Friday, April 8, 2016

No Wonder Donald Trump Won’t Release His Tax Returns. If He Did, He’d Lose.

For a mega-rich billionaire like Donald Trump, most Americans would expect that his income tax bill is probably yuuuuge. A few million? Tens of millions? HUNDREDS of millions? In reality, it’s very likely that Donald Trump actually MAKES money from federal income tax deferments based upon an obscure loophole in the 6500 page tax code.

It’s really a catch-22 for Trump. Based upon his status as a “real estate professional.” Because of forced depreciation of owned buildings over time, Trump should be filing his “losses” (whether real or simply on paper) against his actual income, resulting in negative income. If he is, then he’s not paying income taxes because of perpetual buying; as long as he’s spending money buying buildings, he’s deferring his taxes into the distant future, perhaps even decades. If he’s not doing this, then he’s a business fool for not taking advantage of this extremely lucrative loophole. We know he’s not a fool, so chances are strong that he’s paying less in income taxes than you are.

For a more detailed explanation of how this works, see the report on USA Today:

Here’s the thing. Donald Trump is 100% lying when he says he cannot release his tax returns because of his current audit as confirmed by the IRS. He’s 100% lying when he says that his tax returns are so yuuuuge that it would take a long time to prepare as confirmed by his debtors. When he needed his multiple loans from Deutsche Bank, he was able to supply them with his tax returns in a matter days. If he had any intentions of releasing his tax returns, he would have done it already. Otherwise, he’ll make excuse after excuse if he gets to the general election until he either looks like more of a lying fool or if he succumbs to pressure from Hillary Clinton.

That’s the real fear. For whatever reason, his competitors have not been able to gain traction trying to guilt him into releasing his returns. For obvious reasons, mainstream media hasn’t pushed him to do it, either. If he faces Clinton or Bernie Sanders, they will make it a yuuuuge issue in the general election. He’ll either suffer through the “embarrassment of riches” of loopholing his way into paying less tax than the average hard working American or he’ll come across as a scoundrel for making up pitiful excuses leading up to election day. Either way, he will be utterly obliterated and the Democrats will retain the White House.

It’s shocking that only USA Today and a couple of small publications have addressed this issue. One would think that Trump either has some sort of influence over the media or they’re holding the story until after the primaries to bury him in the general election. Then again, both might be true.



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