The New York Times has a front-page article about Donald Trump’s “legally dubious” means of avoiding paying taxes.
Donald J. Trump proudly acknowledges he did not pay a dime in federal income taxes for years on end. He insists he merely exploited tax loopholes legally available to any billionaire — loopholes he says Hillary Clinton failed to close during her years in the United States Senate. “Why didn’t she ever try to change those laws so I couldn’t use them?” Mr. Trump asked during a campaign rally last month.
But newly obtained documents show that in the early 1990s, as he scrambled to stave off financial ruin, Mr. Trump avoided reporting hundreds of millions of dollars in taxable income by using a tax avoidance maneuver so legally dubious his own lawyers advised him that the Internal Revenue Service would most likely declare it improper if he were audited.
Thanks to this one maneuver, which was later outlawed by Congress, Mr. Trump potentially escaped paying tens of millions of dollars in federal personal income taxes. It is impossible to know for sure because Mr. Trump has declined to release his tax returns, or even a summary of his returns, breaking a practice followed by every Republican and Democratic presidential candidate for more than four decades.
Tax experts who reviewed the newly obtained documents for The New York Times said Mr. Trump’s tax avoidance maneuver, conjured from ambiguous provisions of highly technical tax court rulings, clearly pushed the edge of the envelope of what tax laws permitted at the time. “Whatever loophole existed was not ‘exploited’ here, but stretched beyond any recognition,” said Steven M. Rosenthal, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center who helped draft tax legislation in the early 1990s.
It is clear now that Donald Trump thinks he is very smart to avoid paying taxes. But if everyone else followed his lead, how would our nation pay for anything? How would we pay for our senior citizens, our troops, our veterans, our highways, our national parks, our healthcare programs, our education programs, etc.? Good citizens pay their taxes.
Greece suffered an economic collapse because so many rich people avoided paying taxes. Good citizens pay their taxes.
and also:
He launched his campaign by calling Mexicans rapists and criminals.
Twelve women have accused him of sexual misconduct and/or assault.
He called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.”
He wants to deport the more than 11 million unauthorized immigrantscurrently living in the United States.
He has called women “fat pigs,” “dogs,” “slobs,” “animals,” and “disgusting.”
His so-called student debt plan could cost borrowers 78 percent more on their loans.
Under his tax plan, the top 1 percent would get 47 percent of the benefits.
He thinks he knows more about ISIS than generals do.
His threat to not pay the U.S. debt could lead to the next financial crisis.
He said there should be “some form of punishment” for women who get abortion care.
He mocked a reporter with a disability.
He suggested “Second Amendment people” could stop Clinton from nominating a Supreme Court justice.
He thinks climate change is a hoax perpetuated by China.
He championed the birther movement.
His tax plan would increase the national debt by more than $20 trillionover two decades.
His hate rhetoric sparked a rise in school bullying and racial and ethnic tensions.
His mass deportation plan would cost the country at least $4.7 billion in lost GDP over 10 years.
He said Putin has been a better leader than President Obama.
His child care plan gives the wealthy a tax break three times larger than that for the middle class.
He wants Mexico to pay for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
And he approved ads with Hillary’s face superimposed over a Star of David and $$$ dollar signs….a clearly anti Semitic implication.
Even the notorious Repub, Sheldon Adelson, reneged on his promise to fund the Trump campaign…though Adelson bought the Nevada print media newspaper which is the only one which endorsed Trump. YUCK.
Adelson announced yesterday he is giving $25 million to Trump.
Double YUCK…Adelson has too much input…all the input money can buy.
I’m all for the vigorous investigation of the super-rich (and the corporations they control) for tax fraud, evasion, etc., which is why I supported and continue to support Bernie Sanders for POTUS and not Mr. Trump or Sec. Clinton, neither of whom can be trusted to fight for financial equity and fairness. If Mr. Trump is guilty of something and is convicted, I certainly hope he is punished.
It would be nice to find people who felt that way and also believed that Hillary Clinton, the DNC, state and local election officials, and various members of the Clinton Team should be vigorously investigated for their misconduct in and possible rigging of the Democratic primaries. Who didn’t cry “vast right wing conspiracy” every time it is suggested that she’s guilty of wrong-doing.
You see, this sort of thing cuts both ways. Anyone who wants free-floating, carte blanche permission to hurl serious charges at only ONE candidate while being allowed to ignore or otherwise deflect serious charges against the other is indulging in hypocrisy, in my view. And we have had plenty of that to go around this election cycle.
YEP (especially to your last sentence)!
MPG,
Listen to Trump. He has already convicted Hillary of the greatest crimes ever in history. In my neighborhood (not NYC but semi-rural Long Island), there are no Hillary signs other than those that say “Hillary for Prison.”
I am amazed that she has the strength and courage to fight on as the mudslinging grows worse each day. I don’t think I could do it.
And in my neighborhood on long Island the only signs I’ve seen were on my lawn for Bernie.
Which surprised me, because my wife goes to the gym and gets verbally assaulted by Trump supporters. But this is affluent Long Island and even in my 1/4 acre zoning oasis in an far more affluent district . Not many outwardly !!!!!!! can be seen to be suffering the economic displacement that we attribute to Trump support. Most are simply deplorable on any number of issues.
Back to conservative support for Trump . I intentionally left out Trade and Immigration in that last post , because on both issues Trump is a disingenuous low life.
Mike lofgren said this 5 years ago long before Trumpland. A must read and read again article.
“Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult ”
“Over the last four decades, the Republican Party has transformed from a loyal opposition into an insurrectionary party that flouts the law when it is in the majority and threatens disorder when it is the minority. It is the party of Watergate and Iran-Contra, but also of the government shutdown in 1995 and the impeachment trial of 1999. If there is an earlier American precedent for today’s Republican Party, it is the antebellum Southern Democrats of John Calhoun who threatened to nullify, or disregard, federal legislation they objected to and who later led the fight to secede from the union over slavery.”… ….
“Undermining Americans’ belief in their own institutions of self-government remains a prime GOP electoral strategy.”… …
“The reader may think that I am attributing Svengali-like powers to GOP operatives able to manipulate a zombie base to do their bidding. It is more complicated than that. Historical circumstances produced the raw material: the deindustrialization and financialization of America since about 1970 has spawned an increasingly downscale white middle class – without job security (or even without jobs), with pensions and health benefits evaporating and with their principal asset deflating in the collapse of the housing bubble. Their fears are not imaginary; their standard of living is shrinking.
What do the Democrats offer these people? Essentially nothing. Democratic Leadership Council-style “centrist” Democrats were among the biggest promoters of disastrous trade deals in the 1990s that outsourced jobs abroad: NAFTA, World Trade Organization, permanent most-favored-nation status for China. At the same time, the identity politics/lifestyle wing of the Democratic Party was seen as a too illegal immigrant-friendly by downscaled and outsourced whites.[3]”
“While Democrats temporized, or even dismissed the fears of the white working class as racist or nativist, Republicans went to work….
To be sure, the business wing of the Republican Party consists of the most energetic outsourcers, wage cutters and hirers of sub-minimum wage immigrant labor to be found anywhere on the globe. …!!!!!!!(Emphasis added mine)
But the faux-populist wing of the party, knowing the mental compartmentalization that occurs in most low-information voters, played on the fears of that same white working class to focus their anger on scapegoats that do no damage to corporations’ bottom lines: instead of raising the minimum wage, let’s build a wall on the Southern border (then hire a defense contractor to incompetently manage it). Instead of predatory bankers, it’s evil Muslims. Or evil gays. Or evil abortionists.”
The Business wing, the Lawrence Kudlows , Paul Singers , Dan Senor ,… … know that Trump will have their back on Trade and Immigration .
They only shy away from him because they fear he will lose. They are Trump and Trump is them .
If you were watching Lawrence O’Donnell tonight you had a piece of good news. It would seem that Cuban Americans in Florida have discovered that they are after all a Hispanic minority and are crossing over to vote for Clinton, in HUUUUUGE numbers . If true we owe a debt of gratitude to Trump for keeping conservatives out of White House .
We also can look to 4 years of battling to keep Clinton in line.
Bernie is supporting HRC. He’s voting for her.
And campaigning for her.
And now this today, from Comey who is all in for Trump and destroying a fair election. He has just brought up Bill Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich 13 years ago. What a dastardly turd Comey is.
“FBI Releases Archive From Bill Clinton Pardon Case
US News and World Report – 8 minutes ago
WASHINGTON — Only days before the presidential election, the FBI released a 17-year-old archive of documents from a long-closed …
FBI Now Releasing Documents About Bill Clinton and Marc Rich
News Week – 39 minutes ago
With the election just a week away, the FBI has released a tranche of 15-year-old documents dealing with Bill Clinton’s pardon of …”
But he releases nothing about Trump’s crooked dealings for decades. Yes, this election is rigged. Trump said weeks ago there would be November surprises…guess he paid off Comey long ago.
Where are Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders? They should push for rapid indictment of Comey under the Hatch Act.
“…Comey who is all in for Trump….”
Was he all in for Trump back in July or just now that you disagree with him?
For me, it’s the bias and timing.
Absolutely yes and go back and look at my comments at the time.
His statement should have read .
“The Justice Department and FBI have found no criminal offense. Good night ladies and gentlemen”.
Clinton again played politics, by not attacking his behavior then . Knowing that all, most would remember is the “not indict.”
Did the Clinton’s use their positions for personal gain yes . Was there a pay for play we have not seen any evidence of that at all . But pay for play is not necessarily the way influence works in Politics . But that is just another aspect of where we are as a Nation.
Something that has to be addressed by a full frontal progressive assault on the system.
Not by turning the Nation over to those that invented it.
That comment was to Dienne.
As I said yesterday the FBI are not choir boys and never have been. They are as fallible as any other institution .
Hillary is worse!
You CANNOT be serious.
Did you type that when the babysitter was watching her iPhone?
Trump and Pence were bragging how they would be repealing, eliminating the ACA and replacing it with health savings accounts, buying insurance policies across state lines and other free market solutions. Geezus, this will set us back 20 or 50 years. The ACA is a mess but at least it established patients’ rights by eliminating recissions, the pre-existing condition nonsense, lifetime caps, denial of claims and many of the other games that insurance companies play. Before the ACA, the insurance companies could drop you or deny claims for any dumbarse reason. The ACA is flawed, not universal, it has winners and losers and poor price controls but it is a boon to poorer folks and is a baby step towards universal health care. Trump/Pence will undo all that and restore us to the way it was before the ACA and without a chance in hell of having true universal health care. At least with Clinton, we stand a chance of improving the ACA. The supreme court is a huge thing, very crucial; Trump will appoint far right wingers who will be there for 20 to 30 years. That alone will have me voting for Hillary.
Sorry, should be rescissions not recissions.
I just received an election call from Faith and Freedom. The guy speaking in the recording said he was Falwell Jr. Apparently, they want me to vote for a candidate (although, not referenced by name) who is an affront to all decency. The call back number was no longer in service.