The New York Times and Trump's Taxes

[Spider]

[Saz]

Trump is a genius. Of course he probably hasn't paid taxes in the last 18 years. But how do you explain that politically? How do you explain to the 105 IQ redditors like spider, who have never run a business and still use turbotax, how losses can be pushed back into other years to minimize taxable income?

Well, the answer is that you ONLY release the year with the loss. Now it's clearly ingrained in the public conscious that Trump took a big loss in 95. If all the taxes came out at once, then the fact that he lost a billion dollars and used that to offset other years would be lost. But by only releasing the year with the loss, that fact comes to the forefront. If the rest of his taxes come out and they show no tax paid, Trump can easily point to 95 and say that's why he hasn't had to pay. And everyone will remember 95 because the dimwits at the NYT have made a huge story out of it.

But doesn't losing a billion dollars show Trump isn't a good businessman, the liberals will whine. Absolutely not. It shows the opposite. Here is a man who in 95 nearly lost it all, and yet today he is worth billions. Now Trump is the comeback kid. He hit a bottom and he pulled himself out of it to heights greater than anything prior. He made TRUMP great again. And he will make AMERICA great again. He really is in touch with the people - this is what America is yearning for. So many Americans have (metaphor warning for Kane) booked a billion dollar loss in the years since the crisis. They want, they demand, someone who can share that pain but who has demonstrated an ability to pick themselves up and come back greater than ever. Trump did it with his business and he can and will do it for the country.

Absolute masterstroke. I bet Trump leaked this himself.

[NAB]

At this point, if clear evidence came out that Trump killed a hooker and dismembered her body, I doubt his supporters would back away one inch. In fact, they would spin it that he got rid of a criminal and did society a favor.

He's become controversy-proof for his mouth-breathing minions.

[Saz]

[IndependentProfessor]

Almost every successful businessperson will tell you that declaring bankruptcy, or taking massive losses, is simply a more expeditious (though less scrupulous) way to make money.

Al Copeland (Popeye's chicken founder) even detailed it in his book. Basically, he started a restaurant. It went bankrupt, but the bankruptcy court allowed him to keep a single fryer. He started another restaurant, it grew, then went bankrupt. He was allowed to keep one restaurant. He started a 3rd time, was even more successful, then went bankrupt for the 3rd time. This time, the courts let him keep 3 restaurants.

So, he had 3 restaurants and zero debt. That's what he built the empire upon.

Bankruptcy is simply a tool used by businesses.

[Winchester]

Meh, I don't like the spin I'm hearing on the news about this, that somehow it's unfair. It's not, being able to use NOLs is the ultimate in tax fairness and (very important) for business to carry on in some cases. How do you address the fact that tax reporting is on an annual basis and yet when you look at a period longer than one year you get a better picture of a business. I have farm/ranch clients who's income can swing drastically from one year to the next dependent upon commodity prices.

Is it fair for a business who loses $100K one year and makes $100k the following year to pay income taxes in year 2 even though when you look at both years combined they made $0? That is the reason NOL's are allowed in the tax code and have been since pretty much the inception of the tax code. Over time if a business makes money, they are going to pay taxes. Bad news for Donald (and others using NOLs) is if you don't recoup the loss in 15 years it's gone forever.

Now IMO if they want to spin and harm the Donald, focus on how such a supposed business genius managed to lose almost a billion dollars in one year. I'm thinking he has had a crap pile of such losses over the years and when you look at the totality of the Donald's business dealings over the years he's lost his ass and is living the successful lifestyle on credit.

[Saz]

[Saz]

[Spider]

[John Galt]

i want winchester and people like him to be begging on the street for money because of a simplified code where we can't have shit like this ever happen. when i see that a self-claimed billionaire is paying less taxes than me, that makes me perturbed, especially since i'm having over a third of my income drained away, a sum that is hardly anything to someone with so much money like TRUMP. but i know that clinton would never fix it either so this certainly doesn't make me want to vote for her. she's just coming to the field with the marxian fairness doctrine and i do not want that, i want individuals treated equally