Posted by Tina
The President’s tax returns are a point of contention for the left…they want to see them and they want to see them now. This is because they believe down to their toes that Trump cheats on his taxes or that he pays zero in taxes. They also believe rich people should work as slaves for the rest of us, forking over as much as 80% of what they earn to the government to finance their pet projects.
Let’s look at a few facts to dispel these ridiculous assumptions. Trump has been audited again and again by the IRS. IF he had tried to avoid paying taxes due (the law) the IRS would have found out about it in the audit and he would have been billed, fined, and ordered to pay interest. The idea that Trump cheats on his taxes is absurd! It’s equally absurd to imagine that he pays nothing in taxes.
So somebody (The most likely culprit is someone working at the IRS) got hold of the first two pages of Trumps 2005 tax return. That someone made sure the pages turned up in a journalists mailbox the journalist gave them to Maddow. Felonies may have been committed to deliver this HUGE story to NBC and Rachel Maddow.
Maddow milked this non-story shamelessly, probably in an attempt to boost her ratings. See also here. Was it worth it? Mmmmmmmmmm…no.
America learned that in 2005 Donald Trump made a lot of money, $150 million in 2005! We also learned that Trump wrote a check for $38 million to the Internal Revenue, and effective rate of 25.3%. In contrast, lets look at two of Trumps critics, Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders who are both in the same tax bracket. In 2015 Obama paid an effective rate of 18.7%. Bernie paid an effective rate of 13.5% in 2014.
The big reveal is a big flop for the left. Those of us on the right can see by the numbers that lefties who accuse others of avoiding taxes (getting away with murder) are themselves guilty hypocrites…and completely wrong about Trump!
It is indeed.
Now this, this is interesting …
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/opinion/donald-have-i-got-a-deal-for-you.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-right-region®ion=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region&_r=0
And, if Tillerson pursues the matter along these lines, I will back off the poor TA … a bit. On the other hand … my favorite paragraph:
“Donald Trump negotiating with Kim Jong-un does have a certain pay-per-view quality about it, but it’s the least bad option. And to make it more interesting, the model that Trump should follow, argues Litwak, is the nuclear deal that Obama struck with Iran, which Trump once described as “the worst deal ever negotiated.””
My favorite paragraph from the Times article:
Lifezette
Obama’s prototype for the Iran deal, perchance?
I agree with Trump…worse deal ever made. Don’t count on him to make the same mistake.
STILL trying to live in a fantasy you hope will come true? This is becoming a habit with you…need meds?
Cool. You read it.
Tina, you don’t live in LA, but have you no feeling for people who do?
Any and all civilized persons forestall the carnage for as long as prudently possible. We got fifteen years out of the Iranians. If we can get something like out of Little Fatty, we will be doing real good.
Take that proxy machismo, and stuff it.
“We got fifteen years out of the Iranians.”
You got the illusion of fifteen years. They are already breaking those agreements that they never meant to keep in the first place.
Amazingly you believe those liars.
No, they are not. Don’t make things up.
Tina;
Your basis for your accusations? Source?
OMG
Do you know Trump at all? It’s like you never watched him through the years ….
That was Trump 101
I would be 100% shocked if that was not a play by team Trump.
First off a client copy does not just show up in a reporters mailbox. Two pages from a very old return shows nothing. LOL 2 pages….. I suspect he chose this one to try to stop the requests for his returns.
Maddow who has 100% sold out to her Comcast and Big Pharma masters totally clickbaited that story for ratings. Disgusting!
I saw the pages minutes before she went on. Knew it was clickbait. Sad sad sad.
That said the current returns are important to see because of all the foreign business deals going down with the Trump org.
Look 35 trade patents approved in record time with the Chinese? All These Russian deals going down? Donald Jr is blabbing about them freely. The Tillerson (Exxon) connection to the huge deal the sanctions put on hold?
This seriously is a huge problem… Forget Party crap, Trump may even be worse than Hillary when it comes to exploiting the office to enrich oneself.
2005 has nothing to do with today. We need some answers to very serious questions forget this party crap.
May just be a smart trump move and Maddow got Played. Serves her right for selling out.
Worthless Clickbait… do not give it any time.
“…the current returns are important to see because of all the foreign business deals going down with the Trump org.”
Name them. Name them! This is speculation and assumption of guilt. The rest is a bunch of garbage you read and automatically believe as fact.
You seem to think you have all the answers, why bother with questions?
