Trump's huge tax break: Was it legal?

[rdean]

Trump's huge tax break: Was it legal? (Opinion) - CNN.com

The Real Scandal of Trump’s Massive Tax Deductions Is They’re Only Available to People Like Him

I'm looking at Trump's billion dollar loss and there is something no one is talking about. I'm no tax expert, but there are things even I know.

It's like this: If I have a business selling lemonade and you invest 100 dollars and my business fails. So I tell you I lost 80 dollars and all I have to give you back is 20 bucks and could you forgive the rest and you take the 20, say OK and forgive the rest.

Now, because you lost 80 bucks on that business venture, you can take a tax deduction on that 80 bucks.

But not me. When you forgave that 80 bucks, you basically made that 80 bucks my income. I didn't lose 80 bucks, you did. And when you forgave that 80 bucks, that means I have to report that 80 bucks as income. Because I never paid it back and in business, there are no free gifts. So if I counted that 80 bucks as a loss, then that same 80 bucks would be counted twice as a loss. Do you see how that would be illegal?

Now Trump, as we all know, says he uses OPM (other people's money) and it was three casino's that went bankrupt. So the only way Trump could claim a billion dollar tax write off was if he completely owned all three casino's. If there were no other investors.

So did Trump claim the losses of his investors as his own?

The IRS has to investigate those casino investors and find out what they lost and find out what Trump himself actually lost.

If they discover that Trump counted the loses of his investors as his own, and didn't count the forgiven money as income, then he has successfully scammed the US for a billion dollars. His tax returns would tell the tail.

So how probable is this? Well, he used the uncertified Trump foundation as a private fund for paying bribes and paying off lawsuits. The Trump foundation has never been audited. If it weren't for a single reporter, who knows how much longer that would have gone on?

So the Democrats need to keep up the pressure. He must release his tax returns. After all, we don't know this man at all. We need to know what his is doing and what he has done.

 

[sealybobo]

A new aristocracy is taking over not just the United States of America but also the world. ... This is more than just a tax cut story. It's about a fundamental shift in power and wealth from average people and the governments they had formed to represent them, to the capture of those governments and economic enslavement of their people by corporate aristocracies.

Published on Tuesday, February 1, 2005 by CommonDreams.org

Reagan in 1983 corporate taxes revenues were slashed to a low not seen since 1929.

This doesn’t mean the end of government, but, instead the subordination of government to the interests of the feudal lords. The transition from a governmental society to a feudal one is marked by the rapid accumulation of power and wealth in a few hands, with a corresponding reduction in the power and responsibilities of governments that represent the people. Once the rich and powerful gain control of the government, they turn it upon itself, usually first eliminating its taxation process as it applies to themselves. Or GE reported paying a tax rate of 19% last year compared with 26% in 2003."

Corporations are taxed because they use public services, and are therefore expected to help pay for them - the same as citizens. Corporations make use of a work force educated in public schools paid for with tax dollars. They use roads and highways paid for with tax dollars. They use water, sewer, and power and communications rights-of-way paid for with taxes. They demand the same protection from fire and police departments as everybody else, and enjoy the benefits of national sovereignty and the stability provided by the military and institutions like NATO and the United Nations, the same as all residents of democratic nations. In fact, corporations are heavier users of taxpayer-provided services and institutions than are average citizens. Taxes pay for our court systems, which are most heavily used by corporations to enforce contracts. Taxes pay for our Treasury Department and other governmental institutions which maintain a stable currency essential to corporate activity. Taxes pay for our regulation of corporate activity, from assuring safety in the workplace to a pure food and drug supply to limiting toxic emissions.

Under George W. Bush, the burden of cleaning up toxic wastes produced by corporate activity has largely shifted from polluter-funded to taxpayer-funded cleanups (as he did in Texas as governor there before becoming President). Because it's well understood that corporations use our tax-funded institutions at least as heavily as do citizens, they've traditionally been taxed at similar rates. For example, the top corporate tax rate in the US was 48% during the Carter administration, down from the peak of 53% during the Eisenhower and Kennedy years. Today it stands at 35%, but in May of 2001 Bush administration Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill suggested there should be no corporate income tax whatsoever. This was the opening salvo in a very real war to have working people bear all the costs of the commons and governance, while the wealthy corporate elite derive most of its benefits.

A cornerstone of the conservative movement to consolidate power in the hands of a wealthy corporate elite, the campaign to end corporate income taxes altogether - and leave the rest of us to pick up the entire tab for corporate use of our institutions and corporation despoliation of our commons - first picked up steam when Reagan came to power in 1980.

