Donald Trump paid $750 in federal tax in 2016, but the defense cost is about $6,000/household

Hammster

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Ok.

I'm saying rich people should not be able to do the kind of legal tax evasion it takes to get down to $0 or $750, our other tiny amounts, so many times.
I’m aware of your opinion. And I’m not saying that I disagree. All I’m saying is that he didn’t do anything illegal, as far as I’ve been able to determine.
 
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Halbhh

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I’m aware of your opinion. And I’m not saying that I disagree. All I’m saying is that he didn’t do anything illegal, as far as I’ve been able to determine.
Alright, but I'm wondering about the NY State investigation.

Here's what was going on --
Over the years, Donald Trump and his company have placed widely different values on the Seven Springs estate.

The sprawling property north of New York City was purchased for $7.5 million in 1995. But by 2014, the Trump Organization said it was worth $291 million, in financial documents its officers prepared when they were seeking a bank loan. Four years later, on Mr. Trump’s ethics disclosure form, it was listed as being worth no more than $50 million.

That property and three others have become a focus of an investigation by the New York State attorney general’s office into whether the president and the Trump Organization improperly inflated the value of his holdings, making false representations to banks or on tax forms.
Did Trump Overvalue His Properties? Here’s What We Know About the Inquiry


It's in the news Trumps organization will owe payments of $300 million on loans in next few years.

The Times obtained Donald Trump’s tax information extending over more than two decades, revealing struggling properties, vast write-offs, an audit battle and hundreds of millions in debt coming due.
-- NyTimes, From the OP link
 
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Hammster

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Alright, but I'm wondering about the NY State investigation.

Here's what was going on --
Over the years, Donald Trump and his company have placed widely different values on the Seven Springs estate.

The sprawling property north of New York City was purchased for $7.5 million in 1995. But by 2014, the Trump Organization said it was worth $291 million, in financial documents its officers prepared when they were seeking a bank loan. Four years later, on Mr. Trump’s ethics disclosure form, it was listed as being worth no more than $50 million.

That property and three others have become a focus of an investigation by the New York State attorney general’s office into whether the president and the Trump Organization improperly inflated the value of his holdings, making false representations to banks or on tax forms.
Did Trump Overvalue His Properties? Here’s What We Know About the Inquiry


It's in the news Trumps organization will owe payments of $300 million on loans in next few years.

The Times obtained Donald Trump’s tax information extending over more than two decades, revealing struggling properties, vast write-offs, an audit battle and hundreds of millions in debt coming due.
-- NyTimes, From the OP link
Wasn’t the $750 his personal income tax?
 
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Halbhh

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Wasn’t the $750 his personal income tax?
Yup. And that picture from those other articles -- being under pressure to come up with $300 million somehow in a few years -- is already suggestive to me of either bankruptcy or else somehow looking for a way to get a lot of cash, or a loan with a very lenient loan officer... in some manner that isn't conventional.... What might Trump do to get a lot of cash in a way that isn't conventional? I'd not like a President to be in that situation, since it could sway one pretty strongly, and there are ways for a president to get a lot of cash that wouldn't be something we'd ever want a president to be doing. Best if somehow he could not be connected to that future financial outcome coming in a few years, so that he'd not be swayed by it.
 
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Ken-1122

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Ok.

I'm saying rich people should not be able to do the kind of legal tax evasion it takes to get down to $0 or $750, our other tiny amounts, so many times.
Even if they lost money? Are you saying people should pay taxes on the money they lost?
 
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wing2000

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If ANYONE other than Trump went to tax court over whether a $70,000 tax deduction for your hair was legal, he would get laughed out of the court room.

...his day in court has yet to arrive.
 
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FireDragon76

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I've tried to warn people here on CF for years now not to put faith in Trump (or any human leader) -- that they would end up very disappointed.

I must have written that at least 15 or 20 times, if not more.

But this overall picture is far worse than anything I imagined, when you look at all the last 3 1/2 years, everything together, like the unneeded failure to wear a mask and set a good example, and the extra tens of thousands of deaths that have already happened because so many young people followed his lead and didn't wear masks, all the death that would not have happened if more people (a higher percentage) had worn masks if they had been following instead some better example.

And their idea that somehow Trump is good for the economy, after this ongoing disaster from not consolidating against the virus with mask wearing -- which is continuing to harm the economy.

Salesmanship from Trump vs actual reality playing out over time.

Illusions will fade, and that actual reality isn't so good as they hoped, believed, put faith in.

A good tree doesn't bear bad fruit.

Character counts. Those who say "I'm electing a president, not a pastor" are missing the point.
 
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Nithavela

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Did he do anything illegal?
You'd have to ask the people who are auditing his taxes since the cambrian explosion and will continue to do so until the heat death of the universe.

Do you think this should be illegal?

I think that someone who buys a gold toilet should pay more taxes than the guy who installs it. But maybe that's socialism.
 
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disciple Clint

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Yes, because we pay a fair share.

Fair because we do our proportional part to pay for our national expenses.

In other words, we pay a lot more than $750 or $0. Far more.

Do you think Trump ought to pay less tax than a typically middle income family?
Yes Trump and others who provide many jobs because of their investments and contribute to non profit corporations that help those who need help should receive tax consideration for what they are doing with their money. They are paying their fair share, they are just doing it in a different way.
 
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Nithavela

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Yes Trump and others who provide many jobs because of their investments and contribute to non profit corporations that help those who need help should receive tax consideration for what they are doing with their money. They are paying their fair share, they are just doing it in a different way.
I'm not sure that being forced to pay money to charities for misusing funds should receive special tax consideration.
 
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disciple Clint

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I'm not sure that being forced to pay money to charities for misusing funds should receive special tax consideration.
Do you think that is the only contribution that Trump made, give us a break. Look into the facts.
 
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FenderTL5

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It's a legit question. Is it good for our nation for a wealthy person to pay far less in taxes for so many years than average families pay?
The Trump Tax cut for the wealthy in 2018, RAISED our household Income Taxes more (that is the amount it went up) than Trump reportedly paid in total for 2016 and 2017 combined. We are under the national median household income.
 
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disciple Clint

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President Donald Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes the year he ran for president and in his first year in the White House...
NY Times: Trump paid $750 in US income taxes in 2016, 2017


While saying he's a successful business man....D. Trump paid a lot less in federal taxes than average middle-class people a lot of different years.
--
"
Trump, who has fiercely guarded his tax filings and is the only president in modern times not to make them public, paid no federal income taxes in 10 of the past 15 years."

Does that seem good for America?

United States defense costs about $6,000/household, for the federal defense budget.

Is it ok with you that Trump has paid a lot less than the cost of defending his country per household for very many years?

Suppose Trump had big business losses.
Ok -- Well, then should he have lived so luxuriously?


Now, a great salesman can in effect sell people their own shoes they already own. You end up infatuated.

Consider being infatuated by a shiny new car.

Ideally, you should pause and look closer, and find out: What's under the hood?
When will people understand that the NYT will write any story without regard to truth as long as it is a hit job on Trump. Then the MSM will repeat that story over and over without making any attempt to verify it. This has only been going on for four years now when will people catch on to the fact that they are being played for fools.
 
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KCfromNC

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Did he do anything illegal?
Quite possibly. There's an active investigation into a 70-something million refund he got. And there's obvious issues with being personally on the line for hundreds of millions in debt coming due in the next few years. And the issue with pretending one of his houses was both a personal residence and a business write-off. And it looks like trying to get around the gift tax by paying his children as consultants. And, and, and...
 
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