# Donald Trump, tax avoider **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 27, 2020, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-tax-avoider/921696 "2020-09-27T21:49:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-tax-avoider/921696/121 "2020-09-28T17:08:03Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > That’s not enough. You can’t get a full financial picture and possible conflicts from just the tax returns. I’m not sure you can do more than that without a constitutional amendment, though. You can’t limit who can run for president, so you can’t compel people by threatening to keep them off the ballot; and you can’t invade privacy without reasonable cause, so you can’t violate fourth (and possibly fifth) amendment rights. How else would you compel someone to provide a complete financial disclosure? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-tax-avoider/921696/122 "2020-09-28T17:09:10Z")
No, but it can definitely lead to questions, which is the point. I don’t think someone is necessarily obligated to disclose every single private detail about their businesses or finances - that’s not the point of disclosure. Public officials can still be afforded some privacy, but we have a right to know if there are major discrepancies between the lifestyle we see someone living and what’s on their tax return, which is basically what tips an IRS or state tax auditor off in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-tax-avoider/921696/123 "2020-09-28T17:14:47Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > It doesn’t shock me that he pays a hair stylist so much. It does shock me that he pays a hair stylist so much and still looks like that. Are we sure it’s really a stylist rather than, say, one of the Men in Black feeding the thing? ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-tax-avoider/921696/124 "2020-09-28T17:55:30Z")
I would argue that we need to go deeper. Doesn’t it seem problematic that the highest office in the land can be obtained with less rigorous background checks than the routine examinations required for even a low-level security clearance? Full _public_ disclosure might not be necessary, but at the very least a nonpartisan entity should be empowered to track possible conflicts and other red flags. Otherwise, we might find ourselves with a president whose allegiances are properly in question. It’s unacceptable. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-tax-avoider/921696/125 "2020-09-28T17:59:19Z")
He has always claimed to have foregone his presidential salary. I have read most of the Times article (it is very long) and it leaves me with the impression that his net worth is minus a few hundred million. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-tax-avoider/921696/126 "2020-09-28T18:11:59Z")
Our President is $1.1 billion in debt, has 3 baby mamas, and only paid $750 in income taxes for 2 years running. This guy is ghetto as dope, yo! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-tax-avoider/921696/127 "2020-09-28T18:14:14Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Doesn’t it seem problematic that the highest office in the land can be obtained with less rigorous background checks than the routine examinations required for even a low-level security clearance? Earlier, I was going to comment on a previous post but decided not to. Since you brought it up specifically… I have held security clearances – and not ‘low-level’ ones, either. The investigators looked into my financial affairs to ensure that foreign agents would not have any leverage on me. I fully agree that the President should at least be given as much scrutiny as I was – especially when a family member brags that they receive all the money they need from a foreign adversary. > In terms of high-end product influx into the US, Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets. - Donald Trump, Jr. > We don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia. - Eric Trump ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-tax-avoider/921696/128 "2020-09-28T18:33:27Z")
I love how the little moron offspring are bragging about their family’s Russian benefactors as if they’re legit venture capitalists. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-tax-avoider/921696/129 "2020-09-28T18:40:34Z")
Hopefully, by the time Amazon finishes recouping previous years’ losses, Democratic congresses will have raised the corporate tax rates back up to where they can actually be of some use to the nation. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-tax-avoider/921696/130 "2020-09-28T18:42:01Z")
I don’t think it’s unusual for a star of a show to have their own hair/makeup people, especially women. Even if they have to pay out of their own pocket. They could also have a contract that says the show has to pay up to x dollars for hair/makeup people they pick. When they are out in public they would sometimes need to hire a stylist for that as well. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-tax-avoider/921696/131 "2020-09-28T18:58:30Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > fully agree that the President should at least be given as much scrutiny as I was – especially when a family member brags that they receive all the money they need from a foreign adversary. You want a mid-level Government official to have the power to decide the properly elected national leaders’ access? There is a reason why in pretty much every place the chief executive of a country does not have the classification rules apply to them. The check on them is political, not legal. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-tax-avoider/921696/132 "2020-09-28T18:58:31Z")
