BloggeRhythms

In its typical, inimitable fashion, the New York Times has once again significantly mislead the public. This time in regard to Trump’s tax avoidance. However, in this case, they apply the same very procedures whenever needed by themselves.     

To set the background, the opening line of the “Tax Preparer Resume Objective,” @livecareer.com’s website says: “Just as taxpayers trust you to ensure they aren’t audited by the IRS and that they pay as few taxes as legally possible, hiring managers trust you to be able to adequately show you’re qualified for a position as a tax preparer.” A confirmation that just about every citizen earning income desires minimization of financial obligations and expenditures as legally possible.   

As a statistical matter, according to Catey Hill, Editor @marketwatch.com: “An estimated 45.3% of American households — roughly 77.5 million — will pay no federal individual income tax, according to data for the 2015 tax year from the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan Washington-based research group. (Note that this does not necessarily mean they won’t owe their states income tax.)

“Roughly half pay no federal income tax because they have no taxable income, and the other roughly half get enough tax breaks to erase their tax liability, explains Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center. 

“On average, those in the bottom 40% of the income spectrum end up getting money from the government.

Therefore, since about 25% of citizens pay no taxes because they get enough tax breaks to erase their tax liability,” Trump’s by no means alone in his desire to maximize whatever he can from his occupational efforts.

As far as the general public’s attitude toward taxes is concerned, assuring lawful compliance has become an enormous enterprise. An article from The Tax Preparation Industry website notes that: “Tax preparation is BIG business – there were 300k people employed at 109k firms in 2012 - generating $9 billion in revenue in 2012. The industry grew over 2% from 2010-2015, and is expected to speed up the pace of growth. Revenues of $11 billion are forecast for 2018. Tax preparation is unusual in that it provides a service to assist with a process that legally every American is required to do: submit an income tax return. Because it is required, tax preparation tends to be recession resistant.”

It’s also a very sure bet that all that hard-earned money wasn't spent by employed Americans to insure that they gave every dollar possible to the IRS.

And then, in an article in which Chris Christie dismissed Trump’s tax status as unimportant, the Trump campaign correctly noted that the issue involves perfectly legal handling of his personal taxes. It then added: “Mr. Trump is a highly-skilled businessman who has a fiduciary responsibility to his business, his family and his employees to pay no more tax than legally required," the statement went on. "That being said, Mr. Trump has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in property taxes, sales and excise taxes, real estate taxes, city taxes, state taxes, employee taxes and federal taxes, along with very substantial charitable contributions."

All of which serves to underline that before selectively picking issues with which to attempt vilifying those it despises, sources such as the New York Times ought to do at least a modicum of homework to avoid self-embarrassment.  

Especially because, the Times itself is perfectly happy to legally minimize the amount of money it pays to the government. According to Jeffrey Dorfman @forbes.com: “More recently, for tax year 2014, The New York Times paid no taxes and got an income tax refund of $3.5 million even though they had a pre-tax profit of $29.9 million in 2014. In other words, their post-tax profit was higher than their pre-tax profit. The explanation in their 2014 annual report is, “The effective tax rate for 2014 was favorably affected by approximately $21.1 million for the reversal of reserves for uncertain tax positions due to the lapse of applicable statutes of limitations.” If you don’t think it took fancy accountants and tax lawyers to make that happen, read the statement again.”

Which for Trump, equates to the perfect squelch.

Moving along, a FB friend posted this one today:

Which brings us to today’s update on Bill Clinton’s wife, who apparently agrees wholeheartedly with Trump on taxes, regardless of her public attempts to discredit him.

Tyler Durden @zerohedge.com titled his article today: “Clinton Campaign Admits Hillary Used Same Tax Avoidance "Scheme" As Trump”

Mr. Durden quotes Bill's wife as saying that Trump "apparently got to avoid paying taxes for nearly two decades—while tens of millions of working families paid theirs." 

“However, a look back at Hillary Clinton's tax returns from 2015 (here), proudly displayed by the campaign proving she has nothing to hide - shows something awkward on page 17... 

“While not on the scale of Trump's business "operating loss", Hillary Clinton - like many 'wealthy' individuals is taking advantage of a legal scheme to use historical losses to avoid paying current taxes.

“As Bloomberg notes, this federal tax break is among the wealthy's most used avoidance schemes...” 

What’s also interesting is that while Bill’s wife focuses on “millions of working families” that paid their taxes, how many of those families lost $909 million like Trump? She herself lost a mere $699,540 and wrote it off just like he did.

So, once again we have continuing evidence of misquotes, inaccuracy's and constant double-standards from Bill’s wife and a complicit MSM. Bringing up the ongoing question once more: Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Jerry Brown, and Starbucks chairman and CEO, Howard Schultz; are you guys reading this?    

That's it for today folks.       

Adios