>

Same for his ghostwriter
It actually shows he received a five million dollar refund in 2020. >

Which is nothing compared to the $72 million refund he got in 2010
Trump’s Seventy-Three-Million-Dollar Tax Refund Is the Biggest Outrage of All

From 2005 to 2007, this latest Times scoop reveals, he did finally pay about seventy million dollars to the Internal Revenue Service. But then, in 2010, he demanded a full refund for those tax payments. And the I.R.S. acceded to his request: it paid him $72.9 million, including interest. This 2010 refund seems to be at the center of an auditing dispute between Trump and the tax authorities that has dragged on for almost a decade. It also appears to be the money that Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer, was referring to in his 2019 testimony to Congress, when he recalled Trump showing him a huge check from the U.S. Treasury and remarked that Trump “could not believe how stupid the government was for giving someone like him that much money back.” >

Might be a dumb question, but was any of this legal?  Like did he just exploit some bullshit loopholes, or was it full on fraud? >

Trump reported that his businesses incurred major losses hence the refund. It's those losses he reported that is in question. >

His expenses are pretty suspicious too. >

The report also revealed that the mandatory IRS audit for 2016, wasn't actually going on at all. It didn't get started until 2019, the day that the new Democratic chair requested info on the "ongoing" audit. >

Its funny watching Elon Musk and others pretend the FBI was out to get Trump. Clearly multiple agencies, including FBI, IRS, DOJ and DHS were all very compromised in favoring Trump and that had to come from Trump and his appointees. >

In-group loyalty is a foundational value of conservatism. Fox News and the right-wing blogosphere have taken it to a level where any sort of criticism must be coming from outside sources. 
Notice that liberals are OK with removing and punishing wrongdoers within their own parties, e.g. Al Franken. In conservative circles, it's always the deep state or some shit. >

Yup. Frank Wilhoit (not that Frank Wilhoit):  

There is no such thing as liberalism — or progressivism, etc.
There is only conservatism. No other political philosophy actually exists; by the political analogue of Gresham’s Law, conservatism has driven every other idea out of circulation.  
There might be, and should be, anti-conservatism; but it does not yet exist. What would it be? In order to answer that question, it is necessary and sufficient to characterize conservatism. Fortunately, this can be done very concisely.  
Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: 
There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect. 
There is nothing more or else to it, and there never has been, in any place or time.  
For millenia, conservatism had no name, because no other model of polity had ever been proposed. “The king can do no wrong.” In practice, this immunity was always extended to the king’s friends, however fungible a group they might have been. Today, we still have the king’s friends even where there is no king (dictator, etc.). Another way to look at this is that the king is a faction, rather than an individual.  
As the core proposition of conservatism is indefensible if stated baldly, it has always been surrounded by an elaborate backwash of pseudophilosophy, amounting over time to millions of pages. All such is axiomatically dishonest and undeserving of serious scrutiny. Today, the accelerating de-education of humanity has reached a point where the market for pseudophilosophy is vanishing; it is, as The Kids Say These Days, tl;dr . All that is left is the core proposition itself — backed up, no longer by misdirection and sophistry, but by violence.  

(emphasis mine)
It tracks with the moral foundations theory: social conservatives have a "diverse" morality where moral values of in-group loyalty, respect for authority, and sanctity/purity ~~compromise~~ 'are valued "equally" to' moral values of fairness, care/harm (to others), and liberty. Worst of all? They genuinely believe they’re good, righteous people. >

