also a sponsor of the upcoming SALT conference in Las Vegas May 7-10, and Loeffler will host a keynote and fireside chat focused on opportunity zones.
For more details on investment options or to learn more about Caliber, visit CaliberCo.com.
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About Caliber
Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona with an investment focus in the Greater Southwest growth markets, Caliber leads the market in providing individual accredited investors and registered investment advisors with well-structured alternatives to traditional investments.

> The Company offers an approachable, full-service investment experience with more than 1,500 team members working to care for over $750 million (assets under management & development) in commercial, residential, and hospitality real estate in AZ, CO, TX, NV, UT and AK. 
> Caliber offers both asset management and real estate services to create a vertically integrated investment platform focused on middle-market investment transactions. 
>The Company is currently offering four distinct private real estate funds, two focused on income and two focused on growth, with the most notable being a $500m equity offering in the Southwest as a qualified opportunity zone investment fund.
Learn more at Caliberco.com or follow Caliber on social @CaliberCo.

Note To Investors
This Press Release Is Provided Solely For Information Purposes And Does Not Constitute Legal Or Investment Advice.

This Is Neither An Offer To Sell Nor A Solicitation Of An Offer To Buy Securities.
While We Endeavor To Keep The Information Up To Date And Correct, We Make No Representations Or Warranties Of Any Kind, Express Or Implied, About The Completeness, Accuracy Or Reliability Of The Data And Summaries Contained In This Press Release Or The Suitability Of Any Separate Offering For Investors.
There Are Risks Associated With Any Investment.
In Making An Investment Decision, Investors Must Rely On Their Own Examination Of The Company They Wish To Invest In Including The Merits And Risk Involved.
Any Forward Looking Statement Speaks Only As Of The Date On Which Such Statement Is Made, And We Undertake No Obligation To Update Any Forward Looking Statement To Reflect Events Or Circumstances After The Date On Which Such Statement Is Made.

Please Contact Caliber Directly At 480-295-7600 For Further Information.

Friday, April 12, 2019

Distressed Entire Downtown Mesa Has Been Bought (Just In Case You Didn't Know)

Your MesaZona blogger has been saying this all along since 2017. Now you can hear that fact directly from Caliber's CEO Chris Loeffler right here and right now in 4 minutes.
They started out flipping houses and now they've bought an entire downtown: Mesa.
REAL ESTATE PRIVATE EQUITY
MONOPOLY JOCKS
REAL ESTATE SYNDICATION
O Yeah! We got all here in "The Old Donut-Hole"
They knew ahead of time what was "coming down the road" before November in 2017. Yes, every deal has a story and it started months and years before the public it . . .
What was Caliber's Secret Sauce? 
Certainly NOT Transparency in any way, shape or form.
All "the deals" to scoop up a portfolio of first eight and then ten commercial properties right here on Main Street were all done behind the scenes. The structures used were the formation and register of holding companies.
As far as the Relationships go, it's the same closely-connected cohorts - some who hold public state and local office - who all have schemes for their own private wealth creation. 
Conflicts-of-interest. . . Who's asking?
After rumors for months - and a downtown Mesa Bus Tour in Nov 2017, we found out that then current AZ Senator Bob Worsley was forced to come out in public at a Mesa City Council Study Council [joined by Revolving-Door U.S. Congressman Matt Salmon and high-salaried ASU lobbyist, sitting behind him with a middle-finger under his nose, to admit he was privately gambling in rampant real estate speculation at the same time holding public office, scooping up ten commercial properties in holding companies with his wife as CH Holdings LLC.
The neglected and distressed downtown Mesa had turned into an Opportunity Zone for their own private wealth-creation. Worsley did this in public office.
Mesa Mayor John Giles does this also from the time he filled in the unexpired term in 2014 for former mayor Scott Smith. Giles is now serving his first elected 4-year term

Featured Speaker: Mesa Mayor John Giles
Take a look at this upcoming 7th Annual Caliber Summit Arizona Access
EDUCATE UPDATE CONNECT
May 2 - 4, 2019 | Phoenix, Arizona
The world of investing has fundamentally changed – knowing this, we’ve made it our mission to not only create a better way to invest, but to educate and empower individual investors along the way.
Join us for our 7th Annual Caliber Summit: Alternative Access 2019 for your chance to connect with world class experts in a fun and approachable environment. Guests will gain knowledge from seasoned industry insiders, stay up to date with live property tours and updates and connect with like-minded individuals – all while gaining access to wealth building alternatives you deserve.

