Trump's taxes leaked

[LiconaFan97]

I am not. Haircare received specifically for a stage, film, or television performance is tax deductable provided the performer paid for it himself. Unless you have something better than a list of credits from IMDb (which I'm not sure what you're trying to prove there), we have no reason to think that Trump didn't pay for it out of his own pocket.

I know that. What I'm saying is that a prime time TV show starring Donald Trump has a full makeup department and manages the performers' appearances. That law is geared towards independent contractors, not people on payroll. And the expenses have to be reasonable and customary besides.

[CivilDiscourse]

I am not. Haircare received specifically for a stage, film, or television performance is tax deductable provided the performer paid for it himself. Unless you have something better than a list of credits from IMDb (which I'm not sure what you're trying to prove there), we have no reason to think that Trump didn't pay for it out of his own pocket.

He posted it as "proof" that CBS paid for the hair/makeup.

[Leonhard]

For instance?

One full third of his time is spent at his resorts, dozens and dozens of political events have been organized and always at Trump's resorts. He's raked in several million dollars there alone. Far more than the pitiful amount he's making a show of "donating" to the government that you're so impressed by.

I didn't say he's "super generous towards the government." The point of this thread is that he is somehow legally cheating the government, and I pointed out otherwise.

"Legally cheating the government?" I guess you meant whether or not his accountants have found clever loop holes to prevent him from paying taxes? That's par for the course for all billionaires. They're immoral.

[CivilDiscourse]

"Legally cheating the government?" I guess you meant whether or not his accountants have found clever loop holes to prevent him from paying taxes? That's par for the course for all billionaires. They're immoral.

Are you saying that if you had a "clever" loop hole that would reduce your tax bill you wouldn't take it if it was available to you?

[Leonhard]

Are you saying that if you had a "clever" loop hole that would reduce your tax bill you wouldn't take it if it was available to you?

You mean stuff like starting my own one person IT consultancy company, buying a house through another holding company, renting it to myself, and decorating it as a house while putting the company in the basement? Where you can avoid quite a lot of taxes? No, I honestly wouldn't. It's immoral. Tax deductions are meant to alleviate, or stimulate certain sectors of society. There's no reason for the ultra-rich to carve more holes in the tax laws for their own benefit they're the last ones who need to be alleviated.

[Mountain Man]

He posted it as "proof" that CBS paid for the hair/makeup.

Let's suppose CBS bankrolled the entire production -- they didn't, but suppose they did: is there any reason to think Trump couldn't have paid for his own personal hairstylist? Actually, that's something I would expect Trump to do.

But the fact is, the show was produced by Trump Productions.

[Ronson]

One full third of his time is spent at his resorts, dozens and dozens of political events have been organized and always at Trump's resorts. He's raked in several million dollars there alone.

And you get your figures from - where?

Far more than the pitiful amount he's making a show of "donating" to the government that you're so impressed by.

Again, the point of this thread, and the NYT article, is that Trump cheats the government by not paying enough in taxes. I am pointing out that he voluntarily doesn't take a salary and therefore he has returned $1.6 million to the government.

So even if you are correct in your assumptions above, that is not money taken from the government. He mostly houses and guests foreign dignitaries at his resorts.

"Legally cheating the government?" I guess you meant whether or not his accountants have found clever loop holes to prevent him from paying taxes? That's par for the course for all billionaires. They're immoral.

If those are legal loopholes then it makes sense he would use them. So would I. Most rational people aren't in the habit of spending more money than they have to.

[CivilDiscourse]

And you get your figures from - where?



Again, the point of this thread, and the NYT article, is that Trump cheats the government by not paying enough in taxes. I am pointing out that he voluntarily doesn't take a salary and therefore he has returned $1.6 million to the government.

So even if you are correct in your assumptions above, that is not money taken from the government. He mostly houses and guests foreign dignitaries at his resorts.



If those are legal loopholes then it makes sense he would use them. So would I. Most rational people aren't in the habit of spending more money than they have to.

Technically, he's not allowed to NOT take a salary. Thus he donates it when he gets it.

[Ronson]

Technically, he's not allowed to NOT take a salary. Thus he donates it when he gets it.

Well, OK. In so many words he doesn't take it home with him.

I understand JFK and Herbert Hoover did the same thing, so it's not unprecedented when a rich person is elected to the presidency.

Of course, Lefties would say JFK was a patriot and a hero for doing the same thing, whereas Trump is a manipulator and a slime ball for doing it.

[shunyadragon]

They are not a reliable source, you have no source.

The Senate Committee has already turned over it's report on Joey to the Justice Department for criminal referral. Bad Joey, bad.

All I gotta do is wait. So does Hunter.

No not yet, and no judgement to hold hearings,

[seanD]

You mean stuff like starting my own one person IT consultancy company, buying a house through another holding company, renting it to myself, and decorating it as a house while putting the company in the basement? Where you can avoid quite a lot of taxes? No, I honestly wouldn't. It's immoral. Tax deductions are meant to alleviate, or stimulate certain sectors of society. There's no reason for the ultra-rich to carve more holes in the tax laws for their own benefit they're the last ones who need to be alleviated.

