2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWeekend Catch-Up: How Did Donald Trump Lose $916 Million?
Weekend Catch-Up: How Did Donald Trump Lose $916 Million?KEVIN DRUMOCT. 3, 2016 1:08 AM
It seems likely, then, that Trump's gargantuan loss was basically an accounting fiction of some kind.
John Hempton, an Australian hedge fund manager and former expert on tax avoidance for the Australian Treasury, has a theory that Trump may have "parked" the debt from his bankruptcies with a dummy party offshore, where it was never collected but never officially forgiven. This would allow him to declare $916 million in losses even though he never truly lost anything.
What was the point of all this? Most likely, the Times speculates, it was used as a tax loss carry forward, which allowed Trump to declare zero incomeand thus pay zero taxesfor as long as 18 years.
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/10/weekend-catch-how-did-donald-trump-lose-916-million

raging moderate
(4,539 posts)During the debate, Trump suddenly got very hot under the collar while railing against government red tape and tax regulations that "wouldn't let" people bring their money back into the US! There was something odd about that.
LAS14
(14,938 posts)We sure don't want to get into a fight about whether he should have donated to the government. But we sure don't want him in charge of closing tax loopholes!!!!
beachbum bob
(10,437 posts)no more, no less.....perhaps this incident may snowball into actual tax reform but not with a conservative congress and why its important all democrats get off their asses and VOTE. When we all vote, we WIN
workinclasszero
(28,270 posts)It will never happen under a republican controlled congress that's for damned sure.
Skidmore
(37,364 posts)but is worse if true. No loss and no taxes either. We pay taxes and had to scrape together every last red cent we had saved one year to meet our obligation. There were no loopholes for us, only punishments if we didn't pay. No explaining this one away.
workinclasszero
(28,270 posts)I don't recall my tax preparer telling me how I could fake bankruptcy and legally not pay taxes for 20 years.
I guess the billionaires in America play by a whole other set of rules, go figure.
beachbum bob
(10,437 posts).....the real problem becomes when he insults those of us who pay taxes.....AND he when rants on the state of our infrastructure, highways , schools and the rest.....the condition in which he and others like him are partly responsible for from not paying into the system their fair share
and then he likes like a complete fool demanding our NATO allies pay the US their fair share for protecting them....rank hypocrisy
napkinz
(17,199 posts)
workinclasszero
(28,270 posts)
