How Much In Taxes Do We Owe To The Government?
by Dr. Jack Sternberg, Contributing Author: We have heard over and over again that Donald Trump won’t release his taxes like every other Presidential candidate has always done.
You know what? I don’t blame him, especially now. Why? Trump has nothing to gain and everything to lose by releasing them. He has already taken the hit over his tax write off (see below) and the insinuation (without the slightest factual basis) that he hasn’t paid taxes in eighteen years. The Democrats would scour his tax returns (which consists of hundreds if not thousands of pages, year after year) and find something they can use against him; be it real or just made up into an issue.
None of us should forget the fact that he gets audited yearly and the IRS has never found him guilty of cheating on his taxes. Isn’t that really all that matters?
The Democrats can and will accuse him of using tax loopholes to avoid paying taxes (tax loophole’s definition - A provision in the laws governing taxation that allows people to reduce their taxes. The term has the connotation of an unintentional omission or obscurity in the law that allows the reduction of tax liability to a point below that intended by the framers of the law) .
Whether the outcome of the tax law was intended or not, Trump applied the prevailing law appropriately and it’s absolutely legal. It’s no different than parents using the child tax credit to lower their taxes. Or donating to charities which I hope you have done, Then, you claim the legal deduction and thereby lower how much in taxes you pay. If you used an accountant and he didn’t maximize your use of legal tax write offs, besides firing him, you might be able to sue him for malpractice.
The left is accusing him of using the “Tax Loss Carry Forward” (an accounting technique that applies one year's net operating losses to future years' profits to reduce tax liability) in an inappropriate way so as to pay less future taxes after his 1997 losses. Since it is Donald Trump using this legal part of the tax code, his using it is being portrayed as evil. But, I contend, none of us would consider it evil if a farmer in any part of Arkansas who lost this year’s crop to a flood took that loss and carried it forward to offset future earnings. Are you aware that any one who has sold stocks at a loss gets to carry that loss forward to offset future gains in the stock market?
Finally, let’s all remember that there is a tax law called the Alternative Minimal Tax (AMT). According to AMT, no matter how many write offs you have in a year, you still have to pay a minimum tax on earnings that year. I contend, therefore, that there is no way Trump has ever paid ZERO taxes in any year and for sure, not eighteen.
Let me conclude this week’s opinion piece with this quote from Judge Learned Hand (1872-1961), Judge, U. S. Court of Appeals who wrote:"Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's taxes. Over and over again the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands." Hopefully, enough said on the matter.
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Jack Sternberg, MD, is a retired medical doctor and Chairman, Garland County TEA Party Patriots in Arkansas, and a contributor to the ARRA News Service.
Tags: Jack Sternberg, How Much, Taxes Do We Owe, Government? To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
You know what? I don’t blame him, especially now. Why? Trump has nothing to gain and everything to lose by releasing them. He has already taken the hit over his tax write off (see below) and the insinuation (without the slightest factual basis) that he hasn’t paid taxes in eighteen years. The Democrats would scour his tax returns (which consists of hundreds if not thousands of pages, year after year) and find something they can use against him; be it real or just made up into an issue.
None of us should forget the fact that he gets audited yearly and the IRS has never found him guilty of cheating on his taxes. Isn’t that really all that matters?
The Democrats can and will accuse him of using tax loopholes to avoid paying taxes (tax loophole’s definition - A provision in the laws governing taxation that allows people to reduce their taxes. The term has the connotation of an unintentional omission or obscurity in the law that allows the reduction of tax liability to a point below that intended by the framers of the law) .
Whether the outcome of the tax law was intended or not, Trump applied the prevailing law appropriately and it’s absolutely legal. It’s no different than parents using the child tax credit to lower their taxes. Or donating to charities which I hope you have done, Then, you claim the legal deduction and thereby lower how much in taxes you pay. If you used an accountant and he didn’t maximize your use of legal tax write offs, besides firing him, you might be able to sue him for malpractice.
The left is accusing him of using the “Tax Loss Carry Forward” (an accounting technique that applies one year's net operating losses to future years' profits to reduce tax liability) in an inappropriate way so as to pay less future taxes after his 1997 losses. Since it is Donald Trump using this legal part of the tax code, his using it is being portrayed as evil. But, I contend, none of us would consider it evil if a farmer in any part of Arkansas who lost this year’s crop to a flood took that loss and carried it forward to offset future earnings. Are you aware that any one who has sold stocks at a loss gets to carry that loss forward to offset future gains in the stock market?
Finally, let’s all remember that there is a tax law called the Alternative Minimal Tax (AMT). According to AMT, no matter how many write offs you have in a year, you still have to pay a minimum tax on earnings that year. I contend, therefore, that there is no way Trump has ever paid ZERO taxes in any year and for sure, not eighteen.
Let me conclude this week’s opinion piece with this quote from Judge Learned Hand (1872-1961), Judge, U. S. Court of Appeals who wrote:
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Jack Sternberg, MD, is a retired medical doctor and Chairman, Garland County TEA Party Patriots in Arkansas, and a contributor to the ARRA News Service.
Tags: Jack Sternberg, How Much, Taxes Do We Owe, Government? To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
2 Comments:
After all the waste and fraud by this government why do we owe them anything?
John, Well said!
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