Posted on 10/14/2018 3:15:33 PM PDT by Innovative
A Saturday report from The New York Times found Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, paid little to no federal income taxes from 2009 to 2016 using legal tax mechanisms.
An IRS policy known as depreciation is a deduction Kushner Cos. used to diminish its taxable income on properties largely bought with borrowed money.
Though not illegal, the filings show how real estate tax codes leave room for profitable maneuvering.
The New York Times found Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, paid little to no federal income taxes from 2009 to 2016 — without breaking the law.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
“Amount representing a reasonable allowance for the exhaustion, wear, and tear of property arising out of its use or employment in the business,”
That only says when depreciation generally was added to the tax code. Everything that could be depreciated was not addded all at once; things were added and the rules for them added over time. And note it speaks to my point of the presumed philosophocal basis for “depreciation” - “exhaustion, wear, and tear of property [meaning capital property generally] arising out of its use” - which is fine if we are talking about how machinery and such which actually does depreciate in value with use, but that is NOT naturally what happens with real estate, unless it is not maintained or hits a down market - on paper. But that can be accounted for in determining gain or loss when the property is sold.
I understand why depreciation is a tax deduction on things that actually do depreciate in value - the item is gradually losing the value it was purchased for, and rather than just take a loss when the equipment is retired or sold, depreciation is allowed to be taken as a portion each year for a set number of years until the total LOSS “depreciation” is taken. But that natural proces of a declining real value is NOT what generally happens with real estate - thus there is no ACTUAL presumption that it is “depreciating” for real. Just a “on paper” gimmick in the tax code.
I’m sure the high power dem players do the same thing.
Let’s see the CLINTON’S tax returns, for example.
Original tax law required taxpayer to establish useful life for all assets. Real estate lives was often in dispute with irs. Reagan’s changes established set lives that were not based on useful life.
Have you heard about the 401K loophole?
If you have some of your wage income placed into a special tax shelter known as a 401k account, you can deduct that amount from your taxable income.
(Don’t tell anybody you heard this from me).
Everyone knows about 401K accounts. It’s a great way to save.
Everyone knows you don't pay tax on debt service and the fact that the markets keep rising guarantee that when Kushner does finally sell the properties in the future he will much more tax on the higher valuations
What idiot would pay a penny to the IRS if they could avoid it legally? The government would make more money by going to a flat tax. If you run a business there are untold ways to avoid taxes especially if you know a local business to buy stuff from that will work with you. Ringing up personal things you might buy under a generic code that would indicate it as plumbing supplies if you have a plumbing business, as one example. This is dodgy but it happens all the time.
Wonder who was the President during all that time.
How come there is no mention of GE not paying income taxes during that same period?
I haven’t filed an income tax return in 17 years. Still waiting for the IRS to get back to me with the actual statute that requires me to file in my situation. Don’t expect to hear from them anytime in the future, either.
Paying more than you owe in taxes is for chumps.
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