Robert Reich debunks a dozen common myths about taxing the rich.
Robert Reich website
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Under Georgia state tax law, embryos gestating for over 6 weeks are now considered dependent children. The state Department of Revenue will allow deductions of $3000 for each 3/4-inch long blob of cells if they have perceptibly pulsing cardiac activity, often wrongly called a “fetal heartbeat.”
Who knows, maybe gun ownership and voting rights will be next under such so-called “personhood laws“.
More:
“Embryos can be listed as dependents on tax returns, Georgia rules,” Ramon Antonio Vargas, The Guardian
“Georgia says ‘unborn child’ counts as dependent on taxes after 6 weeks,” María Luisa Paúl, Washington Post
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Under our tax system, owning something is better than actually working at something. Madeline Marshall explains how the rich avoid paying taxes. A Vox video.
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In recent years, Donald Trump paid the IRS $750 in income tax, except in those years when he paid absolutely nothing, records obtained by the New York Times show. He apparently paid 200 times more in taxes to India and the Philippines than U.S. income tax in 2017.
He appears to have paid daughter Ivanka $750,000 in consulting fees while she was also an employee of the Trump Organization. His claim about an IRS audit seems to hinge on his questionable $73 million tax refund in 2010 — a refund to someone who paid no taxes. His charitable write-offs consisted of not developing properties he owns. Mr. Trump’s responds to these revelations by repeatedly whining that”the IRS treats me very badly,”
“Donald Trump’s financial records are the Rosetta stone for understanding the depth of his corruption and crimes,” former Trump attorney Michael Cohen told Yahoo News:
“The more it is unraveled, the more he will unravel. It’s the reason he’s fought so hard to keep it under wraps.”
“His biggest fear is … he will end up with a massive tax bill, fraud penalties, fines, and possibly even tax fraud ….”
More:
“Long-Concealed Records Show Trump’s Chronic Losses and Years of Tax Avoidance,” Russ Buettner, Susanne Craig and Mike McIntire, New York Times
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In the last day of the session, the Supreme Court ruled that President Donald Trump cannot block New York State prosecutors from examining his tax documents and presenting their findings to a grand jury. Grand jury proceedings are confidential, so don’t expect to see details in the news before election day. Nevertheless, Mr. Trump Twitter-screamed in all caps about “PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT!“
More:
“Supreme Court Rules Trump Cannot Block Release of Financial Records,” Adam Liptak, New York Times
“Supreme Court Gives Trump Legal Loss, Tactical Win in Tax Cases,” Ed Kilgore, New York Magazine
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Who pays the lowest taxes in the USA? Yep, that’s right, poor folks.
More:
“How to Tax Our Way Back to Justice,” Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, New York Times
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Leona Helmsley said “Only the little people pay taxes.” That’s who the IRS audits, any way.
“On the one hand, the IRS said, auditing poor taxpayers is a lot easier: The agency uses relatively low-level employees to audit returns for low-income taxpayers who claim the earned income tax credit. The audits — of which there were about 380,000 last year, accounting for 39% of the total the IRS conducted — are done by mail and don’t take too much staff time, either.”
“On the other hand, auditing the rich is hard. It takes senior auditors hours upon hours to complete an exam. What’s more … ‘the rate of attrition is significantly higher among these more experienced examiners.’ As a result, the budget cuts have hit this part of the IRS particularly hard.”
“For now, the IRS says, while it agrees auditing more wealthy taxpayers would be a good idea, without adequate funding there’s nothing it can do.”
“Since 2011, Republicans in Congress have driven cuts to the IRS enforcement budget; it’s more than a quarter lower than its 2010 level, adjusting for inflation.”
— “IRS: Sorry, but It’s Just Easier and Cheaper to Audit the Poor,” Paul Kiel, ProPublica
Related:
“The Rich Really Do Pay Lower Taxes Than You,” David Leonhardt, New York Times
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What is a wealth tax, anyway? Alvin Chang explains. A Vox video.
There’s a related fact sheet here
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Remember all those times Republicans promised you’d be filing your Federal Income Taxes on postcard? The 1040 may be physically smaller, but it’s 2-sided, and you’ll have to attach a bunch of other new forms to it. Instructions for the 1040 total 117 pages. After all, it’s not like they shrank the tax code, just the tax rates for the 1 Percent.
A Vox video by Madeline Marshall and Matthew Yglesias.
Related:
“Only 17 Percent of Americans Think They’re Benefiting From Trump’s 2017 Tax Cut,” Daily Beast
“Survey: Few people think they’re getting a tax cut under Trump’s law,” Naomi Jagoda, The Hill
“Congress Is About to Ban the Government From Offering Free Online Tax Filing. Thank TurboTax.” Justin Elliott, ProPublica
“The Tax Law’s Big Winner Is the Millionaire CEO,” Joe Light, Bloomberg
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Congressman Richard E. Neal (D, MA-1), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has asked the IRS for six years of President Trump’s personal and business tax returns, under authority of legislation passed in 1924 to deal with the Teapot Dome Scandal. The president said he was “not inclined” to comply. That’s not surprising; the Teapot Dome Scandal sent the Interior Secretary to jail.
For four decades, presidential candidates have been in the habit of making their tax returns public in pursuit of transparency. Candidate Trump promised to do so, over and over, then failed to deliver on this campaign promise after the election. The President claims his taxes are being audited, but that’s not a valid reason to refuse compliance.
What is Donald Trump hiding? Perhaps:
— He hasn’t paid any taxes, as his previous state tax releases indicate
— He’s not as rich as he claims
— He hasn’t given as much to charity as he claims
— His business activities are somehow irregular and illegal
— He has had previously undisclosed foreign business dealings, perhaps with Russia
Those last two points would certainly be of interest to Congress.
Timothy O’Brien, author of TrumpNation, got to peek at Trump’s taxes after Mr. Trump sued him for libel for writing that Trumpdid some shady dealing and isn’t as rich as he claims. Mr. O’Brien can’t talk about what he learned from the Trump papers for legal reasons. Suffice it to say that Donald Trump lost that lawsuit.
More:
“I’ve Seen Trump’s Tax Returns and You Still Haven’t,” Timothy L. O’Brien, Bloomberg
Updates:
“Trump on House getting his tax returns: ‘They’ll speak to my lawyers,’” Rebecca Morin and Anita Kumar, Politico
“White House maneuvers to block release of Trump’s tax returns,” Erica Werner, Damian Paletta and Jeff Stein, Washington Post
“Trump lawyer calls on Treasury to reject Democrats’ demand for tax returns until Justice Department weighs in,” Jeff Stein and Josh Dawsey, Washington Post
“Mulvaney says Democrats will ‘never’ see Trump’s tax returns,” Colby Itkowitz, Washington Post
Related:
“Trump’s handpicked IRS chief and IRS legal counsel both have ties to Trump businesses,” Peter Weber, The Week
“Trump Asked That Confirmation of I.R.S. Counsel Be a Priority,” Maggie Haberman and Nicholas Fandos, New York Times
“Democrats seeking Trump’s financial documents from his bank,” Rachael Bade, Colby Itkowitz, Washington Post
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