This fits alongside what recent research has revealed to be the differences in world belief between conservatives and liberals. We used to think conservatives saw the world as more dangerous, but researchers were missing a piece of the puzzle. Now we know both conservatives and liberals see the world at similar levels of danger; It’s hierarchical worldview that’s different. 
The link to the journal study is paywalled, but the link above goes to an article that discusses it. Here’s an excerpt too: 
“Now we get to it: of all the 26 primal world beliefs, the main difference by far between liberals and conservatives—a difference 20 times larger than the difference in dangerous world belief—concerned a primal called hierarchical world belief. This primal had emerged from our big 2019 statistical analysis with us having no idea at the time that it would matter for politics (or anything else).
Hierarchical world belief is not the view that hierarchies exist—everyone would agree with that—but that hierarchy is inherent to reality. It’s part of the natural order. Not imposed. Not artificial. And not just regarding people. For plants, animals, people, everything, it’s just the way the world is.
Folks who see the world as hierarchical think that almost everything in the world can be ranked from better to worse. Differences probably matter because they distinguish things of more value from things with less. So, when in doubt, respect differences.
(And don’t be fooled into thinking that only those on top think the world is inherently hierarchical. People across social hierarchies appear to see the world as inherently hierarchical at similar rates.)
Conservatives do tend to show a default motivation to respect and preserve differences, whether it be borders between countries, differences between sexes, differences between rich and poor, and lots more. And liberals tend to assume those differences are fraudulent or arbitrary. The poor don’t deserve to be poor. The rich don’t deserve to be rich. And so forth.
But a few other primals stood out, too, such that there are actually six major primal disagreements between liberals and conservatives (the figure below from our research article requires a longer explanation, but you get the idea that one red bar is a ton bigger than the other, and a few other bars stood out, too). Together, these six primals paint a picture of two perceived worlds in which an array of opposing political positions make a weird amount of sense.
Conservative Reality
Conservatives tend to see the world as a place where, like it or not, observable differences reflect real underlying value (high Hierarchical world belief) that is somehow meant to be (high Intentional world belief) where station and attention received are usually deserved (high Just world belief, low belief that the world is Worth Exploring). Therefore, most hierarchies that emerge are best left as they are (high Acceptable world belief). However, unfortunately, change is slowly eroding the world’s hierarchies (low Progressing world belief). Therefore, constraining change and accepting inequality (the textbook two-part definition of conservatism that researchers use) is just common sense.
Liberal Reality
Liberals tend to see the world as a place where observable differences are superficial, rarely reflecting actual value (low Hierarchical world belief), cosmic purpose or intent (low Intentional world belief), deserved status (low Just world belief), or attention received (high Worth Exploring). Therefore, most hierarchies require reform (low Acceptable world belief). Fortunately, however, the world is getting better and change is taking us in the right direction (high Progressing world belief). Therefore, embracing change and rejecting inequality (the textbook definition of liberalism) is just common sense.”
Edit: This is the link to the study in the journal. If you want to read it, you can try emailing the author(s) and see if they’ll send you a copy! I did this often while doing research for my graduate degrees and in my experience they’re usually thrilled to do so, since they make no money from the journals anyway. >

This is the best description of conservatives vs liberals I think I’ve ever seen >

One of the best things the republicans did for their image is convince millions of people that the actual word conservative and the theory behind their whole political party is not based on a theory that freedom is bad because it destroys the social heirarchy. When that is the whole theory behind their ideology. 
They literally convinced a the world that the word conservative isn't bad when the textbook definition of conservative is literally "adverse to change". 
It makes me sick that so many working class people who dream of wealth and power think they are conservative when their dreams are the exact opposite of their parties goal. >

While I get your point, I don't think you are accurately portraying the conservative philosophy - conservatives are "adverse to change" but not in the literal sense of "someone who is poor should have to stay poor" (even if their policies have that result). Most conservatives believe that the social system shouldn't change because they believe the system works - they believe that with hard work and determination, anyone can become rich and successful. Thus, since they believe that anyone who works hard can make it, anyone who doesn't make it is stupid or lazy in the conservatives mind. And further, since one can achieve success through work alone, the conservative believes that society shouldn't give "hand-outs" to the less fortunate, since in their mind you would just be rewarding the stupid or lazy people who couldn't make it on their own.
So I disagree that "their dreams are the exact opposite of their parties goal" - conservatives love to celebrate the rags to riches story, because it validates their world view. Rather, it is that their dreams are thwarted by the real world results of their party's goal (i.e. keeping the system in place). >

