How Not to Pay Taxes: Lessons from the L.A. Dodgers' Owners
How would you like to make a fortune and not pay a lick of taxes? And better yet, have it blessed by the IRS?
That's what the owners of the L.A. Dodgers, the famously feuding Frank and Jamie McCourt, did. The secret comes down to owning commercial real estate, rental property, or another qualifying business property that you can use to offset your income.
From 2004 through 2009, The McCourts pocketed income totaling $108 million without paying any federal or state taxes, according to a 1,423-page document Jamie McCourt filed in the couple's divorce case. (If you're not familiar with the power couple's ugly divorce, read the Cliff Notes version from the Business Insider.)
The court papers indicate that the McCourts deliberately structured their real estate business -- mostly commercial real estate -- to allow them to live tax-free, legally, by claiming enormous tax losses, reported the L.A. Times. And now they're fighting each other, in part, to keep those lucrative write-offs.
