You don’t really think he hasn’t cheated on his taxes his entire life, do you? There’s a reason he doesn’t want the entire world focusing on them and it’s not just because he’s poorer than he represents himself to be.
Define “cheating” on a tax return. I think anyone who has done a schedule A has probably cheated on his tax return.
If you define “cheating” as taking advantage of laws designed for the rich to take advantage of, then, yea, he has probably cheated. But unless you are prepared to back up your return when audited there really isn’t any “cheating”.
Do you think he just leaves off income, or makes up expenses or losses? Do you think he would be the only rich guy to do that?
I guess my point is nothing to a layman on a tax return would scream out illegal or cheating. I am sure tax accountants might disagree with methods, but that isn’t cheating.
I think there is probably some other info on his tax returns that would embarrass him. Some huge loss, less income than he claims, expenses for hair dye etc.
I’d bet my worldly possessions that he’s left off plenty of income, most likely from foreign sources. Would love to see all this go public at some point through the Mueller investigation, as the accountant in me would find it fascinating to see everything that’s involved.
I mean there’s cheating (this couch I donated was probably worth $100 instead of the $10 it probably was) and then there’s cheating.
But if you leave off info the tax return wouldn’t show that. And actually income is probably the hardest thing to hide. Reporting of income is matched up with taxpayers. Losses would be much easier to fake.
For what it is worth, I spend 6 months a year looking at tax returns. I have seen guys with $16m W-2’s, and I have seen guys with $6m NOL carryovers. Tax returns have some really crazy and legal shit on them.
Could be plenty of things on a Trump tax return that are independently verifiable / falsifiable by journalists and others. The tax return establishes a putative truth which is then subject to attack. That’s why people want candidates to release them.
The Manafort trial is a good example. Manafort checked the ‘no foreign accounts’ box on his tax return, but used foreign accounts to pay vendors. If his tax returns were made public, some significantly large number of people would immediately know that something was suspicious, and that would likely get to journalists, and so on.
Have you been following the Manafort trial? A lot of what may be in his Tax Returns (or in this case NOT in his tax returns) is probably similar to what’s being shown there.
A guy who bone spurred out of military service probably has no problem not reporting huge amounts of money he has hidden overseas.
So you want tax returns out there so you can turn loose the journalists on the world on his business interests and verifying the data. I think an audit or someone like Meuller would be best doing that.
I also understand that since the days of Al Capone bad guys have been caught cheating on tax returns. I just think this idea that somehow the friendly IRS will have just let him get away with things is mistaken.
Well when the people of the United States are attempting to make an informed decision about the people elected to run the country… hey stop snickering over there… this information would absolutely be useful to that course. Having people pick them apart for conflicts of interest, evidence of corruption, or other assorted problems is absolutely in the public interest.
So damn right I want that information public. He’s the god damn president of the US. We have a right to know if our leader is compromised. There’s a reason this has been demanded of every other presidential candidate in memory.
Isn’t the making public of tax returns a relatively new thing, like the last 30-40 years? I thought I had read that somewhere.
How long has Paul Manafort been getting away with it? He’s only on trial now due to the Mueller investigation yet it looks like his financial reporting on taxes has been a bit…lacking.
And hopefully he is going to pay the piper for his illegal activities. I just the assumption that any rich guy has the same type things is a little naive.
Although to be honest, most developers are slimey as hell.
Are we talking about any rich guy? I know you’ve been paying attention the past couple of years. I mean, come on. Name a more obvious con man or likely corrupt individual than Trump.
Just cause you hate the guy doesn’t mean he cheats on his taxes. From what I have read about the tax breaks he has used he hasn’t had to cheat on his taxes. The freakin law benefited him more than any cheating could.
I am talking about the ability he had, by law, of carrying over a loss year after year virtually guaranteeing he would owe no taxes. I think that law has been changed now.
And yes, I am sure doing business with the guy is a exercise in fear.
I give up man. You’re probably right - he seems like a legit dude. Charity legit, businesses legit.
Yes, I think relatively recent. And 40 years sounds about right (I want to say LBJ/ Nixon era), so maybe 50 really.
Which makes sense. It wasn’t always the case, but times have changed. And this was a good one, a response to the increasing global nature of things, and the increasing selection of political leaders from among the wealthy.
There are journalists who specialize in this sort of thing, so yes. If those tax returns had been released they would have derived a lot of information. Presidential candidates by definition are not afforded privacy.
Edit: As far as not paying taxes, yes probably legal. Real estate gets some really egregious loopholes.
There is no in between with you is there. I never say he is legit, I do say i wouldn’t want to do business with the guy. What I do say is the guy takes advantage of the laws which is what everyone with an accountant wants to do.
I hate Trump. He is a despicable, slimey womanizer who shouldn’t have been elected to dog catcher. But, I don’t automatically assume his tax return is full of felonies.
Why would that be the ONE area of his entire life that he’s honest? I don’t get your reasoning. He’s corrupt in every aspect of his life, except his taxes?
For one reason an accountant stakes his profession on what goes into a tax return like that. For another, it is probably a pretty easy way to get caught. Cheating your subs out of money is much easier to do. Signing unethical contracts with others is much easier to do. Cheating municipalities out of money is much easier to do.
I think it’s perfectly reasonable to think he cheated on his taxes, given there is documented evidence of him using non-profit money for completely inappropriate things on multiple occasions. This is the sort of person that thinks the rules don’t apply to him. Not to mention all the debt to Russian banks, shady real estate deals, etc. The idea that his taxes would be clean seems rather far-fetched.
Basically, what @rowe33 said.