The "just world" theory mentioned in the post above is exactly this. Conservative belief is a tautology that the hierarchies exist and those on top deserve to be on top because they're on top.
So as you say, they love to celebrate rags to riches stories, but the mind fuck is that they do believe the poor deserve to be poor and should stay that way and not complain, unless they succeed, in which case they deserved that all along and the system works. It's completely contradictory and hypocritical. >

Reagan and Thatcher did a huge amount of work in propogating the myth of meritocracy in the West.
Strivers Vs Skivers etc.
Meanwhile they were heavily deregulating and financialising the economy helping to create a class of wealthy speculators who have never produced anything of value in their lives.
I have sympathy for conservatives, though. 
We are all raised to worship success. Success is often measured through accumulation of wealth, regardless of how it is accumulated. There are hundreds of economists who have only ever gotten market predictions wrong, who nonetheless sit on comfortable faculty positions in some of the best universities we have, because they're basically members of a secular Vatican that exist solely to worship the market.
Without parents or early rolemodels who can put you on a path of healthy skepticism about this stuff, it's hardly surprising that there are so many conservatives. I think we on the left sometimes forget that it is still countercultural to be so. Nation states and nearly all of their major institutions are, by their very nature, conservative entities. 
You go to school and worship a flag, or where I grew up, say prayers from a Bible, and you do this all before you can understand that it's all about selective mythmaking and the whitewashing of history, not afterwards. The left needs to remember this. >

In summary, it’s obscene:
•   ⁠2015: negative income $31.7 million, taxable income $0. Paid $641,931 tax.
•   ⁠2016: negative income $31.2 million, taxable income $0. Paid $750 tax.
•   ⁠2017: negative income $12.8 million, taxable income $0. Paid $750 tax.
•   ⁠2018: positive income $24.4 million, taxable income $22.9 million. Paid $999,466 tax.
•   ⁠2019: positive income $4.44 million, taxable income $2.97 million. Paid $133,445 tax.
•   ⁠2020: negative income $4.69 million, taxable income $0. Paid $0 tax. Claimed a REFUND of $5.47 million. >

The refund in 2020 is the most ridiculous thing I have read today. >

Yet, the IRS, with all due haste, sent me a letter saying that I mistakenly entered the wrong tax credit; as such, I would not be getting a refund, but that I owed . . $26.00 >

Simplifying the tax code and allowing the IRS to tell you what you owe beforehand would be so useful. It could be done, but companies like turbotax lobby against it any time it is discussed. >

FYI TurboTax (Intuit) seems to get all the hate on reddit but H&R Block has been shown to have lobbied twice as much as TT.
There's plenty of hate to go around so if your taxes are simple FreeTaxUSA is the way to go, but if you need a CPA to assist don't think H&R Block is any better of an option. >

We got ourselves an independent CPA a few years ago and it's been awesome.  I pay about 100 dollars, he comes over to my house for like 20-30 minutes, gets all the paperwork, does the estimations, tells us roughly what our refund or payment will be and then submits everything.  It's awesome.   I used to file everythign myself, but it's so much nicer having a professional do it. >

Where the hell do you get a independent cpa for $100?!? >

He's a friend of my sister in law.  It might be 120 actually. But he just does everything on paper. Fills the forms out quick, and I think taxes are pretty much the only thing he does these days.  So he's pretty fast at it.  I'd guess for tyeb$100-120 he's go about 60 minutes of work to do including the meeting with us. He basically just goes from house to house all February, March and April, makes probably 500-1000 a day and then just does business taxes the rest of the year. >

What should really be the uproar on this is our tax code let’s people like him do this. Meanwhile the middle class is milked for all they are worth. >

Bro I have more than $750 taken out in ADDITIONAL WITHHOLDING each pay period. In addition to my regular withholding so that I don’t owe $20k again. How the fuck do we allow losses to accumulate for so long that they can carry them forward indefinitely to offset future income? It’s preposterous! >

