morpeth

Is there any one who pays more taxes than they need to ?

Any wealthy person will structure their companies to reduce their personal tax bill.

sir_eccles

Question, is a $14k salary reasonable and fair compensation for a multimillion dollar company? Apparently $0 compensation from dozens of other companies?

Question, he doesn't live off $14k does he?

Question, does he live off the self dealing through his foundation?

There's structuring and there is taking the piss. You try going to your boss and asking him to pay you $0 but make a donation to your charitable foundation and see how far you get.

sir_eccles

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/04/us...imes&smtyp=cur

Maybe he really doesn't make any money?

"The records demonstrate that large portions of those numbers represent cash coming into his businesses before covering costs like mortgage payments, payroll and maintenance. After expenses, some of his businesses make a small fraction of what he reported on his disclosure forms, or actually lose money. In fact, it is virtually impossible to determine from the forms just how much he is earning in any year."

Leslie

Something is wrong with David Duke's face. I have mentioned this before and you people just ignore me ... crickets.

His mouth no longer fits on his face and he may have an extra tongue. His face doesn't work with his skull anymore and his skin doesn't seem to fit correctly either. Remember Edgar from Men in Black? Sugar water.

I'm just saying.

dakota44

Good writeup on Pence. Good grief.

Mike Pence: Sarah Palin Without The Charisma | Huffington Post

mrken30

He probably lives off unearned income such as dividends and stock options.

morpeth

It seems with, all due respect, you are avoiding answering the question if there is anyone who pays more taxes than they need to ? I have never met anyone who does and I assume you don't pay more taxes than you need to ! Do you know anyone who pays more tax than they need to ?

In response to your questions :
1. No I don't think he lives on $14k per year.
2. Does he live off self-dealing with his foundation ? How would we know that without seeing the detail of the foundation expenses and whether he "lives off that".

Just going by impressions I have no doubt he uses every trick in the book and then some to reduce his tax bill. The issue is the tax code which neither candidate has proposed significant fundamental change of. The Clinton foundation may have some worrisome transactions in terms of the influence donors may have, but that would probably apply to any foundation, just the nature of the system. The Trump foundation , and again just an impression, I think has more fundamental potential legal issues of violation of the letter if not the spirit of rules on self-dealing.

For example Foundation evidently paid for some large painting of Trump- since his "brand" he considers such an important asset, how could promoting that brand not be self-dealing ?

morpeth

I doubt stock options as most of his companies are private, dividends maybe. But Trump is in real estate business, and has himself said that because of rules on non-cash depreciation expenses he pays less tax.

I can just imagine him deducting cost of "Trump" brand suits ( is there a Trump brand suit ?) as a business expense promoting the "brand". Or when on vacation at one of "his" hotels or buildings deducting expenses as business expenses. Or between corporations, general and limited partnerships, LLC's etc allocating expenses between them in a very aggressive manner to reduce taxes.

Probably Americans wouldn't accept, but some countries have a wealth tax on assets that means the super-wealthy do pay taxes regardless of taxes on income. Republicans would squeal and howl, but certainly would help address billionaires not paying what most people would consider a minimum rate of tax. Would it hurt incentive for someone having over $1 billion in assets to pay a 1% tax on assets ? I don't think so. If country has $19 trillion in debt why not have such a tax for a 10 year period ? Combined with a 20% penalty tax on Congressmen salaries until government debt reduced.

MidAtlantic

celticgrid

Yes, lots of people.

Aha! Now you get to the root of the matter. "wealthy".

Mere mortals probably pay more tax than they need to, but cannot afford to pay experts to research the appropriate tax reduction mechanisms.

Just because not paying more taxes than you need to sounds a basic, sensible approach to life, doesn't mean that everyone is in that situation. With some professional help I could probably reduce my tax bill for this year, but would I reduce it enough to pay for that help? The richer you are, the more your statement applies.

SultanOfSwing

I pay a little bit more than I probably need to each week simply to avoid owing anything at the end of the year. I'd much rather do that than readjust my withholding and end up having to write a check for a grand in January.

zargof

Further to that, wealthy people also make "donations" to politicians so that they get favourable tax reductions mechanisms in the first place. Again something mere mortals can't do.

So the controversy isn't that Trump can structure his finances to pay such a small amount of tax. It's that the system is setup to allow him to do so.

scrubbedexpat099

A system Trump has been part of for decades.

Ohh wait...

zargof

Trump is the corrupter, Clinton is the corrupted.

sir_eccles

Warren Buffet released his taxes, he certainly doesn't pay $0 like Trump.

There is tax avoidance and then there is tax evasion.