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Home Front: Politix

Trump's taxes and the political fallout

2016-10-03

[CNN] Donald Trump is facing another political mess -- this time just five weeks from Election Day.

The New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
report that the Republican presidential nominee reported a $916 million loss in 1995 -- and could have gone 18 years without paying federal income taxes as a result -- has set off new questions about Trump's refusal to release his tax returns and his business acumen.

The Times is being disingenuous, as is CNN, given that Breitbart reports the Times paid no taxes in 2014 by doing a clever bit of legal accounting. Likewise, Mr. Trump applied the tax laws to his situation, which is why he has repeatedly said that the IRS always audits him -- and he is always approved.

The Times did not look at his federal return. It obtained one page of his New York State resident income tax return as well as the first page of New Jersey and Connecticut nonresident returns.

CNN has not independently verified the documents' authenticity, but Trump's campaign has not challenged any of the facts reported by The Times.

Mounting questions about Trump's businesses and finances are set to test Republicans' loyalty to the party's nominee. And they will test Trump's temperament as well, the week before his second debate with

Hillary Clinton
... sometimes described as America's Blond Eminence and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Jeremiah S. Black ....

And from Blossom Unains5562, a bit of conspiracy mongering:

Why did Trump Leak his 1995 Tax Returns?
Interesting assumption. Time to "member berry" Clinton Tax Deductions for donated underwear?

Posted by:Fred

#20 One Eye, non-profits pay the same employee taxes (except FUTA) that for-profit businesses pay. And they are subject to the same requirements for healthcare benefits.

Posted by: KBK 2016-10-03 23:44

#19 "And from Blossom Unains5562, a bit of conspiracy mongering:"

Ouch!

Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 2016-10-03 20:10

#18 Thank you for that explanation, Raj.

Posted by: trailing wife 2016-10-03 19:23

#17 How many of the billionaires who support HRC did or would do the same thing. HRC has actually done the same thing. No story here. Next you will see the Trump pushing granny off one of his buildings ad. IMO this lefty B.S. is not working anymore. How many of these left-wingnut billionaires who support HRC or HRC say, "I'm not paying enough taxes to the government, I think I'll send in more to the IRS." What are they fvcking stupid?

Posted by: JohnQC 2016-10-03 17:15

#16 But... but... that's different!

Posted by: Raj 2016-10-03 17:11

#15 Funny - seems the New York Slimes, which broke the story, used the exact same technique to not pay any taxes in 2014 - when they had a profit.

Posted by: CrazyFool 2016-10-03 16:41

#14 The reason Donald Trump could have continued using the loss against his federal income tax for so long is because there are strict limits to how much one can write off each year.

Actually, they're not that strict - net operating losses (NOL's) can be carried back three years or carried forward fifteen years at the time (Internal Revenue Code when Trump's returns were filed; it's now 3 back or 20 forward), and you can zero out your taxable income for a given year, then carry the remaining loss to the next year and so on, until you use it up or it expires. I had one client who was in a similar situation - didn't pay any Federal income tax for about seven years. You do have to pay other taxes, like the self-employment tax, net investment tax, additional Medicare tax, the 10% early retirement withdrawal penalty, and the like. States generally follow the Feds with the tax law, but not always.

Also - rental losses are limited to $25,000 per year (the remaining losses are suspended until a future event, usually a sale of the property, happens) unless you're a real estate professional, like Trump is. Rental losses are also suspended as your income increases - you hit a phaseout range where that $25,000 is reduced until you hit another level of income, when it's phased out in its entirety.

Posted by: Raj 2016-10-03 16:41

#13 Why is this news? Trump's 1997 book The Art Of The Comeback mentions him being $900M out, thats the whole point of the book!

Why is this news?

