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

[Halbhh]

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?

 

[dqhall]

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.

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?

It is a scandal that a man can make so much money and pay no taxes. He has even suspended payroll taxes that in better times were used to pay social security, medicare and medicaid. Trump is being investigated for tax evasion.

 

[Halbhh]

It is a scandal that a man can make so much money and pay no taxes. He has even suspended payroll taxes that in better times were used to pay social security, medicare and medicaid. Trump is being investigated for tax evasion.

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.

 

[Halbhh]

First of all, you realize there are actually several categories of taxes and this is only one of them, right?

Second, yeah, I'm cool with it, as I don't believe income should be taxed in the first place.

Third, if you're so concerned about funding the defense, then why aren't you calling for the government to do away with all Unconstitutional agencies and programs and apply that money to the defense?

I think the best taxation is Georgist and sales taxes (which naturally tax imported goods equally to locally made goods). Of course, under such taxes Trump would pay far more, and does pay quite a bit even with the modest, limited levels of sales taxes and property taxes we do have now.

It's not quite clear whether you think there should be a national defense budget for this nation similar to what we have -- do you think so?

The Federal defense budget is $738 billion for 2020 I understand.
That's on the order of near $6,000 ($5,740) per household in the U.S.

If you do support a strong national defense (even if just $500 bn or any particular number up there), then what other federal functions do you support also?

Traditional functions of government around the world throughout history include: public roads, national police forces, national court systems, often public spaces like parks and such that benefit the nation and help improve social quality of life by reducing social stress and increasing harmony (another kind of defending the people), and for example in that regard, public schooling, to reduce criminality (on average compared to having no education).

Doing what needs to be done nationally, by an impartial national system, so that we as a people are not just locally fully subject to the local whims of a local magistrate only.

 

[Hammster]

Did he do anything illegal?

 

[AvilaSurfer]

Did he do anything illegal?

Nobody wants to answer because, well, you know.......Trump bad.

 

[Halbhh]

Sounds like you would have been at home in the old Soviet Union.

! hah

If you only knew how opposite reality that is. I was already a big fan of Reagan at age 13 in the 70s, well before he ran the 2nd time in 1980.

Reagan was a strong opponent of the Soviet Union. This was one of his appealing characteristics, that he might stand against the Iron Curtain better than any democrat.

So...you went off pretty far there with your imaginative flight of fancy about my viewpoint.

You actually achieved a perfect 180 degrees of wrongness on it. L-)

 

[Halbhh]

Did he do anything illegal?

While I know he's under investigation by New York actually (his state of residence), I haven't followed that, and certainly don't have a viewpoint yet on it.

 

[pescador]

While I know he's under investigation by New York actually (his state of residence), I haven't followed that, and certainly don't have a viewpoint yet on it.

His former state of residence. He's now a resident of Florida -- a state with no personal income tax.

 

[Halbhh]

You literally said we should have an all powerful federal government so that we would not be ruled by local magistrates.

Do you even know what the Founders and Framers wrote, or what the "Lesser Magistrate Doctrine" is?

Read more closely what I write and you'll notice better what I said, instead of this far wrong idea about what I said.

You actually just falsely represented my posts. Wildly so.

 

[Halbhh]

Nobody wants to answer because, well, you know.......Trump bad.

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?

 

[Halbhh]

His former state of residence. He's now a resident of Florida -- a state with no personal income tax.

That's interesting.

Why did Trump change residence?

And so, is he doing mail in voting...???

 

[Hammster]

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?

That’s not the point. If he didn’t do anything illegal, it doesn’t matter how much he paid.

 

[Halbhh]

That’s not the point. If he didn’t do anything illegal, it doesn’t matter how much he paid.

To me, this seems bad by itself even if legal.

What is NY state investigating though?

 

[Hammster]

To me, this seems bad by itself even if legal.

What is NY state investigating though?

Do you pay more in taxes than you need to?

 

[Halbhh]

Do you pay more in taxes than you need to?

No -- we pay a typical level a family with our overall income pays.

Not close to zero relative to our wealth, for years, like Trump has....so, not like Trump at all in that way.

 

[Hammster]

No -- we pay a typical level a family with our overall income pays.

Not close to zero relative to our wealth, for years, like Trump has....so, not like Trump at all in that way.

So neither of you pay more than you need to.

 

[Halbhh]

So neither of you pay more than you need to.

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?

 

[Hammster]

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?

I’m saying that everyone should pay what they are legally required to pay.

 

[Halbhh]

I’m saying that everyone should pay what they are legally required to pay.

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.