It is worse than that... There is some funny books going on here because as an individual, you can only deduct so much during any one tax period. I had a 100k loss on a trust about 8 years ago and have been deducting it at max deduction since. How this man can pull full payroll deduction on 600k is some sort of black magic tax fuckery. >

There's a limit to how much you can offset capital loss against regular income. There's no limit to how much you can offset capital loss against capital gain. >

Wait is that true? I thought it was only 3k total among all buckets >

The way the system is supposed to work is you own a business, take out loans to start your business, and write off all income against the interest payments on those loans.  If a cap existed it would effectively cap the size of businesses that can exist.
You're not supposed to be able to use loans of that sort for personal expenses,  and laymen are going to run into one cap or another if they try to do so, like what seems to have happened to you. >

If you get a paycheck, you are fucked. If you have an employer that reports your income you are fucked. Rich people get the luxury of avoiding or deferring taxes that us normies simply don't get. That inevitably leads to a lot of deceptive practices that the IRS simply cannot keep up with. >

So the system is operating as designed… >

As designed by the wealthy donors who back the GOP. >

So the president of the USA was able to hide this for years, with a huge spotlight on him. How many other rich people are hiding things like this?
The system is broken. >


During the 2016 presidential election year, the two again reported losing $32.4 million in adjusted gross income and paid just $750 in taxes, according to the committee. During Trump's first year in office, the couple reported losing $12.9 million and again paid $750 in taxes.

We need to rewrite the tax code so that these types of loopholes are eliminated. It is disgusting that a billionaire should pay less than $1000 in taxes.
There's also an interesting trend of Trump’s losses decreasing significantly between 2016 and 2017. Then, he began reporting net gains after implementing policies that benefited his businesses like the Trump hotel across from the White House, charging the Secret Service to stay at his hotels, etc. He really did use the presidency for personal enrichment. >

I  was paying twice as much as that fuck just because i had the privilege (read: no choice) of being a freelancer who could barely afford rent for years. 
Fucking disgusting how our tax system keeps poor people poor and rich people from having minor inconveniences. >

It sure would have been useful if learning the basics of this stuff was in required high school classes to prepare us for adulthood. I once didn't understand graduated income tax either until someone chewed me out in a reddit comment. >

My entire district had required econ classes that went over this. Had to take it to graduate. Everything from personal taxes to buying a car, how to budget for rent, etc. 
The vast majority of students paid zero attention, because getting teens to care about those kinds of finances is near impossible. 
I renember seeing a former classmate on fb years ago post about how they wish they had those classes…. I had to stop myself from saying “you did, dumbass. I was next to you. You didnt pay attention” 
granted, neither did i. As i said, no one did. My teacher would lecture us on how we needed to know this shit to survive and everyone blew him off like always. 
Its tough. We need this shit learned from a young age,  at a young age its such a distant and foreign concept. >

Even so the exposure is valuable. We underestimate how much kids pick up even when they don't care. >

You know, I've got a feeling that he's not a good person. >

Or a billionaire. >

A big fuck you to everyone living paycheck to paycheck and pay their taxes on time, or at all
What a wonderful system >

Republicans claim that free education and healtcare is socialism.
How about corporate socialism where rich people don't pay taxes at all?
Corporate socialism and politicians patronizing this practice  are the real enemy of the people. >

Republicans are lying though. None of that is socialism. >

What they're referring to is the saying and concept "socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor." It's a function of advanced capitalism where policy protects and bolsters the profit of the wealthy at the non-wealthy's expense. >

Every public official should be required to release sanitized tax records, and everyone at the top of the federal government (President, VP, Secretaries, Congress, Sup. Court Justices) should have yearly audits which are released to the public. >

How will we ever have a functional government if there is any oversight whatsoever?!?!?!!! /s >

That's income. They don't make "income". Their money comes from stocks, which in my mind should be taxed at income levels but what do I know. They also take out loans so they only need to pay interest instead of taxes. The American people are supposed to be able to recoup those tax losses on the inheritance tax, but again, those get dodged through charity organizations and the like. >

