Will Michael Jackson Keep Neverland After All? - Page 2
According to experts, Jackson could be very much on the hook with the Internal Revenue Service for around $5 million in capital gains taxes. In other words: His home would be gone, but he’d still be significantly in debt.
The reason for this is: Jackson bought Neverland for between $12 million and $14 million back in 1988. If it sells for the full amount owed, $24.5 million, there’s a conceivable difference of $10 million.
According to California law, Jackson would then be taxed on that money as if he’d sold the property and it was income. According to a California state-sponsored Web site, www.ftb.ca.gov, Jackson would be liable for this money. A ballpark figure could be as much as $5 million.
To add insult to injury, the Neverland auction, as it stands, will take place on the steps of the Santa Barbara County courthouse. The auctioneer likely will be a representative from Financial Title Company of San Francisco.
Bidders will have to come with cashier’s checks for the amount they want to offer. Once the bidding begins, Fortress Investments — the original lender and beneficiary of the bid — can’t stop it. Someone will win Neverland.
The good news is that once a bid is accepted, Jackson is no longer the debtor. If Fortress accepts a lower bid than $24.5 million, Jackson is not liable for the balance. The debt is cleared.Â
Neverland has been in default since October 19. He had ninety days to fix this, but did not.Â
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So let me get this straight. MJ doesn't work, doesn't want to work (among others, he recently turned down a series of concerts at London's Millennium Dome for a reported $1M each), sales of his re-release of Thriller are off, he lives off the kindness of friends, and he has people lined up to loan him money?
Where can I get these people? Because where I come from (hereafter to be known as "The Real World"), if you refuse to work and have no money, people do not stand in line to give you more money. If you do not have money to pay off your bills, then you don't go shopping for new things until the bills are paid off. I need a vehicle to drive out-of-state, so do I now march down to the bank and ask for more money, borrow more than I can reasonably make payments on, conveniently forget to pay it back, and when they turn up wanting their money I just go to a different bank and take out more, starting the whole cycle over again? If I did that for long, I'd be homeless, broke, and probably in jail.
Let's face it...all Michael has his lawyers do is shuffle papers around. There's no real money, just papers with figures. I mean, there are decent, hardworking people all over America losing their homes to foreclosure through no fault of their own, but rather to a sagging economy or layoffs or illness...if they could work to pay off their debts, they would. And then you have this guy. Let's let Joe Schmoe try showing up at the local credit union with some papers detailing his "financial assets," or let him go to the local bank and tell them he doesn't have a job, he doesn't want to have a job, he is living in a house loaned to him, but he wants the bank to give him a bunch of money, and see what happens. Fun for the whole family!
I still say he should sell it to Britney Spears. Two problems solved with one fell swoop!
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