I guess you guys can't accuse him of being a hypocrite because his political policy is clearly cutting taxes, so you're using the absurd "immoral" angle of not paying taxes. To say someone is immoral for using legal ways to avoid paying as little taxes to the government as possible is probably the dumbest thing I've ever heard you say.

[LiconaFan97]

Let's suppose CBS bankrolled the entire production -- they didn't, but suppose they did: is there any reason to think Trump couldn't have paid for his own personal hairstylist? Actually, that's something I would expect Trump to do.

But the fact is, the show was produced by Trump Productions.

That's a rather misleading retelling of what happened. You're correct that I assumed it was produced by CBS since it aired there (and I'm not even 100% on that) and I really don't care about which production company does what because why would I follow that. The point of pasting the makeup credits was to demonstrate that the show already had a full complement of makeup and hair folks so there would be little reason for Trump to spend $70k in just one year on hair.

And the typical standard for these sorts of things is "reasonable and customary." $70k per year on hair is neither reasonable nor customary.

[Leonhard]

I guess you guys can't accuse him of being a hypocrite because his political policy is clearly cutting taxes, so you're using the absurd "immoral" angle of not paying taxes. To say someone is immoral for using legal ways to avoid paying as little taxes to the government as possible is probably the dumbest thing I've ever heard you say.

Why are you conservatives so utterly fascinated by people who get to pay an effective 0% tax rate? This is not a new phenomenon but what's the draw of it for you? With Trump at best I can see is that if he's in massive debt, his businesses are failing etc, then there can be write offs so large that effectively he's paying zero taxes because he's making zero income.

However, "it's the optics" as you say. Because what a lot of people will take home from this is "I pay more taxes than a billionaire - and I'm living from pay check to pay check." From Tim Cook of Apple, to Larry Ellison, to Bill Gates, all of them earn upwards of a thousand dollars per second and barely pays any taxes of it because of a thousand loop holes they've built into the market. And that's immoral. Every penny they don't pay in taxes is money they're effectively stealing from the lower class.

You might like that, but I honestly don't get why. You're not a billionaire. All of those tax breaks Trump creates aren't going to benefit you much, or at must a sub digit change in your overall economy.

All billionaires, without exception, are immoral. None of them are good people.

[Leonhard]

And you get your figures from - where? ... So even if you are correct in your assumptions above, that is not money taken from the government. He mostly houses and guests foreign dignitaries at his resorts.

Forbes:
Trump’s Golf Trips Could Cost Taxpayers Over $340 Million
United States Accountability Office:
https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/696512.pdf
Trump Golf Count Blog:
https://trumpgolfcount.com/displayoutings

At least 60000$ worth of expenses has been logged for a golf trip paid to Mar-A-Lago over the course of a few days. And when you consider that he's gone 190 times out of 193 times to Trump resorts, that alone already wracks up 3 million. And that doesn't count the other political events that were much greater than he held at those places which I'd honestly surprised weren't significantly bigger than that number.

I don't so much care that he broke his promise that he wouldn't play as much golf as Obama and ended up playing golf three times as often, but you've lost your mind if you think he's renting out Mar-A-Lago for free.

If those are legal loopholes then it makes sense he would use them. So would I. Most rational people aren't in the habit of spending more money than they have to.

If he had an actual income, then I'd say that those loopholes amount to legal crime. If he doesn't have one and is bleeding money then I guess it's fair, then its the investors fault for putting money into his businesses and that's on them. But for some like Larry Ellison who barely pays a nickel in cash. No they're scum, and as far as I'm concerned they all ought to be locked up and their businesses radically dismantled.

[seanD]

Why are you conservatives so utterly fascinated by people who get to pay an effective 0% tax rate? This is not a new phenomenon but what's the draw of it for you? With Trump at best I can see is that if he's in massive debt, his businesses are failing etc, then there can be write offs so large that effectively he's paying zero taxes because he's making zero income.

However, "it's the optics" as you say. Because what a lot of people will take home from this is "I pay more taxes than a billionaire - and I'm living from pay check to pay check." From Tim Cook of Apple, to Larry Ellison, to Bill Gates, all of them earn upwards of a thousand dollars per second and barely pays any taxes of it because of a thousand loop holes they've built into the market. And that's immoral. Every penny they don't pay in taxes is money they're effectively stealing from the lower class.

You might like that, but I honestly don't get why. You're not a billionaire. All of those tax breaks Trump creates aren't going to benefit you much, or at must a sub digit change in your overall economy.

All billionaires, without exception, are immoral. None of them are good people.

I'm not disputing whether billionaires are or aren't immoral, I'm disputing your claim that using legal means to skirt taxes is immoral. No, it's not immoral, it's smart, especially if you believe the government you pay taxes to that is supposed to serve you is itself immoral. You're an idiot if you want to pay more taxes to this government than you have to. No one wants to otherwise they'd just voluntarily donate more of their money to the government (yes, you can donate to the government). No one wants to pay taxes. If you don't like the tax loopholes then that's up to the folks you vote in office the correct that.