Al Sharpton, pick up the pinko phone.
Kusher would be a fool not to use tax code provisions to maximize his business.
The NY Tripe is not showing anything nefarious regarding Trump family members although they are trying.
What they do show is gross bias to search for anything, anything that can be written in a negative light regarding the Trump family. Why they bother to print it at all is a mystery other than this was a weeks-long project by a reporter team that came up with a whole lot of nothing.
But they can run a victory lap through liberalville proclaiming Kushner paid no tax, etc.
Clueless idiots.
The tax laws of the US allow for depreciation of capital assets as a charge against current income. If you could not charge the declining value of capital assets (cars, buildings, manufacturing equipment) and had to pay tax on revenue rather than income no business would be profitable.
Even with maintenance buildings age. After some passage of time - 50 years, 100 years they need to be demolished or gutted and rebuilt.
Tax AVOIDANCE is completely legal and sound strategy. Tax EVASION is not. The politicians write tax laws to benefit themselves; there’s no obligation to interpret them to your own disadvantage.
Listen up, rats: Once again, if you don’t like the laws, change the laws.
I’m all in favor of using all legal means to avoid paying taxes. Don’t like that, enact a simpler tax code with fewer “means”.
“LEGAL TAX MECHANISMS”
How stupid is it to write such a story?
IF someone uses the tax code AS WRITTEN, they are not doing anything wrong.
Exactly, I’ve been depreciating my rental properties for over 40 years to shelter my income. I’ve also used the 179 dealio on schedule c. Not hard.
Depreciation is not creative accounting.
Page 3 of the original 1913 income tax return provides for depreciation deduction as follows:
Amount representing a reasonable allowance for the exhaustion, wear, and tear of property arising out of its use or employment in the business, not to exceed, in the case of mines, 5 per cent of the gross value at the mine of the output for the year for which the computation is made, but no deduction shall be made for any amount of expense of restoring property or making good the exhaustion thereof, for which an allowance is or has been made
Instead of deducting the full cost of the cost of real estate, an investor is required to only write off a portion of his initial investment over time.
Perhaps the most common place that an individual might encounter depreciation is if they were to own let’s say a single-family home for rental purposes. Taking depreciation is not an option. The IRS forces you to take depreciation. I’ll say that again: it’s not an option. You MUST take depreciation on it.
Dems chasing another vapor trail.....
And, no, "enterprising reporter, "NOL" is not a mis-typing of "LOL"
How did they get copies of his tax returns?
The “loop holes” in the tax code regarding income earning real estate, from single-individual-owner residence that is rented out, to commercially owned residential, comercial business property and every other real estate, is a “bipartisan” affair - as far as who has lobbied for the favorable real estate tax provisions.
In addition to all the commercial and investor interests who would lobby against changing the rules regarding real estate there would be millions of individuals joining them who just own one or a few rental-income houses as part of their personal investment.
I might even disagree with with a few of the real estate tax provisions, on philosophical grounds, even in spite of having used them in the past. My point here is just to say the popularity of those provisions extends across the population and far beyond the ultra rich investors. Both major parties have supported them and their popularity has increased as the economy grew and more and more upper middle income folks began to invest in real estate and take advantage of the favorable tax rules it has.
The tax provisions Kushner used are used by millions of people spanning many income levels.
If the NYSlimes really wanted to go after the favorable tax provisions given to real estate, they could have done so with examples all across the political and income spectrum. But they really just wanted to do a biased political report, and no a true unbiasd “expose” of the tax code.
For myself, I am a “flat tax” advocate and would prefer a low flat income tax with no deductions, exemptions, exclusions or credits - just a flat tax collected any time any kind of payment to someone was made, for investment income earned, or labor, or product or services rendered. The tax code for that would be just a few pages.
Another thing. When a taxpayer takes depreciation, they must calculate a gain on by reducing their cost basis by the amount of depreciation they took or should have taken. So even if the taxpayer did not take depreciation as allowed, they will be treated as if they did take depreciation and pay taxes on the amount taken.
It’s only illegal if conservatives do it. That’s the stubborn thing about laws.
This is common in real estate dealings. You can lose money for years on a large project before it finally pays off, IF it pays off. The IRS got rid of some of that with its phantom income provision, which is a real pain in the neck.
ANYONE with an income can do this. A teen with a lawn mowing business can ‘depreciate’ the wear and tear on his mower and his pick up truck.
I’m certain Socialists are mad that people claim as many deductions on their W4 Forms as legally possible. I always did!
WTF give Mother Government YOUR hard earned cash to p*ss away on things you find morally reprehensible?
Is it worth funding The Beast to get a tax refund because you can’t manage your own finances? Never could understand that illogic! ;)