XPost: alt.tv.pol-incorrect, alt.politics.usa, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh
XPost: us.taxes, alt.politics.corruption

Every American hates tax filing season. In total, Americans spend an
estimated 8.9 billion hours preparing tax returns. The tax industry,
and the time it takes to file taxes, costs the American economy more
than $409 billion — each year.

Americans put all that time and energy into tax returns for a larger
purpose: to pay as little as possible.

In this regard, Donald Trump is not anomaly. In fact, far from it.

Let’s be honest, no one — not you, not anyone — has ever tried to
pay more in taxes. We all, yes, all, look for ways to reduce our tax
burden. The government actually helps us out with this. That is why
we are given the option to take a big standard deduction, or to
write-off all our expenses during the year with the itemized
deduction. Did you claim a child exemption? Perhaps you deducted
your mortgage interest or large medical expenses? Did you write-off
a donation to your favorite charity? Those credits and deductions
reduce our tax bill.

In fact, last year, 34 million families deducted a total of $73
billion from just the mortgage interest deduction alone. As many
families deduct the loss of income for various reasons, so, too, do
businesses. And perhaps no one is more infamous for that, at
present, than Donald Trump.

Over the weekend, the New York Times published Donald Trump’s 1995
income tax returns. The story has gone viral. The tax returns show
that Trump made $7.4 million in interest income, and roughly $6,000
in wages. But the real story is that Trump claimed a loss of $916
million. In IRS terms, that would be deemed a net operating loss (or
N.O.L). As the NYT writes,

N.O.L. allows a dizzying array of deductions, business
expenses, real estate depreciation, losses from the sale
of business assets and even operating losses to flow from
the balance sheets of those partnerships, limited liability
companies and S corporations onto the personal tax returns
of men like Mr. Trump.

Creative writing by the NYT appears to make Trump look unethical,
even though the NYT themselves admits that the tax returns appear
all within the law. With only the few details provided, not only
were Trump’s actions legal, but they were very common.

In fact, N.O.Ls are a key feature of providing tax harmony for
businesses. The non-partisan Tax Foundation (TF) even notes that
this provision in the tax code actually discourages tax avoidance.
In their example, they explain what might happen if a business makes
$50 in June but loses $100 in July. Overall, that business, for tax
purposes, would have suffered a loss — a loss that would be
reflected in the tax returns.

“
In fact, in 2014, 1.2 million businesses did the very same thing by
carrying forward losses to reduce tax liabilities.
”

But, as the TF rightly points out, the situation is little different
if that company made $50 in December but lost $100 in January, the
start of a new tax year. As TF writes,

net operating losses (NOLs) allow businesses that lose
money in one year and make money in another to smooth
those ups and downs. We tax income (profits) not losses,
and so somewhat arbitrarily based on the calendar year.
Otherwise, a taxpayer would have to pay income taxes
despite not earning income, and would have an incentive
to manipulate gains and losses to make them happen in the
same year.

To be exact, the NYT, among many other media outlets, presumes that
the $916 million write-off allowed Trump to avoid taxes. But this is
merely a guess. In fact, the NYT has no clue what Trump’s tax
liability was in the following years.

Additionally, this is just Trump’s individual taxes — his businesses
and his employees likely paid billions of dollars in personal and
corporate taxes.

Furthermore, Trump is not a clever sneaky businessman taking
advantage of esoteric tax laws. In fact, in 2014, 1.2 million
businesses did the very same thing by carrying forward losses to
reduce tax liabilities.

Of those 1.2 billion entities that did the same thing Trump did,
there is one that stands out. The New York Times — the same entity
that is accusing Trump of, well, some sort of wrong-doing — did
exactly the thing they wasted newspaper ink excoriating him for
doing. Forbes Magazine profiled the NYT NOL carry forward and wrote,
“for tax year 2014, the New York Times paid no taxes and got an
income tax refund of $3.5 million even though they had a pre-tax
profit of $30 million in 2014.”

How do you spell “New York Times”? Oh right, it’s spelled H-Y-P-O-
C-R-I-T-E.

Although Trump’s numbers are large, and although he may have used a
large business loss to avoid taxes for years, it’s amazing that this
is a larger story than the tax avoidance schemes utilized by the
Clintons. The argument is purely mathematics.

Trump avoided taxes by claiming a massive loss from properties and
investments, thus showing a small amount of income tax. The Clintons
pay income tax — that is, on the income they actually report.

“
This is deceptive politics by the New York Times.
”

By contrast, the Clintons use far more nefarious and unethical means
to shelter taxes. First, the Clintons shifted all their bloated
mansions into residential trusts, meaning they can avoid taxes on
the appreciation of those properties in the future.

The Clintons have also used tax havens and shell companies to avoid
paying higher income taxes. However, perhaps most important of all,
they have used the Clinton Foundation as a tax exempt “slush fund.”
The slush fund has been used to fund political allies, luxury office
space, and first class travel for the Clinton family.

This is deceptive politics by the New York Times. Trump’s tax return
looks audacious; it looks expensive with big numbers and
questionable tax liability. Yet, it’s the Clintons who use sneaky
maneuvers and deceitful foundations to hide their money and their
wealth while making their tax returns look rosy for the American
public.

That’s politics at its best. Trump didn’t play the game, and now he
looks like the crook. Irony? Perhaps. But the true elephant in the
room is our flawed tax code. If people are dismayed at Trump’s tax
filings, there’s only one entity to blame: Congress. This could all
be solved with fair and comprehensive tax reform.

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Wikileaks says they'll surprise and shock us all with their findings
on Crooked Hillary. They must have found a trace of ethical
behavior.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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