 

[SassyIrishLass]

Yawn.....the butthurt is real...

 

[rdean]

Yawn.....the butthurt is real...

You are such a fucking idiot. Morons said exactly the same things you say when Bush was elected president. And now, Republicans won't let Bush anywhere near their conventions.

Why would you think someone like Trump, who we all know lies incessantly, would be any different? You are only making yourself look stupid.

I'm not saying stop, but when you change your tune, it should be very entertaining. Promise to let us know so we can laugh and laugh and laugh. And it will happen. It's inevitable.

 

[SassyIrishLass]

Yawn.....the butthurt is real...

You are such a fucking idiot. Morons said exactly the same things you say when Bush was elected president. And now, Republicans won't let Bush anywhere near their conventions.

Why would you think someone like Trump, who we all know lies incessantly, would be any different? You are only making yourself look stupid.

I'm not saying stop, but when you change your tune, it should be very entertaining. Promise to let us know so we can laugh and laugh and laugh. And it will happen. It's inevitable.

Shhhh Derp....I'm basking in the glory of seeing you, your ilk, your agenda and your BS kicked to the curb. America spoke, you lost

 

[rdean]

Yawn.....the butthurt is real...

You are such a fucking idiot. Morons said exactly the same things you say when Bush was elected president. And now, Republicans won't let Bush anywhere near their conventions.

Why would you think someone like Trump, who we all know lies incessantly, would be any different? You are only making yourself look stupid.

I'm not saying stop, but when you change your tune, it should be very entertaining. Promise to let us know so we can laugh and laugh and laugh. And it will happen. It's inevitable.

Shhhh Derp....I'm basking in the glory of seeing you, your ilk, your agenda and your BS kicked to the curb. America spoke, you lost

Less than half the voters spoke, nitwit.

 

[SassyIrishLass]

Yawn.....the butthurt is real...

You are such a fucking idiot. Morons said exactly the same things you say when Bush was elected president. And now, Republicans won't let Bush anywhere near their conventions.

Why would you think someone like Trump, who we all know lies incessantly, would be any different? You are only making yourself look stupid.

I'm not saying stop, but when you change your tune, it should be very entertaining. Promise to let us know so we can laugh and laugh and laugh. And it will happen. It's inevitable.

Shhhh Derp....I'm basking in the glory of seeing you, your ilk, your agenda and your BS kicked to the curb. America spoke, you lost

Less than half the voters spoke, nitwit.

Who won, nitwit? Sit down, your butthurt has become more than annoying, it's controlling you

 

[rdean]

Thank God taxes, like murder have no statute of limitations. I suspect one day, he will be confronted with his scam. Like the Foundation and Trump U.

 

[hadit]

Yawn.....the butthurt is real...

You are such a fucking idiot. Morons said exactly the same things you say when Bush was elected president. And now, Republicans won't let Bush anywhere near their conventions.

Why would you think someone like Trump, who we all know lies incessantly, would be any different? You are only making yourself look stupid.

I'm not saying stop, but when you change your tune, it should be very entertaining. Promise to let us know so we can laugh and laugh and laugh. And it will happen. It's inevitable.

Shhhh Derp....I'm basking in the glory of seeing you, your ilk, your agenda and your BS kicked to the curb. America spoke, you lost

Less than half the voters spoke, nitwit.

That's their problem, isn't it? Sounds like the real protests should be aimed at them, not Trump.

 

[rdean]

Trump is filing suit to lower the taxes on his new Washington DC hotel.

Trump sues the District over tax bill for Old Post Office project

He wants to lower the value from 98 million to 28 million so he can skip paying taxes. Hilarious. Now he's the government. Think he'll get the cut now that he is his own landlord?

This is a test case to see how far he can go. This guy is going to fuck this country and his base will marvel at how smart he is.

 

[hadit]

Trump is filing suit to lower the taxes on his new Washington DC hotel.

Trump sues the District over tax bill for Old Post Office project

He wants to lower the value from 98 million to 28 million so he can skip paying taxes. Hilarious. Now he's the government. Think he'll get the cut now that he is his own landlord?

This is a test case to see how far he can go. This guy is going to fuck this country and his base will marvel at how smart he is.

Not sure why you're getting all hot and bothered by Trump using legal means to lower his tax bill when we've had outright tax cheats who otherwise would be in jail instead put in high powered positions in the government, running the treasury, just for one example.

 

[Meathead]

Trump's huge tax break: Was it legal? (Opinion) - CNN.com

The Real Scandal of Trump’s Massive Tax Deductions Is They’re Only Available to People Like Him

Kinda silly to think Joe Sixpack can get a massive tax deduction, eh?