NEW DOCUMENTS REVEAL: Linda McMahon’s WWE Cheated Connecticut Taxpayers, Audited By State

October 18 2012

Audit Shows Former Wrestling CEO's Company Failed to Pay Millions In Taxes Over Several Years

McMahon's WWE Only Paid Taxes After They Were Caught  Despite Taking $22 Million in Tax Credits From State

ROCKY HILL-A recently unearthed audit conducted by the state shows that under the leadership of CEO Linda McMahon, the WWE cheated Connecticut taxpayers out of more than $4 million in state taxes. The audit investigated the international wrestling corporation’s finances between 2005 and 2007, and found that WWE withheld millions in corporate taxes by wrongly using a tax accounting strategy not permitted to them under Connecticut law. According to the documents, WWE eventually reached a $4.4 million settlement with the state to repay the taxes and penalties it owed.

“This is just the latest example highlighting Republican wrestling CEO Linda McMahon's pattern of cheating the system to benefit herself and billionaires like her,” said Murphy campaign spokesman Eli Zupnick.  “Linda McMahon tried to cheat Connecticut taxpayers, and she didn't pay the bill until she was caught. She tried to cheat  schools, hospitals, workers, and middle class families across the state who always pay their fair share. And now she wants to go to the Senate to continue putting herself first and letting millionaires and billionaires just like her game the system while middle class families foot the bill."

This latest revelation of late tax payments by Linda and Vince McMahon follows earlier reports that the wrestling power couple refused to pay nearly $1 million in personal debts following their 1976 bankruptcy.  The McMahons only began repaying the families and small businesses that they’ve owed for nearly three decades under the pressure of public scrutiny earlier this year. And the news that McMahon's WWE avoided $4.4 million in Connecticut taxes is particularly shocking, since the company has claimed over $22 million in tax credits over the past few years. 

McMahon supports extending tax cuts for millionaires, billionaires, and companies that ship jobs overseas, and has signed right-wing tax zealot Grover Norquist’s blood-oath to never raise taxes on the corporations and the wealthiest Americans. Despite her campaign rhetoric, independent analysis shows that McMahon’s radical tax cuts for the wealthy and spending cuts to crucial programs would dramatically increase the tax burden on middle class families in Connecticut.