So What If Trump Pays No Taxes?

So, some of Trump's tax returns have been leaked, and it seems that he's very likely been paying zero dollars in taxes for nearly two decades.

So what?

I ask somewhat jokingly, as the "so what" should be obvious. The "so what" is the working stiff, scraping by on two minimum jobs, paying taxes on every dollar he earns. He, the minimum wage laborer, the poor bastard who prays he doesn't get a cold lest he lose both sources of income overnight, pays taxes.

And Trump doesn't.

So I get really frosted at Trump supporters saying, "so what?" You know what? If you use those two words, and pay taxes, then you are so delusional that nothing will snap you out of the Satanic spell Trump has cast over you.

"But wait!" some clever person out there might ask, "didn't you defend County Executive Chris Abele when he didn't pay any taxes?

Indeed, I did. And if you read this blog enough to catch that, bravo, even if you disagree with me. In fact, especially if you disagree with me!

But Abele and Trump are as different as Churchill and Mussolini. (Yes, respectively.) Abele's tax breaks came through well-documented charitable giving. He proved so by releasing his tax returns to the general public very early in his campaign, even though he was running for a lowly municipal office (as opposed to the presidency) and he didn't give a damn that he was being audited at the time. (Actually, I think he was audited earlier, but he was audited, and he certainly didn't use being audited as an excuse.)

Contrast this with Trump, who has met none of these basic standards. His charitable giving, such that it is, is not enough to eliminate all his taxes, even if he really did give to charity, which he hasn't really done until cajoled into doing so by the media. He has not released his tax returns, and will likely never do so because his excuse that he is being audited does not preclude him releasing said tax returns.

When such a man like this pays no taxes, it is not because he is generous. It is because he is a snake!

But this isn't the real scandal. As has been pointed out by many people, the real scandal isn't that these people, Trump and Abele, have paid no taxes. The scandal is - they can! And we cannot. Even if we earn minimum wage, we have a percentage taken out of our weekly or bi-weekly paycheck. And if we are hard-working enough to work two minimum wage jobs, some of that money is gone permanently.

Where's the tax break for the two-job minimum wage earner? Where's his break? Where's the break for the workers who are kept under 35 hours per week so that the employer doesn't have to dole out company benefits? Where is the tax break for the retail workers who are told to go on food stamps to supplement themselves so that the corporation doesn't have to pay any more to its workers than is absolutely necessary?

They don't get a tax break. But the corporate bigwigs who run the company, who are people like Trump and Abele, they do. They get to take advantage of real estate loopholes and write-offs for charitable giving.

Where's the write-off for these guys paying directly into a food stamp program as a charity? Where's the write-off for paying the salary of a soldier? Where's the write-off for helping fund a highway, or a bridge? Or even a write-off for paying employees a decent wage for a change? Does any of that sound like a goddamned good idea?

Oh yeah. Because any of that would actually be paying taxes!

Trump says he knows the tax code, so that he can fix it. Which is a little bit like cookie monster saying that he knows how to fix the cookie jar so that he won't be able to take any more cookies out of it. Fox, meet hen house.

I call bullshit. You may say, "so what?" Well, I say, "so what" to your "so what!" You're an idiot! That's what!



Eric

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