Trump's tax returns

[gregthehammer]

I've heard of Eric the cat, Eric the fish, Eric the fruit-bat and Eric the half-a-bee, but Eric the Sacrificial Lamb? Well, that's a new one

What about Eric my Eye?

 

[varwoche]

I think it’s pretty impressive that they USA made their poorest person president.
It's usually the wealthy that make it.

Let's hear it for the everyday heroes who toil for a meager wage. Donald Trump, truly a man of the people.

 

[Safe-Keeper]

If the IRS felt Trump was involved in tax fraud they would not hand wave it away.

So a 3 of the Trump scale:

1. he wouldn't do that.
2. okay, but he's not currently doing it
3. okay, but it's not illegal

 

[Leftus]

Rettig and these others make the high level decisions as to who is audited and what to do with the results. The actual auditors are 7 to 8 levels below this authority, not 7 to 8 levels of independence away. They can lose their jobs for any made up reason if they ignore their supervisors.

The audit contnues because that is what is automatic for all Presidents. But what has become of it?.

How much specific knowledge of the internal workings of the IRS do you have? You seem to know that Rettig, or Koskenin, or Miller personally directed audits? Such declarations would be illegal.

If there is no paper trail, there is no ignoring of supervisors going on. The main audit with 100 million hanging in the balance, started well before Rettig took his position. How does that fit with your fantasy?

Getting removed from the IRS takes work. A serious amount of work. It's not done on a whim. Between union interference, and the MSPB, there is no way a firing without supporting documentation would stand. Clearly, your experience outweighs mine, somehow.

 

[Leftus]

It's worth noting that this gives the lie to Trump's excuse for not releasing his taxes, that he's under audit- Obama released his tax returns for 2008-2015:

Oh, I think I said that excuse was BS from day 1.

I also said I don't want the returns. I want the transcripts. Transcripts show what was filed. And more importantly, what the IRS did with that information. A copy of the returns could be total fiction. There is no way to check. But official transcripts could be, at least, verified by those who know what those look like.

There is no requirement that what is shared publicly be what was actually filed. Hell, they could file them and then file an amended return to correct the fiction and be kosher per IRS rules. Which is why I would prefer the transcripts.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Years ago, when Trump was still nothing more than a real estate shyster, I read an article somewhere (haven't had any luck finding it) that described him as a man surrounded by people who pretend to be his friends, but who all secretly hate his guts. I strongly suspect Pence would just as gleefully stick the knife in as anyone else among his hangers-on.

Then Pence is an incredible actor because I've never seen anyone so gaga over their boss as Pence.

Remember when Pence put his water glass under the table after Trump did?

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

So much did Trump donate to charitable causes?

Or was he too modest to mention them on his tax returns?

I'm picturing him claiming a charity donation for the $400K salary and conveniently not mentioning the 400K under the income column.

 

[Stacyhs]

Joe Biden Tweeted
@JoeBiden
· 1h
The American people deserve transparency from their leaders, it's why as of today, I've released 22 years of my tax returns. twitter.com/CNBC/status/13…

The leading story on Lou Dobbs Tonight:

"Why didn't Biden release twenty-THREE years of his tax returns? What's he hiding?"

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

1. You don't have to pay to read the article, just make a free account.
2. There's already a bajillion summaries of the article in other news sources linked in this thread.

Since they announced free access to COVID articles I haven't even had to register to read political articles either.

 

[smartcooky]

If the IRS felt Trump was involved in tax fraud they would not hand wave it away.

Let me see, the IRS, where all the important appointees in decision-making positions are Trump loyalists and campaign donors, would not have wave it away?

The denialism is strong in this one!

 

[smartcooky]

What about Eric my Eye?

- Yeah I've talked to you and I've talked to you and I'm DONE talkin' to you

- Good! That mean you're done spittin' at me too!?

 

[ChristianProgressive]

Unfortunately, this issue does not seem to be resonating with voters.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Based on reviewing some old data and looking at the NYT article again, here are those offset losses:

From the NYT:

Once he started making money, out came new write-offs.

But these purchases weren't from the income he had, they were from loans, explaining the big loan coming due and Eric Trump's slip up that Russian money was funding those golf courses.

And it seems Trump wanted a lot of those taxes he paid in back (maybe by backdating the debt??).

So he releases a couple 1040s (or someone did ) claiming he paid these moderate sums of taxes when in reality, what a scam on the US public. Those are the same taxes he applied for and got back that are now subject to an IRS action (what Trump claims is an audit) to take back.

