Trump strikes back, return of the (tax)returns

dreng3

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In what might come as a surprise to nobody Donald Trump has filed a request with the supreme court to block the release of his tax returns.
While this doesn't prove that he is guilty of fraud or circumventing taxes in a manner that can be described as amoral it should raise certain questions. Chiefly, will the IRS pull a Comey and just randomly release something shortly before an election to mess with a candidate?
And of course whether Trump is actually a tax avoiding piece of human trash.

 

Kae

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Lose 1d20 sanity points.
Well we all know he's a piece of sub-human trash, wouldn't say that's for tax avoidance a crime he's very probably guilty of, but let's be honest here that's the least appalling of all his crimes
 

Revnak

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Well we all know he's a piece of sub-human trash, wouldn't say that's for tax avoidance a crime he's very probably guilty of, but let's be honest here that's the least appalling of all his crimes
It honestly parallels Trump going after Biden for not abandoning his addict son and instead loving him unconditionally. It’s shit they think sounds bad but that actually plays well with a larger demo than it plays bad. More people right of center think this is cool than bad, and those left of center just view it as one more reason to hate him.
 

Agema

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Trump is basically right here.

He was worth an estimated $3 billion by Forbes. Even if this is a $400 million Forbes did not previously know about, and even if the IRS catch him for another $100 million in fraud, he's still eye-poppingly rich to the tune of $2.5 billion. So as bad as having 15-20% wiped off his net worth is, in context it's easily sucked up. I'll bet he didn't want anyone to know (see below) and is angry that they do, but seeing as they now do know, brazening it out is the best tactic.

* * *

The bigger damage for Trump is that the tax revelations suggest he's not a good businessman. So many of his investments are poor quality - for instance one of his golf clubs he bought for about $150 million, invested about $200 million, and it's now only worth $150 million and loses money... and this is not a rare occurrence in his portfolio. He's got some properties mostly from his early career that make a huge amount of money, and a load of hotels and golf courses mostly from his latter career haemmorhaging money. I think the reputation hit is probably much more embarrassing for him. Had it not been for the merchandising, licensing etc. from The Apprentice, his finances would be in a terrible state.

The second issue is that he's a champion tax avoider. In any normal world, this should shatter the reputation of a politician who claims to "drain the swamp" and govern for the average Joe against the elites, as it proves he is one of these elites exploiting the system to the max, and he hasn't done a damn thing about these dodgy arrangements whilst in office. It's evident that experts are scouring through these tax returns. I see a lot of descriptions like "highly unusual", but very little in terms of "clearly illegal". That is a scandal.

If we go back to the idea he's worth $2.5 billion, now let's consider how he's used the tax code to write off losses. That was about $1 billion in the 1990s. It appears to be hundreds of millions more from the late 2000s to now. Subtract that, he'd be worth what, $1 billion? Bearing in mind how much money his dad left him over the years and factoring in inflation... has he actually made any money at all?

In other words, it seems to me that the US tax code enables failure. Bad businessmen are squatting on wealth and productivity, and when they should be competed out by better businessmen, are able to protect themselves and continue wasting those resources. That is an even bigger scandal.
 

Baffle

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I thought he wanted to release them but the IRS wouldn't let him. Man, this is so topsy-turvy!
 

Agema

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I thought he wanted to release them but the IRS wouldn't let him. Man, this is so topsy-turvy!
Trump lied to us? Shocker.

The IRS always made plain he could release his tax returns. We just now know why he didn't want to - they show the emperor has no clothes. His business acumen is mostly a myth, and he scrapes by through industrial scale tax avoidance.

He's actually more akin to Kylie Jenner: his real success is self-promotion and licensing himself. Although Kylie Jenner is much, much better at it than Donald Trump.
 

Thaluikhain

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He's actually more akin to Kylie Jenner: his real success is self-promotion and licensing himself. Although Kylie Jenner is much, much better at it than Donald Trump.
Ouch. You've gone and made me instinctively want to defend Kylie Jenner there.
 

Trunkage

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How many times has he gone to court over this? Because its gotta be worth millions in lawyer buck
 

Agema

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How many times has he gone to court over this? Because its gotta be worth millions in lawyer buck
As a Royal Navy admiral said when warned of the losses it would take to rescue troops from Crete, "It takes three years to build a ship and three centuries to build a reputation."

For people like Trump, if he doesn't have reputation, what does he have?
 

lil devils x

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The second issue is that he's a champion tax avoider. In any normal world, this should shatter the reputation of a politician who claims to "drain the swamp" and govern for the average Joe against the elites, as it proves he is one of these elites exploiting the system to the max, and he hasn't done a damn thing about these dodgy arrangements whilst in office. It's evident that experts are scouring through these tax returns. I see a lot of descriptions like "highly unusual", but very little in terms of "clearly illegal". That is a scandal.

If we go back to the idea he's worth $2.5 billion, now let's consider how he's used the tax code to write off losses. That was about $1 billion in the 1990s. It appears to be hundreds of millions more from the late 2000s to now. Subtract that, he'd be worth what, $1 billion? Bearing in mind how much money his dad left him over the years and factoring in inflation... has he actually made any money at all?

In other words, it seems to me that the US tax code enables failure. Bad businessmen are squatting on wealth and productivity, and when they should be competed out by better businessmen, are able to protect themselves and continue wasting those resources. That is an even bigger scandal.
Where the fraud and scandal come in is where he lied about his wealth to investors.

Oh wait Tax fraud is in there too:
 

Dalisclock

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As a Royal Navy admiral said when warned of the losses it would take to rescue troops from Crete, "It takes three years to build a ship and three centuries to build a reputation."

For people like Trump, if he doesn't have reputation, what does he have?
Aside from a cult which he's the head of?
 

Worgen

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Whatever, just wash your hands.
I'm surprised I haven't heard about anyone making a kick starter for trumps finances like they did his stupid wall.
 
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TheMysteriousGX

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Shockingly, the guys behind the Wall crowdfunding, (Brian Kolfage, Steve Bannon, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea) made a subpar product and got indicted for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
 
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Dalisclock

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Shockingly, the guys behind the Wall crowdfunding, (Brian Kolfage, Steve Bannon, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea) made a subpar product and got indicted for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
Shocking News is Shocking.

Did they end up even building as much as a white picket fence or was it all spent on luxury boats(Because Trumpkins love boats for some reason)?
 

TheMysteriousGX

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Shocking News is Shocking.

Did they end up even building as much as a white picket fence or was it all spent on luxury boats(Because Trumpkins love boats for some reason)?
Already set to crumble into the Rio Grande
Just stellar work all 'round
 
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Dalisclock

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