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Thread: How Trump Turned the Tax Code Into a Giant Tax Shelter

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    Default How Trump Turned the Tax Code Into a Giant Tax Shelter

    Now we know: Donald J. Trump racked up losses so huge in the early 1990s that he wouldn’t have had to pay federal or New York State income tax on nearly a billion dollars in income. None of this seems to have made the slightest dent in Mr. Trump’s opulent lifestyle over the years. At the nadir of his personal financial crisis in the early 1990s, his lenders put him on an annual “budget” of $450,000 in personal expenses — more than enough to sustain his lifestyle of lavish homes, private jets, country clubs and golf courses — even as he was using the tax code to avoid paying any federal income tax.

    It’s hard to imagine a starker contrast with the vast number of Americans who struggle to both pay taxes and make ends meet, or a more damning indictment of a tax code that makes that possible. “If it wasn’t clear before, it is now: The tax code is tilted toward the rich in its statutory framework, its exceptions, and in how it is enforced and administered,” said Steven M. Rosenthal, a real estate tax specialist and senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

    If Mr. Trump’s pattern of generating losses and using them to offset other income has continued, as seems likely, it’s obvious why he has not released his tax returns: not because he is being audited, or because the returns are too complicated, but because he hasn’t paid any taxes. The latest revelations, in an article published by The New York Times, make a “compelling” case for more disclosure, said Michael Knoll, professor of law and real estate at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. “If his loss was so massive that he didn’t pay federal income tax for 15 to 20 years, that’s surprising. It’s even more surprising that someone in that situation would run for president.”

    Even if Mr. Trump was correct when he asserted that he only took advantage of what the law allows, such a huge loss undermines one of his central campaign themes, which is that he is an astute and successful businessman. Given the size of the loss that Mr. Trump reported, “it’s clear he was a spectacularly disastrous businessman,” Mr. Rosenthal said.

    There are a number of accounting tactics that Mr. Trump might have used to generate such a huge loss, some of them considered highly aggressive and of dubious legitimacy, accounting experts said. Given the dire state of Mr. Trump’s businesses at the time, he might have been able to record write-downs of assets under a doctrine known as “abandonment,” an aggressive accounting tactic used when an investor walks away from a worthless or nearly worthless asset and writes off the entire capital investment in the property.

    There is also the question of Mr. Trump’s debt. Mr. Trump personally guaranteed $832 million of debt related to his casinos and other assets. Under tax code provisions available to real estate developers, he could take the full amount as a deduction even if he didn’t invest a dime of his own money.

    Ordinarily, that deduction would be recaptured when the debt was forgiven or the underlying assets sold. If the debt were forgiven, Mr. Trump would have to report that as income. But there are various exceptions. If Mr. Trump was insolvent at the time — if his debts exceeded his assets — he might have avoided having to report the forgiveness of debt as income. Of course, if that was the case, it further undermines his claims to being an astute businessman.

    http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/marke...YBj?li=BBnb7Kz


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    Hard to make America great again, when you're not paying your fair share of taxes?


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    Quote Originally Posted by signalmankenneth View Post
    Hard to make America great again, when you're not paying your fair share of taxes?

    You don't want a flat tax Ken so this is what you get. This is what you support

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    All's I can say is so what? Do the Liberal shitheads think that by soaking the rich they'll bring about their Communist utopia filled with rainbows and unicorns?

    THE OFFICIAL FLAG OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY

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    To be fair, most of that was probably a standard depreciation on his commercial buildings. All commercial properties can depreciate properties over 30 years. The down side to that is the cap gains he/his estate will pay the value of the properties. Of course, he wants to do away with the estate tax, so his kids won't have to worry about any of that.
    Once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right.

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    I applaud welfare cheats on their ability to rig the system to their advantage to a somewhat similar extent. They get everything they can from the parasite government, that should me applauded. That makes them smart, not paying their due like the rest of us.
    "Do not think that I came to bring peace... I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." - Matthew 10:34

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    curious: if the kids inherent and they pass on wealth -do their kids pay on that estate too?
    Is there any way out of death = taxes?

    I'm not opposed to an estate tax if it's the only way to tax the lucky kids -but it really is a death tax.

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    Refusing to contribute to society makes you a patriot in the eyes of modern conservatism. The more you take for the less you give back, the more of a patriot you are. They are the party of parasitism.

    Remind me again why we should not ban the ideology of conservatism?
    "Do not think that I came to bring peace... I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." - Matthew 10:34

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    Quote Originally Posted by anatta View Post
    curious: if the kids inherent and they pass on wealth -do their kids pay on that estate too?
    Is there any way out of death = taxes?

    I'm not opposed to an estate tax if it's the only way to tax the lucky kids -but it really is a death tax.
    More death taxes! Punish the rich!
    "Do not think that I came to bring peace... I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." - Matthew 10:34

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    Quote Originally Posted by What is Aleppo? View Post
    I applaud welfare cheats on their ability to rig the system to their advantage to a somewhat similar extent. They get everything they can from the parasite government, that should me applauded. That makes them smart, not paying their due like the rest of us.
    interesting. One's economic class determines morality (worthiness) of getting over on the government.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Boris The Animal View Post
    All's I can say is so what? Do the Liberal shitheads think that by soaking the rich they'll bring about their Communist utopia filled with rainbows and unicorns?

    Soak the rich !
    "Do not think that I came to bring peace... I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." - Matthew 10:34

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    Quote Originally Posted by What is Aleppo? View Post
    More death taxes! Punish the rich!
    maybe we can tax them when they're born also?

    "Take that silver spoon from your mouth and give it here for taxes"

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    Quote Originally Posted by christiefan915 View Post
    How Trump Turned the Tax Code Into a Giant Tax Shelter?????
    If he actually did that (which he didn't) he'd truly be a genius.....but alas...hes only a very smart businessman that is obeying the tax code.....

    just like the rest of us smarter taxpayers, who pay as little as is legally possible....only an utter fool pays more than necessary......
    Put blame where it belongs
    ATF decided it could not regulate bump stocks during the Obama administration.
    It that time," the NRA wrote in a statement. "The NRA believes that devices designed to allow semiautomatic rifles to function like fully-automatic rifles should be subject to additional regulations."
    The ATF and Obama admin. ignored the NRA recommendations.


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    Quote Originally Posted by What is Aleppo? View Post
    Soak the rich !
    Worked well in the Soviet Union, eh Bolshevik scumbag?

    THE OFFICIAL FLAG OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY

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    Quote Originally Posted by NOVA View Post
    If he actually did that (which he didn't) he'd truly be a genius.....but alas...hes only a very smart businessman that is obeying the tax code.....

    just like the rest of us smarter taxpayers, who pay as little as is legally possible....only an utter fool pays more than necessary......
    He went bust in the Casino business when others were making money, too much debt, that's not a smart business man. He acquired too much debt, that is not good business.

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