Stocks sold (capital gains) are already taxed >

I understand the French revolution more and more each day >

It's worse than the headline.  Cumulatively over 6 years, Trump RECEIVED $3.6 million in net refunds.
Any of us that paid federal income tax between 2015 and 2020, had some of that go to Donald Trump.
But there's no money for school lunches.  The rich are a plague on society. >

And this is just one guy, you know damn well most rich people have similar looking tax rates and refunds. 
It's sickening how much we let the rich get away with. >

The French Revolution occurred with less wealth inequality than we have today. >

It's fucked up to me that people stormed the Capitol because this guy, a known liar who paid negative amounts in taxes, claimed the election was stolen.
But they're cool with the richest people on earth not paying taxes. >

It's sad, but this makes no difference in how he is perceived. His followers cheer this on. They all wish they could do the same. Tax evasion, cheating government and leaching off the rest of society...that is nearly the entire basis of conservative thought. 
We all know he won't face any real consequences over this either. >

Peak welfare queen shit and it’s eaten up by the same crowd that views those who actually need welfare support to be some of the most detestable and vile people around. 
Absolute nutty levels of cognitive dissonance >

No dissonance. They believe rules apply to others and not them. They're royalty. The poors are born to suffer and they were born to be elites. 
It's like a peasant arguing to a king why he gets to wear a crown and the poor can't. The peasant can argue all he wants that the king is a hypocrite for wearing one when others can't. The king just believes that's the natural order. >

Why the fuck am I making just enough salary, having taxes taken out, never late with my taxes...and this shithead has been dodging the IRS for over a decade???? 
You dumb fools. Following a liar and clever manipulator that you throw your money at and for what? So this narcissist thief can be all smug and have secret dreams of sleeping with his (or yours) daughter? 
Any other citizen would be in jail, or paying  IRS fines for life... total bullshit. Oh, there should be a witchhunt after ALL the Trump members.. .for the rest of their lives... >

And they're buying his NFT BS for $100... amazing >

Well, someone is. Buying worthless NFTs with crypto is a good way to funnel foreign money to the candidate of your choice. >

This is a story as old as time.  Carry forward a loss from businesses that went under.  Then claim the deductions on future tax bills. 
This is a deduction available to anyone who has a business.  Drive it in to the ground claim the loss.  Just like hbomax currently eating the costs of movies and shows for tax purposes. 
Or in my case if I install solar on my home I can deduct 20% of the cost on the next few tax bills.  
There is nothing illegal it’s just the game. 
In order to close the deduction we need to close the loophole however all the rich use it. >

I'm so glad we elected a "successful businessman" to run the country. Has he really lost so much money that he can't pay his taxes? That's so sad... >

THiS IS jUST HIM PlayInG By tHe rULEs. We wouLd aLl dO IT tOo if We wEre AS rIcH AND suCCEsSfUL aNd hAnDsOmE As mr. tRuMp. >

And to all our dear republicans, that means you and I picked up the slack. >

But no, bailing college students out from overpaying for education is the real problem. >

This is so unfair. Why should the 99% have to pay so much in taxes and the elites don’t have to? >

Meanwhile the thickheaded fucks voting for him are barely able to pay their bills and they think he's what is best for themselves. >

There's no dumber animal than a poor person who votes Republican.  lol >

But, but transexuals are using the wrong bathrooms!
This is how they get away with it; they use hot button social issues to distract people from their robber baron economic policies. >

I'm shocked. Shocked to the core
/Surprizedpikachu >

That's so bullshit. Rich don't pay taxes and the poor always do >

What a bunch of bullshit.  And I mean that toward all the fuckers who have/make more than I'll ever see, and yet pay nothing, or significantly less than I do.  It's utter bullshit, and I'm just sick of the greed of the elite. >

Now you know why the rich want to keep the IRS underfunded >

Bro we can't pay for kids lunches but yeah sure let's let this asshole and every other rich asshole keep getting richer. Fuck this >

MAGA: "tHaT mAkEs HiM sMaRt!" >

Trump's accountant: That makes me smart, also can someone pay me now... oh wait.