Some of this is still being sorted by the people looking at it. I heard an interesting bit today that the new tax law the GOP pushed through had a specific benefit for Trump and according to NPR, he might have been the only one who benefitted. The IRS lets people take loss deductions backward 2 years. The law changed it to 5 years.

I wonder if the fight Trump is having with the IRS is about him using back-dated losses 5 years when the rule was 2?

This tightwad wants his tax payments as close to zero as he can, regardless of the actual data. He'd rather create more losses and backdate them to save 70 million even if it means millions in legal fees fighting the IRS.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Ann Coulter Tweeted

@AnnCoulter
I don't think the conservative take on @realDonaldTrump paying no taxes should be: BECAUSE HE'S SMART!
I've paid nearly 50% of my income in taxes, year after year, and any system that allows billionaires to pay ZERO is unspeakable corrupt.
How about changing it, Democrats?

 

[Aridas]

Ann Coulter Tweeted

@AnnCoulter
I don't think the conservative take on @realDonaldTrump paying no taxes should be: BECAUSE HE'S SMART!
I've paid nearly 50% of my income in taxes, year after year, and any system that allows billionaires to pay ZERO is unspeakable corrupt.
How about changing it, Democrats?

We'd be happy to! It would help more than a little if Republicans weren't constantly trying to make things worse on that front, though, and even more than that if they actually helped to make that happen. Shockingly enough, Democrats are not all powerful - and, in the long run, that's a good thing - except when the only other power is actively sabotaging the US, as the case seems to be at present.

 

[Lurch]

Ann Coulter Tweeted

@AnnCoulter
I don't think the conservative take on @realDonaldTrump paying no taxes should be: BECAUSE HE'S SMART!
I've paid nearly 50% of my income in taxes, year after year, and any system that allows billionaires to pay ZERO is unspeakable corrupt.
How about changing it, Democrats?

She's tacitly admitting that the GOPers are the irresponsible spendthrifts too stupid to realize where the money comes from, while the Dems are the sensible stewards who look a bit farther into the future.

No wonder the GOP accepted Trump; he's their kind of shortsighted get-it-while-you-can. Their only long-term project is power; power to control, not to guide.

 

[Hlafordlaes]

As for the constant bloviating on the Left about the wealthy paying more in taxes, Trump's example is only the tip of the iceberg, and not the main problem (fixable if, say, someone hired tax inspectors and paid them instead of gutting the IRS every time the GOP is in power). The real problem is tax havens.

Years ago, Ernst&Young estimated the offshore, undeclared monies circling the globe amounted to some $45 Trillion USD. This money does not only escape taxes, but it makes banks and other institutions prone to money laundering. It also provides a mechanism for human, animal and drug traffickers, mobsters, and corrupt foreign and domestic officials to hide their illicit money, all snug and cozy with US and EU tax evaders. Together with the heinous practice of allowing shell corporations, this global money laundering operation guarantees government officials in developed and developing nations can be bribed with little risk, and many small nations can be financially raped by illicit transfers of government funds (aided and abetted by the MNCs wishing not to see labor, environmental or tax laws changed in the host country).

Rather than "soak the rich", or question the essential role that wealthy investors play (key part of the stocks and flows in a healthy economy), what is needed is to tax all monies and properties at standard rates, and to confiscate, like a ship adrift at sea, any and all assets that cannot be eventually be traced to taxpaying individuals.

The wealthy are fair game, but in a fair game. Getting there would take, however, concerted effort, one which the US/UK have shown zero interest in. Indeed, Brexit in the latter case is backed by the major offshore money people in the UK, starting with Nigel "Punch Me Face" Farage.

TLDR: Raising taxes is hard to do, given decades of right-wing propaganda. Collecting taxes owed, however, sounds, and is, far less radical, even if such an endeavor would require radical changes in policy, exactly what most major political donors would never go for. This is the hard issue.

 

[Craig4]

Unfortunately, this issue does not seem to be resonating with voters.

Too soon to tell. Most polls go over three days so if this moves the needle, it will start today.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

My guess is that Trump is in the same situation that Manaford was when he became campaign manager: his loans are co-signed by Kemlin-aligned oligarchs, so he can't just ditch them the way he did with creditors in the past.

It's in my mind the only thing that would explain his desperation to get money and his deference to Putin.

 

[Leftus]

Let me see, the IRS, where all the important appointees in decision-making positions are Trump loyalists and campaign donors, would not have wave it away?

Why haven't they already? It's been 4 years, and the audit is still on. Why aren't these important appointees doing what you think they are doing?

Besides Rettig, can you name a decision-maker appointee?