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At the same time Worsley formed a partnership with his own campaign manager Kent Lyons and W Tim Sprague (at left)[Found:Re Hotel in Phoenix] in a development company Habitat Metro.
Here's Mayor John Giles standing in the middle of Main Street with two other Caliber Wealth Fund principals in 2018

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Here's the 4-minute streaming video uploaded to YouTube where CEO Chris Loeffler tells how he started out in foreclosures just a few years ago and then gives his best spin on the company now making deals in Opportunity Zones and establishing Qualified Opportunity Funds - all of these subjects have been featured in multiple posts on this blog before.
Listen to what Chris Loeffler has to say . . . Pay close attention and play it again.

Published on Apr 11, 2019
Views: 12 at the time of upload to this blog
Length: 04:47
Caliber, the Wealth Development Company, is a Scottsdale-based real estate investment firm co-founded by CEO Chris Loeffler. The company has always focused its energy on alternative investment opportunities for clients, and now it’s diving into a new market: opportunity zones. Investors who create economic development and growth in areas that need it can get a tax break on capital gains, creating a win-win situation for investors and communities alike.

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RELATED CONTENT: They reward their own
Readers of this blog have had the opportunity to know who owns this so-called "independent" - The Times Media Group that also owns The East Valley Tribune.
The new editor is Wayne Schutsky, who was promoted from his previous position as a reporter
Caliber CEO Chris Loeffler receives Vistage Leadership Award

Chris Loeffler (Submitted photo)
The CEO peer-advisory organization, Vistage, recently announced the winners of its 2019 Arizona Member Excellence Awards.
Among the three honorees was Chris Loeffler, the founder and CEO of Caliber-The Wealth Development Company, according to a press release.
[This report is a press release with the image submitted by Chris Loeffler who looked like that, who-know-when]
 
Mr. Loeffler was presented with the Vistage Impact Award for making an impact on the group and demonstrating company growth and business development, according to the release, adding that the organization has emerged as an “early adopter and industry-leading expert in opportunity zones” under his direction.
Created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, opportunity zones are designed to spur economic development in underserved communities by providing tax incentives, noted the release.
Caliber was among the first organizations to open a Qualified Opportunity Fund for investors to take advantage of the capital gains tax reduction program, the release detailed
https://www.scottsdaleindependent.com/news
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MORE RELATED CONTENT Please note the image inserted if from the author of this post, not the reporter from Crain's who published this in 2016
In this ongoing series, we ask executives, entrepreneurs and business leaders about mistakes that have shaped their business philosophy.
Chris Loeffler

 

 

Pie's Breakfast Television Debut

Can't think of too many things that make Britain GREAT
Published on Apr 11, 2019
Views: 181,331 at time of upload to this blog
This morning I was on Good Morning Britain.
Warning: contains no strong language. Huha?

Global development disrupted: A field in transition

Note the backgrounds of the panelists. Also that this is not a representative sample. and note it's a very fragmented development system. Similarly listen what is said about INNOVATION.
Poverty is only mentioned 14 times in survey responders.
Word = FRAGILITY, CONFLICT & MIGRATION IN A 2-TIERED WORLD
Published on Apr 12, 2019
Views: 41 at the time of upload to this blog
On April 8, the Global Economy and Development program at Brookings explored findings from “Global development disrupted: Findings from a survey of 93 correction 94 leaders,” a new report that surveys development leaders and offers insights on the international development landscape.
BETTER TO READ THE FULL REPORT: https://www.brookings.edu/events/glob... (transcript available)

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Mesa Council Study Session - 3/21/2019

Off to a fast start with John Giles sporting a Chicago Cubs polo shirt and saying "There's a lot of good things".
This goes on for how long ???????????????????????????????????????????
If you trust a hired consultant to deliver the results certain people and city officials wanted, they've done their slick and slippery job jiggering the data.
Transform 17 has always been an urban development nightmare