Bombshell report on Trump taxes sends GOP nominee reeling

You still don't get it. It's not a matter of legality. It's a matter of a multi-billionaire presendtial candidate's entire economic policy centering around a notion that the top 1 percent is being stifled by a unfair tax burden that is not allowing them to reinvest in America yet said multi-billionaire(self proclaimed) has an effective tax rate of a grade schooler. Do you understand how that kinda throws a giant proverbial wrench into said idiotic billionaire's narrative? Did you actually need me to explicitly explain it to you without having you use your own common sense to figure it out?

 

I have used capital gains losses to forgive some of my future tax liabilities - however, I still pay federal income tax. As does Hillary. As do you.

This is not what Donald Trump does.

 

What you also weren't able to do that Trump was is borrow 900 million dollars from a bank to start a high rise project and only put in 1 million of his own money, have the project fail, and write off that 900 million dollar loss THAT HE BORROWED as his own loss. That loophole was apparently closed in 2002. What a scumbag business man.

 

This. It goes directly to part of his platform on debt and his tax policies.

 

...and that is essentially what "venture capitalists" do...borrow money from the public trust (i.e. state and/or local government) to leverage debt (usually through a "business" or "commercial enterprise") in an attempt to maximize a profit through leaving the securer of that debt on the hook for repayment...

...Matt Taibbi of RollingStone has made a career out of reporting on this type of "business" maneuver...and did an expose on Mitt Romney back during the 2012 Presidential campaign about this...

...again, the "legality" of this activity (capital "trumps" labor...heeeheee...) is the issue here...

 

Does he still owe the bank? Because I read if they write off the loan the borrower looses the tax deduction.

 

LOL, this sums up the Times perfectly. They hired a bunch of tax experts to uncover...common tax law.


And it took a team of them to analyze “three pages from what appeared to be Mr. Trump’s 1995 tax returns,”.

No, it doesn't. Businesses suffer down years quite frequently. And the typical self made millionaire declared bankruptcy seven times in the process.

I thought you like long fact filled articles, CometsWin, not sound bites from the press secretary?

No, it doesn't, but that message will likely resonate with many voters.

There is NO data supporting this. All that is known is that tax law allows losses to be carried forward that long. For all anyone knows, though, Trump made sufficient income in the next several years to zero out that loss.

But this does play well in the class warfare idiom that is the basis of the liberal ideology, as this quote clearly exemplifies. So, I don't disagree that this is at the very least excellent grist for the mill for Democrats, and an issue that will play well with the public. But not because of its merits, but because of political soundbites.

That aside, businesses taking advantage of the tax code is something all businesses do, all the time. Not only is doing so 'smart, but NOT doing so is stupid.

How many people on this forum ever pay more taxes than they need to?? I suspect none, indicating everyone agrees with Trump's position.

Missing from your article, Cometswin, is that that team of experts found no indication of any wrongdoing on Trump's part. Were he to have done something illicit on his returns to get out of paying taxes he should have paid, now THAT would be a bombshell....and probably ruin his campaign (unlike Hillary, who seems to keep on going regardless of any wrong doing she has done)

 

Borrowed money is still your money, so don't understand what your issue here is. If you borrow $25,000 to get a car, and the car gets wrecked in an accident, which you write off to your insurance, money THAT YOU BORROWED, does that make you a scumbag car driver???

 

If that means you don't have to pay taxes anymore it might mean you are one.

 

So he lost nearly a billion dollars from casinos? And the loss wasn't from gambling but owning the casinos? Where, as the old saying goes, "The house always wins?"

...and there are still people who think he is a genius? Or a good business man?

TELLING

 

He doesn't seem to be a good business man, but the banks seemed to still want to lend to him. His one public company pretty much lost his shareholders all their money. I doesn't make a whole lot of sense that he still gets more money.

 

I wouldn't say they're non-issues. I vote on character, so stories that indicate the candidate is a scumbag are important, even if he's a scumbag in that story in only a minor way. The dirt on Clinton works the same way -- they don't tell you anything about policy, but they throw the integrity of her character into doubt. It's just that the dirt on Trump makes Clinton look hospital-grade sanitized by comparison. Though I'm not voting for her, the Trump campaign makes me positively excited about her victory.

 

hold up, are you saying that Trump is NOT a scumbag?

 

The fact that you think that Trump using tax law in his favor makes him somehow a scumbag just shows how partisan you really are.

There are other reasons to think Trump is a scumbag but this isn't one.

 

howbout a hyprocrite?

 

hypocrite about what?

 

He says the rich pay too much income tax, and half the country doesn't pay it at all.

I wish I could not pay income tax for being bad at my job.

 

I don't think the rich are all that worried about "income" tax. Taxes on business which can be interpreted the "rich" are more the point he is making.

 

Of course not. Does the car driver have a political platform on debt reductions and how the wealthy are burden with taxes? If the driver does, then that driver is a pretty big hypocrite.