You should watch the Maddow story. I listened to it this morning on the way to work. It does a good job of “naming them.”
I agree with Dewey that the foreign business ties are what concerns most Americans This is what those I’ve spoken to have said, not that “Trump cheats on his taxes or that he pays zero in taxes.” Although Trump himself encouraged the idea that he pays no taxes when he responded to Clinton’s (unsupported) allegation at the debate by saying “That’s called being smart.”
It’s also important due to the question of whether Trump will shape tax policy to benefit himself and his family. As Maddow’s guest pointed out on her show, if the alternate minimum tax was eliminated, as Trump wants, he would have paid far less than those in the lowest tax bracket. That was the biggest takeaway from this document. I admit to being disappointed, but this is at least a good first step toward knowing more about why Trump is so secretive about his tax returns.
This was a guy who demanded for years that Obama release a birth certificate he had already released, when no other president had been asked to do so before. You don’t think it’s hypocritical for him to refuse to follow tradition and release his tax returns?
Of course the Trump administration’s response to this story was ridiculous. This was their response:
1) The tax returns are real.
2) Publishing them is illegal (it’s not).
3) The media is “dishonest” for publishing true information.
4) The story is “fake news” even though it’s true.
Aren’t you tired of the doublespeak?
Amazing! You’re “disappointed” to find out Trump paid his taxes as the law requires. Or was it that he paid a mere thirty-eight million dollars to the federal government in a single year? Keep in mind, he had to pay NY state, county and city taxes too. So the total he paid in taxes is quite a bit larger.
Half of our citizens pay ZERO tax. Another percentage in that group gets a taxpayer subsidy. And STILL it isn’t “fair” enough.
People like Trump pay anywhere from 80-90% of the total federal tax burden. But you think they haven’t contributed enough even though they also use their wealth to create growth in the economy and good jobs as well.
Tina
Trump said he currently pays no taxes due to loopholes. That said we need to close loopholes.
Again Taxes pay for your bloated military and fake wars. So when our military is for protection of corporate profits and they avoid paying taxes?
War is a Racket
The business dealings of Trump & The Emoluments clause in the Constitution, is just as important as the Clinton Foundation dealings.
Why is corruption ok if they claim to be Conservatives?
The money in politics has given us a body of corrupt horse traders who’s elections depend on doing things for their donors. They also come out millionaires in just a few short years.
Wake up and smell the coffee.
We pay taxes for the corporate state.
Until now……….. We the people are going to primary them. Dem or Rep. If they are bad they got to go!
What was it? Just the other day? A woman with connections to Chinese Intelligence paid $16M for a Trump apartment.
Tina, you’re fighting a losing battle, if you propose to salvage Trump’s integrity. That battle was lost long ago. The only question is, how deeply are you prepared to wallow in the hypocrisy … just because he says pretty things to you?
Libby you still have no ground on which to make such remarks to me. You have rarely, if ever, had a truly critical thing to say about leaders in your party, a party whose moral authority has been in the dumpster for some time.
A business deal is not automatically a crooked business deal. When you have a quid pro quo get back to me.
Tina
You play party politics?
Silly
I have been honest about All of them regardless of party. You blindly play party politics.
You play into the hands of those who want to destroy us.
Americans are not all Republicans and Democrats. In Fact there are more of us Independents than in either party. Your 2 party system controls the elections for the corporate state not We The People.
“You have rarely, if ever, ….”
Tina, that simply isn’t true. I say them. You don’t hear them. I have a very clear view of the Clinton’s, for instance, and have expressed it many times. (Bill, for his repeal of Glass-Steagal, will probably go down in history as the author of the fiscal ills we will continue to suffer until we liberals get the Congress back.) But this does not invalidate their intellectual and political superiority to Trump.
Oh heavens no…been dealing with lefty doublespeak for decades.
Now we’ve got PC, no-speak, and who knows what, not to mention blatant brainwashing of the kiddies.
Since we don’t know what other person’s tweet on twitter Trump may have been responding to, your list is meaningless. Another possibility…the story in the news changed throughout the day. His tweets likely corresponded to the changes.
Or….
1. He’s the one who can verify the 2 pages. (ho hum)
2. Publishing them is not illegal but the method used to acquire them very well may be. In fact it could be a felony with a hefty fine and jail time attached. (I’ll bet the farm that you have made a similar type of error when speaking or writing in your life.)
