People are writing about the President’s leaked tax returns, about the ‘creative’ methods used to avoid taxes. Is there a smoking gun there? Maybe, maybe not. Probably not.
For all that Lois Lerner and a politicized arm of the Internal Revenue Service discriminated against conservative organzations seeking tax-exempt status, most of the IRS is straight and does its job. They have people (including my uncle) who spend every working hour looking for tax cheats; they obviously focus on the big accounts, taxpayers who have large incomes.
The wealthy likewise have trained professionals looking for arguably legal ways to avoid paying taxes on what they earn. Once in awhile a tax court says one of these goes too far, but the more professional among them get caught out darned seldom.
So did the Trumps, father and son, utilize ‘creative’ tax dodges? I think you can be positive they did, and do. Are these likely to be legal, if convoluted? Equally, the answer is likely to be “yes.”
When you earn a lot of money, part of the fun is figuring out how to share as little of it as possible with the government ... legally. This pursuit is what keeps high-priced CPAs in business, what makes their boat payments, pays their country club dues. The CPAs make plenty and they earn every penny.
The foo-foraw about Trump’s taxes is likely to turn out to be much ado about very little. Are there dodges available only to the very wealthy? Certainly. The rich have spent hundreds of thousands lobbying to get these loopholes enacted, you haven’t.
Is it fair? Life isn’t fair. Get over it or get mobilized and change it ... if that is the hill you’ve chosen to die on. Most of us have a life to live, and shrug off the unevenness of good fortune, taking advantage of whatever lucky breaks come our way.
