All this commotion from a 21 year old tax return. The entire loss could have been erased one year later, but the headlines are saying 18 years, no taxes...pure wishful thinking. Anyone wonder why he won't release his more relevant taxes? He gets attacked for following the tax code, sheesh!

Meanwhile, only one candidate has demonstrably ignored the law.

The empty jewelry box scam tells me enough.

The fact that many here seem to be forgetting is that people like Trump employ a lot of people and those people get paid and guess what... They pay tax!

Is he doing the right thing by finding ways not to pay or minimize his own tax? It really depends on your point of view but as far as the law is concerned he is doing the right thing.

People like Trump employ highly qualified people to do their books and those people look for all the Tax breaks they can find.... because it's their job to do so.
The best of them ALWAYS work within the law. To do otherwise is just stupid.

That's one possibility.

If he released his tax returns we would know if you're correct. Voters should not have to assume what you seem to have assumed.

The fact that he employs people who pay taxes is a canard, unless his defense is 'I have so many employees I shouldn't have to pay tax'.

Do as I say, not as I do?

That could be exactly what he thinks.

Rich people often believe they are doing society a service by employing people. They work hard, employ a bunch of people and that's good for everyone.

I'm no big Trump fan but all of this is just a distraction from the real issues.

The rich have always evaded paying tax because they can.
Us little people pay because the same loop holes aren't available to us. It's always been like this.

I'm not OK with it but what option do we have? Should we hobble the rich to the detriment of the economy?

No problem. He should just come out and say it.


Shaming others while you avoid tax (assuming he is) is not a distraction. It's a character flaw that speaks to his suitability for office.

As for the fix? I will leave that to the American tax-payers, but even Trump's accountant expressed distaste for a system that allowed a billionaire to avoid paying income tax.

The big picture for me is that after many years of having to vote for the lessor of two evils
We are now faced with the choice of two unethical weasels , neither of which I could vote for in good conscience. Even as a vote against the other.

And a weak third party candidate that doesn't seem to have a clue what going on outside of his own state.

Is this really the best our political parties can offer for leadership of our country?

And after this prolonged cycle of personal attack politics. And lack of substance on the real matters of import. Are we going into another 4/8 years of one party unifying to block everything put forward just to make the other look ineffective.

Our system is being destroyed by excessive blind partisanship and the unwillingness to compromise on anything. Oh, and a lot of personal power greed that seems to blind many of our long time leaders to any other considerations.

Hey, that last bit is sounding parfish, sorry.

With less than usual Cheers, Richard

SO, does anyone here complete their tax return without trying to access all legal means to minimize their liability?

Does anyone here calculate their minimum liability and then pay more than required? Sort of a charity gift to the government? 1990C4S, Kach? Surely you both do, right?

The company I work for contracts to the Government so I've seen their spending from the inside.
I personally worked for a Federal Senator's office and all of her staff had Government provided iPods so "they could listen to political iCasts".
(This was years ago before the iPhone & iPods were really expensive)
The fact is they were chockablock full of their own music and nothing else. You should have seen the daily lunch spread supplied by a restaurant paid for by the tax payer :eek:
That's just two examples. I could go on and on.

Believe me you really don't want to give them any more money than they're already getting.

He's got way more money than me and i want it, I want it, I want it.

gimmee gimmee gimmee gimmee.


I take every tax deduction I am legally entitled to. Only a fool would not do that.

the really big question every one wants answered.

Were Ivanka's implants deductible?

+100 on everybody taking advantage of all the tax breaks they can. Trump can probably diffuse all of the racket over it by just facing the camera and asking, "How many of you tax payers out there don't take advantage of the tax breaks available to you that were passed into law by your elected representatives? Would you actually consider yourself a better citizen by donating more than you have to at tax time?"

You mean this?


Donald Trump's Tax Returns And The Empty Jewelry Box Scam
Forbes Welcome
No Chocaholic, I would never be part of such a tax evasion scheme, thank you for asking.

I hadn't heard about the " jewelry box scam.

But like I said, both long time unethical weasels, the both of them!

Some times the lesser of two evils is still too evil.

Nice scam on the jewelry box. I remember a store in the early days of the internets where I could walk in, order an item from a kiosk they had which made it an on-line purchase, and get the item right then and not pay CA sales tax.

Also reminds me of the current SOS, Jim Carey, buying and berthing his yacht in RI so as not to pay MA taxes.

I have no issues with Trump (or anyone) taking legal deductions. None. If he followed the tax code I will offer no criticism. But we do not know if he cheated or not. It is a bit rich calling others on not paying tax though when it appears he did the same thing. Does he think there are two sets of rules? Did he think he would never get caught?

The jewellery box scam was not legal, and I could not vote for someone who was a billionaire but felt the need to save money by cheating on the sales tax. All he had to do was ship the goods to another address and I could accept his decision. But he wanted the immediate gratification and the tax credit. You get one or the other, he had to have both, which speaks to his ethics.

He is doing two things wrong here.

1. He is being dishonest about the reason he is not providing his returns, as there is no valid legal reason. I would have more respect for him if he simply said 'I am not required to disclose my tax returns and I will not be disclosing my tax returns'.

2. Not disclosing makes it look like he has something to hide and he is inviting negative speculation by choosing not to disclose. He was skewered in the debate over this, and it's not going away.

The truth is likely more palatable than the speculation.

1995, now 1986. You guys are really digging up some relevant gotchas. Can we go back that far on the Clintons too?

Our system of govt spending is de-coupled from tax revenue.

That is, govt simply creates what ever money they need. (via mfg debt or simply adding zeros to accounts)

And yet, stupid minutia like HRC's or DJT's returns gets batted around as if tax avoidance some how Rips Off our govt. --I mean, c'mon...