Trump's tax returns

[Safe-Keeper]

Does anyone remember when the NYT released Trump's tax returns?
It was... let me think, 4 days ago?

No one cares anymore. It lasted maybe 2 days at best.
Since the tax headlines we had
- The debate debacle
- The proud boys debacle
- The how-Trump-deals-with-his-statements debacle

The scandals fly be like we are living in fast forward combined with mass alzheimers.

I'm not so sure if nobody cares anymore. It might not be dominating the news, or the discussions here, but it definitely had an impact. Like the debates. It's something the news will keep dissecting for a while now, I'm sure. Temporary scandals won't change that.

As a matter of fact, I'm sure Trump bitterly regrets ever running for president. All of his skeletons have come tumbling out of the closet. Or at least a lot of them.

 

[Safe-Keeper]

Yes we're all aware of Trump's "crap the floor when you catch his hand in the cookie jar, then rape the dog when you tell at him for crapping on the floor" technique.

Does anyone have a way effectively combating it?

I think it's mostly that the media needs to learn what to prioritize. When cable news keep taking all the bait Trump throws at them, he gets to decide what's headline news, and what's ignored or forgotten. Focus on the important stuff, and ignore the "omg little Caroline pulled her pants down and peed on the classroom floor!" type of stories.

Granted, Trump can whip out pretty big scandals when he wants to ("stand down and stand by"), but it'll go a long way.

 

[Segnosaur]

Does anyone remember when the NYT released Trump's tax returns?

It was... let me think, 4 days ago?

...

The scandals fly be like we are living in fast forward combined with mass alzheimers.

As long as all the stories that come out are harmful to trump (which they seem to be) it should help the democrats.

Biden would only be in trouble if they replaced trump scandals with Biden gaffs in the news.

ETA: and more importantly, the news media and voters may not be paying as much attention to Trump's taxes, but I am sure prosecutors are, which is almost as important. (With the added bonus that it probably causes trump extra stress)

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Do you think when Trump or anyone in that circumstance gets a $100,000,000 loan it is without independent (or the banks) appraisers determining the value of properties?

I am wondering how deflating value of assets give tax losses aside from walking away from an investment and declaring it worthless. Or selling at a loss.

I do think I read somewhere there was an IRS dispute about an asset he had declared worthless.

Probably why no American banks would loan Trump any more money.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Clearly the IRS feels they had reason to dispute some or all of the refund. Also it is not cut and dried or it wouldn't still be worked on.

That's not true. Appeals can go on a long time even when you are supposedly out of appeals.

 

[Craig4]

Does anyone remember when the NYT released Trump's tax returns?
It was... let me think, 4 days ago?

No one cares anymore. It lasted maybe 2 days at best.
Since the tax headlines we had
- The debate debacle
- The proud boys debacle
- The how-Trump-deals-with-his-statements debacle

The scandals fly be like we are living in fast forward combined with mass alzheimers.

The good thing here is that it was just one after the other so there was a cumulative impact. The poll of polls put Biden ahead at 7.1 this morning and 8.2 this evening. That's a huge shift in aggregate polls in one day. The New York Times is planning to trickle out their stories on the tax returns for all of October. It will be one hammer blow after another.

 

[Lothian]

The good thing here is that it was just one after the other so there was a cumulative impact. The poll of polls put Biden ahead at 7.1 this morning and 8.2 this evening. That's a huge shift in aggregate polls in one day. The New York Times is planning to trickle out their stories on the tax returns for all of October. It will be one hammer blow after another.

What is the error rate on those two polls?

 

[The Great Zaganza]

Yes we're all aware of Trump's "crap the floor when you catch his hand in the cookie jar, then rape the dog when you tell at him for crapping on the floor" technique.

Does anyone have a way effectively combating it?

Ignore him.
Don't report anything coming directly from Trump.
Cancel his social media accounts.

 

[Bob001]

One reason why the IRS might not be able to close that audit:

Ten years ago, the tax agency formed a special team to unravel the complex tax-lowering strategies of the nation’s wealthiest people. But with big money — and Congress — arrayed against the team, it never had a chance.

https://www.propublica.org/article/...nal-revenue-service-global-high-wealth-audits

 

[Leftus]

I doubt if he will ever release anything.

I am guessing the harm is you don’t want millions of “auditors” going over your return With a fine tooth comb while it is being audited. I don’t know if the IRS would or could consider outside input.

I also worked at the IRS. I believe it was called tax correction. I was maybe one step about data input. This was before E filing.

I believe it's called error correction now. I'm on the team trying to update IDRS into a modern system. Getting our state of the art 1960's computer code to operate as state of the art 1985 software on 2020 hardware. Or something like that.

I doubt the auditors in question would take input from the masses as to what is and is not proper. Because, as you know, it's not just what the public would know, but what is internal procedures.

 

[Leftus]

That's not true. Appeals can go on a long time even when you are supposedly out of appeals.

It could bounce between Appeals and Examinations more than once.

 

[Leftus]

Is that before or after the last Tax Bill the Republicans pushed through which had the specific change which benefitted Trump?

It's been that way since 2009, at least.

 

[Leftus]

I've read the suggestion that spending on Trump's appearance is a business expense because, in short, so much of the business that he did/does really is all about appearances, especially him projecting a particular image. I find it hard to refute that, honestly.

If I put on my collector hat, I wouldn't qualify it as a necessary expense.

 

[SezMe]

4) Benghazi
5) E-mails

6) GOTO 4)

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

It's been that way since 2009, at least.

According to the latest Opening Arguments podcast, the tax provision that allows you to offset previous losses did come in under Obama as a way to help people in the economy. That bill allowed it for 4 years (IIRC, maybe 2). Trump's tax bill amended it to a multiple of that. I think it was 40 years, they said.

 

[Cain]

We're not talking about this anymore.

Trump plays 4-D Chess.

Lost Scott Adams' vote... got it back an hour later.

 

[dirtywick]

I didn’t know Scott Adams was an idiot until I read his book about critical thinking.

 

[Craig4]

What is the error rate on those two polls?

It's the aggregate of a series of polls, not just one poll. I don't know what the specific margin of error of every poll used to create the poll of polls.

 

[Bob001]

A short guide to how the rich evade taxes:

Trump and his like tell the IRS how much they took in. There is little or no verification, nothing like how our employers file W-2 wage reports on us. These rich taxpayers pay whatever they want, which you can be sure is never more than the legal minimum, subject to audit.

https://www.salon.com/2020/09/30/th...rs-on-trump-an-unrepentant-tax-cheat_partner/

 

[Leftus]

According to the latest Opening Arguments podcast, the tax provision that allows you to offset previous losses did come in under Obama as a way to help people in the economy. That bill allowed it for 4 years (IIRC, maybe 2). Trump's tax bill amended it to a multiple of that. I think it was 40 years, they said.

I think you can carry losses forwards for 40 years, but backwards is still limited to the refund rule of 3 years from filing, 2 from payment.

I don't remember a time where you couldn't carry back some losses, but since I was not in Exam, I can't confirm. But I do remember a rise in carrybacks in, say 2010, even from my position as a collector. Would have had to happen from 2009 to 2012.