GA Gov Candidate Roy Barnes' Mounting Financial Confusion

I’m a bit puzzled by Democrat Roy Barnes’ accounting methods here. Funny how an accounting error can lead to his allegedly owning a home for tax break purposes, when he didn’t actually own it. On top of that, he now claims to be due a $30,000 refund over a failed bank in which he had invested. Yet, last week he was only due approximately a $20,000 refund.

It’s unclear to me if making bad investments, seeing personal tax breaks that don’t exist, while seeming to have no real handle on one’s personal finances, is what Georgia voters want in a governor.

ATLANTA — Roy Barnes claimed federal and state income tax breaks in 2008 and 2009 for depreciation on a house he doesn’t own, his campaign acknowledged Thursday.

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Cobb County property records show Barnes’ daughter and son-in-law have owned the house in Marietta since 2007 when Barnes gave it to them. Barnes, the Democratic nominee for governor, owns several properties on the road.

Barnes campaign spokesman Emil Runge called it an accounting error and said, as a result, the former governor had underpaid about $7,500 in taxes for the two years. His accountant is amending the returns to remove the tax break.

Runge said Thursday that in the course of reviewing Barnes’ taxes, his accountant found another error in 2008 that will deliver the former governor an additional tax refund of about $30,000.

That mistake involved a loss on the sale of shares in Habersham Bank. Barnes initially reported a gain of approximately $34,000 which should have been a loss of approximately $135,000.