Posted by: Jaitle Spenter4460 2016-10-03 16:23

#12 I tuned into Hillary's Toledo, OH for a few minutes today. She packs more bullshit and lies in one speech than one can keep up with it. She is some piece of work. The following story/vid ought to be required watching before voting: Judicial Watch Panel discussion of Clinton, DOJ and FBI's Comey. Panelists include author of the New York Times best-seller Clinton Cash and President of Government Accountability Institute Peter Schweizer; Joe diGenova, former U.S. Attorney, Independent Counsel and founding partner of the Washington, D.C., law firm diGenova & Toensing; and Chris Farrell, director of investigations and research at Judicial Watch. Moderator will be Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

Posted by: JohnQC 2016-10-03 16:03

#11 Zero Hedge gets excitable so we don't like to use them as a primary source, but they show the section of Hillary Clinton's 2015 tax return where she takes a nearly $700,000 deduction on rolled over capital losses -- presumably on the sale of stocks or bonds that did poorly in a previous year. link

I suspect that is what rjschwarz and One Eyed Speaking for Boskone7919 referred to when they said Hillary did it, too.

The reason Donald Trump could have continued using the loss against his federal income tax for so long is because there are strict limits to how much one can write off each year. Mr. Wife's employer did an accounting thing (no doubt Raj could explain it, but I shan't even try) with his pay while we were on assignment in Europe that gave us the same net pay he'd earnt at home, despite the much higher taxes and cost of living over there. Then when we got back they paid for a tax accountant to finish equalizing out the thing; because of the limit on how much could be written off each year, it took almost ten years to take it down to zero, and we are merely middle class.

Posted by: trailing wife 2016-10-03 13:16

#10 Most of the rich do the same.

Anybody who owns stocks and bonds, however small the holdings, can offset capitol gains with losses. Anyone who owns investment property, even just a little two-family house, can write off the expenses and depreciation of the investment portion of the property not just against the rental income, but against the owner's total income.

Thus, many years ago when Mr. Wife and I were looking for our first house, Mr. Wife wanted something in need of renovation -- he loves wielding hammer and paintbrush. We ended up buying a lovely Edwardian that had been divided into two apartments in a gentrifying neighbourhood rather than a single family of similar vintage and location precisely because the rent combined with the tax write-offs on the apartment covered the house mortgage, making our renovation expenses affordable. After we sold it, the house was pictured on the front page of the local daily as an example of the neighbourhood's beautiful housing stock.

Posted by: trailing wife 2016-10-03 12:52

#9 No - the New York Times paid no taxes in 2014 because they lost about $1.1 billion when they sold the Boston Globe in 2013 to John Henry for $70 million.

Posted by: Raj 2016-10-03 12:19

#8 Clinton took the same deductions which is probably the only legal thing they have ever done. Income tax doesn't go toward schools and I bet Trump paid plenty of property tax on his his extensive real estate holdings. Plus Trump paid FICA for Social Security, Medicare, Unemployment Insurance, Workman's Comp, and health care for his many employees which the Clinton's non-profits do not pay.

Posted by: One Eyed Speaking for Boskone7919 2016-10-03 11:57

#7 Zero taxes for 18 YEARS!

Posted by: Sneanter Uliger4939 2016-10-03 11:51

#6 Seven percent or less of the Clinton Foundation put out in 'charity'. Yes, lets talk about foundation as pure tax avoidance schemes.

Posted by: Procopius2k 2016-10-03 11:11

#5 Actually this is a teaching moment. Hillary did the same. Most rich do the same.

Sanders and Hillary can say they'll raise taxes on the rich all you want but the wealthy dodge the taxes and the brunt fall on the middle class and the debt grows.

The ads write themselves but nobody in the Trump campaign seems willing to do so.

Posted by: rjschwarz 2016-10-03 10:57

#4 So, he should be well positioned to support rewriting the tax laws, eh?

Posted by: Skidmark 2016-10-03 10:23

#3 Some people pay taxes. See - free stuff brigade and then their EBT card maxes out.

Posted by: Procopius2k 2016-10-03 09:16

#2 Businesses (Trump Enterprises) don't pay taxes, PEOPLE pay taxes.

Posted by: Besoeker 2016-10-03 08:38

#1 Yes, front-page news yesterday,

Did he break any laws? It would seem he did not.

Unethical? Hardly.

But it does suggest he's a high roller, and that ain't news.

Posted by: Bobby 2016-10-03 08:33

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