nhboy
Ubi bene ibi patria
In response to revelations that Donald Trump may have rolled over massive real estate losses to avoid paying federal taxes for nearly two decades, his campaign is pushing back with an argument that is not only deeply ludicrous, but also deeply revealing about both Trump’s own priorities and his campaign strategy in the final stretch of the race.
The New York Times reported over the weekend that Trump declared a $916 million loss in 1995, which could have then allowed him to exploit an arcane provision in the tax code to cancel out taxable income for as long as 18 years. Though it hasn’t been confirmed that he took advantage of the provision that way, Trump, who boasted during the debate that not paying federal taxes “makes me smart,” did not deny that he had done this. Instead, he and his campaign made two other separate but interrelated arguments.
The first is that Trump’s exploitation of this provision, well, “makes me smart.” Trump’s initial statement declared that he is a “highly-skilled businessman” who has a responsibility “to pay no more tax than legally required.” Similar arguments tumbled forth from Trump surrogates Rudy Giuliani on ABC’s This Week and Chris Christie on Fox News Sunday, who both extolled Trump’s awesome fiscal wizardry.
But as Ruth Marcus notes, if Trump’s tax manipulation proves Trump’s brilliance, why the continued refusal to release his returns, which is tantamount to concealing evidence of that brilliance from the public?
The second, and more significant, argument from Trump’s campaign is that his firsthand inside knowledge of how to game the tax code in his favor uniquely qualifies him to reform it — and prevent people like him from gaming it in the future. “I know our complex tax laws better than anyone who has ever run for president and am the only one who can fix them,” Trump tweeted. Christie added that Trump is well equipped to “change the tax laws” that are “favoring people that they shouldn’t favor,” which he would do “against his own personal interests.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/10/03/trumps-ludicrous-spin-on-his-taxes-doesnt-pass-the-laugh-test/?utm_term=.3312fcdb5ab8
The New York Times reported over the weekend that Trump declared a $916 million loss in 1995, which could have then allowed him to exploit an arcane provision in the tax code to cancel out taxable income for as long as 18 years. Though it hasn’t been confirmed that he took advantage of the provision that way, Trump, who boasted during the debate that not paying federal taxes “makes me smart,” did not deny that he had done this. Instead, he and his campaign made two other separate but interrelated arguments.
The first is that Trump’s exploitation of this provision, well, “makes me smart.” Trump’s initial statement declared that he is a “highly-skilled businessman” who has a responsibility “to pay no more tax than legally required.” Similar arguments tumbled forth from Trump surrogates Rudy Giuliani on ABC’s This Week and Chris Christie on Fox News Sunday, who both extolled Trump’s awesome fiscal wizardry.
But as Ruth Marcus notes, if Trump’s tax manipulation proves Trump’s brilliance, why the continued refusal to release his returns, which is tantamount to concealing evidence of that brilliance from the public?
The second, and more significant, argument from Trump’s campaign is that his firsthand inside knowledge of how to game the tax code in his favor uniquely qualifies him to reform it — and prevent people like him from gaming it in the future. “I know our complex tax laws better than anyone who has ever run for president and am the only one who can fix them,” Trump tweeted. Christie added that Trump is well equipped to “change the tax laws” that are “favoring people that they shouldn’t favor,” which he would do “against his own personal interests.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/10/03/trumps-ludicrous-spin-on-his-taxes-doesnt-pass-the-laugh-test/?utm_term=.3312fcdb5ab8