3. The media is dishonest. (nothing more needs to be said)
4. The story IS fake news in that it was designed to reveal absolutely nothing of significance. These two pages have zero relevance; exposing them is a violation of the man’s privacy.
2. It is not a felony for a journalist to receive papers in the mail.
3. It is certainly not dishonest for a journalist to conclude the papers constitute news and publish them.
4. There is nothing “fake” about this news.
However, if it could be proven that Trump leaked the return, what would that make him?
It wasn’t a tweet, it was an official White House response. I think you’re holding them to a pretty low standard by saying “everyone makes errors;” shouldn’t the White House be expected to represent the law accurately?
The WH should represent the law accurately.
When you start holding people like Obama, Hillary, Schummer, and judges in the ninth circuit to the same standard get back to me.
Tina I lay Money Trumps am leaked them to try and divert the push for his returns. You really do not know Trump at all.
I assume that means you think you do.
Your position is arrogant, which is typical for you.
Believe what you want, makes me to difference.
At the WH presser w/Merkel, Trump told the world that he trusts Fox News more than our nation’s intelligence agencies. Let that sink in.
Rachel Maddow’s Trump tax return show was the funniest thing on TV since Geraldo Rivera did “The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vaults.” If only she had stretched it out for two hours. Both shows were absolutely top notch in the TV journalism department. There should be an Emmy award category for such stellar performances.
Off Topic
This is a scream —
WATCH: College Students Slam Betsy DeVos, Then Agree With Her Views
Up until ~ the 1:59 mark all shown is the interviewees slamming Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Then the very same people are shown …
Enjoy!
Pie this is probably the greatest battle we face. As Reagan said, they know so much that just isn’t so. And don’t you love that their “opinions” are nothing more than talking points?
St Ronnie would disagree with Trump Bar None.
I call upon the scientific community in our country, those who gave us nuclear weapons, to turn their great talents now to the cause of mankind and world peace, to give us the means of rendering these nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete.
Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.
Our gov ruins lives and creates war for profit.
Our government has protected and freed people from tyranny and oppression through the military. Our government is built on the notions of equality, individual freedom, and yes, even peace.
You are so concerned with profit, which you consider a dirty word, that you put the cart before the horse. We re liberators not war mongers. (In war, profits are necessary for progress, continuing, and ultimately victory…until you get that you will be forever in the dark) We didn’t defeat the Nazi’s with peace marches and protest.
Still no suggestions for a better model?
The “news” of TheDonald’s tax return for 2005 went over like a turd in a punchbowl and further damaged the moron media presstitutes – it that’s possible!
Off topic, but an interesting read . . . .
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/staceydash/2017/03/14-reasons-not-live-california/
Awwwww … the first apology of the Trump Administration:
http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/17/politics/gchq-trump-wiretap-denial/index.html
Remember how the O-man’s conciliatory behavior used to piss you off? Are you pissed off?
I don’t know why I’m having so much fun with this. The TA is a national catastrophe of no small proportion.
The Obummers conciliatory behavior that tcked me off was nothing like this; I ill not compare apples to oranges.
I will say that this seems to be a very stupid mistake. I’m sure it will not be the last. You and I both know that people, no matter how high their position, will make stupid mistakes.
I am happy that a correction and apology were given.
Would that we had even a tidbit of same in the behaviors of those associated with the IRS scandal, fast and furious, Benghazi, the Iran deal, the veterans hospital failures. You guys don’t admit to failings or failure. Instead you make excuses, you create cover stories and counter stories, you deny those harmed by your silence, and in general try to make it seem like the republicans are somehow responsible…Catherine Englebrecht deserved no justice or respect and was painted as a “radical” and part of the ‘racist” tea party movement.
As I’ve said many ties now your own past behavior, and that of your party gives you no ground on which to stand in judgement. Clean up your own party then get back to me.
“I will not compare apples to oranges.”
But Tina, you do, constantly. Your entire post is an exercise in just that. Furthermore, the man has been telling bald-assed lies from the commencement of his campaign … but now … he makes “mistakes”?
Very funny.
Did you hear what happened to Maddow’s rating? Priceless!!
Rachel Maddow’s Ratings Have PLUMMETED Since Trump Tax Fiasco:
http://www.chicksontheright.com/rachel-maddows-ratings-have-plummeted-since-trump-tax-fiasco/
Peggy I knew about the 37% but this: Even WORSE, they’re down FIFTY FOUR percent among the 25-54 category. Woof!”
Woof indeed! And good for them!!!!!