I respectfully disagree because I would bet, if I were a betting man, far more people try their best to pay as little taxes as possible than just write a check without attempting any write-offs.  

knowing how politics work, what is the chance this 1995 tax document was released from Trump team. Its interesting the time period of the tax return and how Trump surrogates have Jump all over this subject trying to paint Trump as a genius. This is comical unless he himself actually did his returns. The fact that the document came from the Trump tower also make it very suspicious. If anything this document was something his team probably needed to do because Trump was going in a death spiral over the Miss Universe topic which he never should have entertained in the first place.

I think this brings to light that there needs to an elimination of all write offs.  What is the main point of a lobbyist?  To get tax loopholes written into law.  If you get rid of the loopholes then you get rid of most of the lobbyist.

It's still shady. It just means a lot of people are willing to do something shady if it doesn't mean trouble for them. But you'd expect a leader to lead with example, and Trump doesn't exactly set a good example here.

i don't give a fuck if they are legal.


they are legal because of the pay-to-play politics big organization can afford to do that create and maintain loop holes that benefit the rich. legal or not it is immoral to shift the tax burden to the middle class and small business.

what i want is a president that will close the loop holes and create a tax system that is fairly distributed. what i don't want is a president who's tax platform includes removing the estate tax to his own personal benefit that will require the programs that serve out poor to be gutted.


how poor and middle class republicans can cheer on getting fucked by america's rich oligarchy i'll never know.

i would also like to +1 this post.

That's where we differ as I don't think it's shady to reduce my tax burden and if I do it yearly I see no way I can then claim others are shady for doing the same.  

I would be in favor of a flat tax % for all.  

That's the spirit. The US has become a state governed by fear and fearmongering, in mote than just one issue. People need the courage to stand with what they think is right.

the real value in the tax information to me is further realization of how poor and (at times) unethical of a businessman Trump is. whatever it takes to not lose too much.

It also is disturbing that Trump has so poorly invested the money that he inherited from his father. Decades ago if he had put his money into the safest possibly LOW return investment fund he'd hypothetically have like 2 or 3x what he has now.

Also even if there are loopholes in which you can tank struggling business to write off your losses by not having to pay taxes- is someone who has repeatedly done that someone you WANT running the economy?

I mean somewhere like China similarly does whatever it takes to maintain their economy by making their currency as cheap as possible as to make a favorable trade pattern for other countries (currency to currency) and encourage people to trade with them. Trump sort of reminds of that, artificially keeping afloat by taking advantages of loop holes that in the long run do not strengthen or build up your business or economy. Again, Trump would be in a lot better position if he didn't do ANYTHING for the last few decades (essentially). 

His taxes are relevant because he paints himself as an extremely clever businessman when the reality is he regularly has had to jump off the boat for his struggling businesses and that his father's estate adjusted for inflation should be worth far more than it is now but Trump handled the assets terribly