Posted on 09/28/2020 8:19:19 AM PDT by Red Badger
Once again the New York Times attempts to make an issue out of President Trump’s real estate holdings working as a tax shelter and reducing income taxes.
In the article the Times completely obfuscates the way income taxes are strategically offset by depreciation, mortgage interest and the entire reason why real estate ownership is viewed as a business.
John Carney writing for Breitbart gets it:
[…] So imagine our guy took out an $8 million mortgage at five percent, paying $2 million cash. Now he’s got to pay $400,000 in mortgage payments. He wants to make at least that much so he charges tenants an aggregate of $425,000, which after upkeep comes out to $410,000 of net income. (Remember, if the bank didn’t think he could make more in rent than the mortgage payment, it probably wouldn’t have lent him the money.) The interest payment on the loan–let’s call it $390,000–is deductible from his income, leaving him with $20,000 in net income. He gets to keep that and pay no taxes on it, however, because he still gets to apply the $370,000 depreciation charge. He tells the IRS he lost $350,000.
Under our tax code, ordinary business expenses can be deducted in the year they are incurred. But when a business pays for a long-lasting item expected to produce income–like machinery, vehicles, or an apartment building–it is considered a capital investment. Instead of getting to write-off the cost all at once, the business is required to write it off over the course of decades. After the 1986 tax code, this was set at 27.5 years for residential real estate. (more)
Anyone who has ever operated a business knows that offsetting income is one of the primary reasons to be self-employed. Additionally, the Times completely skips over the tens-of-millions in payroll taxes paid by the Trump organization and tens-of-millions in property and sales taxes paid by all of the various Trump properties.
In the commercial real estate market it is common sense to offset income tax liabilities with a host of valid annual expenses, long-term capital depreciation and mortgage interest payments. With over 500 individual business entities within the Trump organization the ability to offset income in one asset with expenses in another is simply good accounting.
Additionally, President Trump donates his $400,000 government salary back to the U.S. government. So to accuse President Trump of only paying $750 in income taxes totally ignores all of the other donations and tax payments he makes.
In practical terms no President before Trump has ever had his actual business portfolio so deeply connected to the success of the American economy. It doesn’t cost the American taxpayer a dime to have President Trump in office…. Now let’s figure out how DC politicians making $200k/yr are able to become multi-millionaires while holding office.
Anyone?
- Please repeat ad nauseam to any dumb lib who says "All these big corporations don't pay any taxes!"
They must be listening to Dirty Harry Reid again.
Oh yes, more of liberals failing to follow the adage “Be careful for what you wish for, you might just get it”.
So Trump trolled them again...
For 3.5 years they’ve been desperate to get their hands on his tax returns, convinced there was something there they could use to destroy him.
Instead we find out he really did make a lot of money AND also paid a lot of taxes (except for the tax break Obama gave to all the rich people)
I’d rather vote for someone who didn’t pay their taxes than someone who has lived off of others taxes for 47 years...
The Times can’t report news, how are they going to analyze a complicated tax return with millions of data points and a IRS guideline that is thousands of pages long?
It is complicated and takes time to explain. This is why Trump wanted to shield it. He knew it could easily used to paint a completely false narrative and that is exactly what has happened. Some of the rats at IRS fed the NYT when we don’t know. The DNC was in on it and had Biden’s ads ready to go. The timing was set for two days before the debate so it will fill the room. MSM had their reaction stories ready too. This was a planned hit and it landed. I hope Trump’s team was expecting the IRS to do this but I don’t think they were.
Good analysis, but for every one person that reads this, the NYT story will reach 50 others. What everyone will remeber is that President Trump “only paid $750 on income tax”. NYT accomplished their mission.
Remember Lois Lerner...................
It’s an attempt to discredit the President amongst people too simple to understand the facts of the case, and play upon class envy.
I have never forgotten. She retired with a full pension and a big thank you for a Job well done.
PRECISELY.
And despite ALL of this nonsense, all he’s doing is FOLLOWING THE TAX LAW as written. Just like every other corporation.
Who writes the Tax Law again? :)
They’re asshats.
ANYBODY who actually pays taxes, that is people with jobs, will understand.
ANYBODY that DO NOT PAY TAXES, that is people who have no jobs, i.e, DEMOCRAT ACTIVISTS, i.e. PROFESSIONAL PROTESTORS, i.e. STREET THUGS, will not understand.............
I think they thought they could use this bogus story to make him release his tax returns. Kind of a if our story is bogus, then release your returns and prove it
I’d be more interested in the tax returns of political hacks who come in broke and are millionaires in a few years.
Add to your statement: "I’d rather vote for someone who didn’t pay their taxes than someone who has lived off of others taxes for 47 years AND went into Congress poor and came our filthy rich."
Don’t forget, their reporters are largely low-intelligence people who subscribe to the new WOKE math 2 + 2 = 5. How the hell can people like that comprehend something like non-cash depreciation?
Does the NYT pay taxes???
On what little earning they have. They are a public company.
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