> **[Trump Griped Americans Weren't Paying Enough Taxes In 2012](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-tax-returns-hypocrisy-americans-2012_n_5f71ff43c5b6162603a0bbe1)** > > When it comes to the president, there's always a tweet that can come back to bite. > Irony, thy name is [Donald Trump.](https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/donald-trump) > > Although the self-proclaimed billionaire reportedly [paid just $750 in federal income taxes](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-income-taxes-new-york-times-report_n_5f710b48c5b6cdc24c1ad415) in 2016 and nothing in some previous years, he was griping to “[Fox & Friends”](https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/fox-and-friends) back in 2012 that his fellow Americans weren’t paying enough. > > A video clip from that year unearthed by [Media Matters For America](https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/media-matters-for-america) editor John Whitehouse features the then-future president railing against a tax system that he said allowed low-income Americans to pay less in taxes than the wealthy. > > That was a big talking point during the 2012 presidential campaign after then-Republican nominee Mitt Romney released tax returns showing he paid an effective 14.1% tax rate. > > In the “Fox & Friends” clip, co-host Steve Doocy pointed out that half of the country doesn’t pay federal income tax and tossed this softball to Trump: “Is that fair?” > > “No, it’s not,” Trump responded. “It’s even more than that, as I understand it, and it’s not fair,” he said. > … ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-tax-avoider/921696/133 "2020-09-28T18:59:46Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Did he pay _exactly_ $750 nearly two years in a row? If so that seems awfully suspicious. I suspect that the number was reversed engineered, probably by him personally, as a “target” that his preparers would work toward. I say targeted by him personally because any self-respecting shady accountant would take pains to make the numbers differ so as to look “normal” and not care about a measly thousand or so dollars for millionaire tax evaders. It was exactly $750 both years. I wondered about that too. Let’s face it, he is not overly bright. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-tax-avoider/921696/134 "2020-09-28T19:05:05Z")
My apologies in advance if this is a bit off topic, but you reminded me of something, which is that republicans / corporate America have created an economic & political ecosystem that is extremely coercive. “Raise taxes, and we’ll incorporate and move production overseas.” “Don’t give us the tax incentives we want, and we’ll move our HQ to Delaware or South Dakota.” Economic changes have to occur at the federal level. One potential problem I see with Biden’s campaign and presidency is that he’s not really preparing us for the heavy lifting that will be required. He’s running and potentially winning on a “the incumbent sucks” platform, which is how Jimmy Carter ended up getting ‘Jimmy Cartered.’ ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-tax-avoider/921696/135 "2020-09-28T19:06:03Z")
Is this a surprise? The last 4 years have shown that we are dealing with a man who has no moral compass whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-tax-avoider/921696/136 "2020-09-28T19:07:54Z")
I would enjoy reviewing Amazon’s business plan to run its delivery trucks from their new Caribbean depots. Yes, the fear that the “job creators” will pack up and leave, thus decimating the US economy, has always been Republican bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-tax-avoider/921696/137 "2020-09-28T19:09:55Z")
It’s one of the least surprising developments ever. It’s just finally proven. But we have to stop political correctness on campus and, uh, socialism. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-tax-avoider/921696/138 "2020-09-28T19:13:17Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > It doesn’t shock me that he pays a hair stylist so much. It does shock me that he pays a hair stylist so much and still looks like that. That should be Biden’s line: a truly rich man could afford to look better than that. A truly smart man wouldn’t spend so much to look so terrible. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-tax-avoider/921696/139 "2020-09-28T19:27:15Z")
Certainly this is another nail in Trump’s coffin and we should continue talking about his impending funeral, or for the next 24 hours until Trump forces a change of subject and claws his way out of yet another attempted burial. The upcoming debate should take care of things nicely. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-tax-avoider/921696/140 "2020-09-28T19:33:20Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Certainly this is another nail in Trump’s coffin and we should continue talking about his impending funeral, or for the next 24 hours until Trump forces a change of subject and claws his way out of yet another attempted burial. Trump’s coffin is made entirely of nails and has yet to be lowered into his plot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-tax-avoider/921696.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-tax-avoider/921696.md?page=8)