So why not explain why this is fair? I still don’t see it. You fucked up and caused a loss. Obviously you don’t pay on that (you’d pay negative money). But why is it fair that you get to make up that loss without paying taxes? Why is the tax system easing the burden of losses? Seems like welfare to me.
It would be one thing if you paid taxes ahead of time, and then you didn’t make as much as you thought. Then it’s like an income tax return. Those make sense for average people who overpay in taxes.
I’m not even saying that this is horrible. I can see how some people might want this type of welfare to help out a small business who went through a rough patch. But it wouldn’t be fair–it would be generous. And, since we’re being generous, why not put a cap on it, so we don’t wind up helping out some rich fat cat avoid taxes because he can make a huge paper loss?
Or, better yet, why not count net worth against the loss? Only if the loss is actually a burden on you becuase it’s X% of your wealth can it be used as a future deduction.
Anything to avoid rich people who can take huge losses and still be okay, yet then use those losses to avoid paying taxes. You’re just incentivizing the already rich to fuck shit up.
Sounds like you’re trying to make me feel sorry that Trump hasn’t figured out a way to avoid paying payroll taxes, and be declared a super-mega genius.
You can also deduct gambling losses from your gambling winnings.
You people don’t know this stuff? Ever done your own taxes? How old are you?
And to think I used to criticize Conservatives for having a kindergartner-lemon-aid-stand-level understanding of taxation…
Feel how you wish. It’s your life. I’m just not concerned with Trump taking advantage of the law for his benefit. Hillary broke the law for her benefit. But somehow that doesn’t matter.
But, but - you are forgetting that it’s the rich people who are the job creators! We can’t have them privatizing losses, only profits! (while losses can be socialized to the rest of us).
Now that the “big paper loss that gives him a Get Out Of Paying Taxes Free card for two decades” thing is out in the open, the fact that he still isn’t releasing his returns can only mean that there’s something even more embarrassing (or worse) in them.
It’s a damn near impossible amount to lose in a year when a monkey throwing darts at the Wall Street Journal could have picked a winning portfolio. Maybe that’s what NounVerbNineEleven Man meant by calling Trump a “genius”.
Actually, it’s like Trump supporters have taken all the weakest Clinton talking points and are just repeating them in a new context - “There’s no proof any law was broken!”
That’s the only reason I can think of for him not releasing all his tax returns at this point. I really, really want him to release them, though - I want to see what epic levels of jiggery-pokery and financial chicanery his accountants were up to!
Yep; a decrease in the likelihood that you will be T-boned at an intersection benefits you far more if you’re driving a 2016 Lamborghini than if you’re driving a 1996 Taurus. Pay up.
The question before us is whether the productive (e.g. actual successful businesspeople) or unproductive (e.g. “geniuses” who lose almost a billion dollars in the middle of the 1990s boom) elements of society should be entrusted with political management.
I never said all taxes are progressive. Sales taxes are regressive. Social security can be made somewhat more progressive by increasing the cap, but it is progressive in that you get less per dollar you put in as you approach the maximum payout.
Perhaps I was assuming you cared about fairness. If you want the 1% to do better and the 99% to suffer more, the Trump plan is the one for you.
Actually, I avoid Apple products, and WalMart too. I fail to see why reading the NY Times puts you in the 1% (I wish). I actually get it delivered, which I’m especially happy about since my subscription dollars help pay for reporters who get Trump’s tax returns.
I’m in California, and buy from Amazon, so I do indeed pay sales tax on my purchases.
401Ks and other accounts have upper limits, which make them reasonably progressive. You forgot the mortgage deduction. The tax code is so complicated because of social policy built in. I’m all in favor of simplifying it, but if we do it we had better get rid of the loopholes before we set the rate. And none of that has anything to do with the benefits of progressive taxation.
Wow. If you’re that responsible consumer, you must be missing out on a lot of quality Trump products. Don’t you ever have a hankering to pay $80 for a USDA Choice-grade steak raised by Dalit in India? The package has the word TRUMP right on it.
Who is saying that Trump broke the law here? If he had, the IRS would have nabbed him long ago - but this is probably why they audit him every damn year, which former IRS people say is very unusual.
Now he did break the law by using Foundation money for his personal benefit, and probably in Trump U, and probably in some of the immigration violations like with the models. But this stuff either shows he’s a crappy businessman who lost a bundle one year, or a sneaky one using tax dodges to avoid paying anything while living a high life, so the “productive” little people get to take up the slack.
And then I bet he complained about the deficit.