NYT publishes Trump tax returns

[Klaus]

@Jolly said in NYT publishes Trump tax returns:

@Klaus said in NYT publishes Trump tax returns:

Now that the information is out there, who cares whether that was legal?

I do. A lot.

If his can be posted with impunity, so can anybody else's.

I want to see Hunter Biden's.

In fact, I want to see whomever I choose, on demand.

Well, if laws were broken, then that should be sorted out in a lawsuit involving Trump and the culprits, and the appropriate sentences should be handed out.

But that doesn't change anything about the conclusions the public can draw from that material. This is not a "tainted evidence that cannot be used in a lawsuit" kind of situation.

[Aqua Letifer]

Don't the details that were publicized mean that either he's using loopholes, legal though they may be, or he's not the successful captain of industry his devotees make him out to be?

[Klaus]

@Larry said in NYT publishes Trump tax returns:

@Klaus said in NYT publishes Trump tax returns:

Now that the information is out there, who cares whether that was legal?

Donald Trump. If a newspaper released ten or twenty years worth of your tax returns, you'd care too. Espe silly if it had been released by a bunch of jackals who were bent on destroying you.

Yes, Trump has reason to care about the release. But I'm saying it makes no difference to the public.

[Doctor Phibes]

@Aqua-Letifer said in NYT publishes Trump tax returns:

Don't the details that were publicized mean that either he's using loopholes, legal though they may be, or he's not the successful captain of industry his devotees make him out to be?

Don't call them devotees, they don't like it. A more acceptable term is 'Supporters of the single greatest President this Republic has ever seen'.

[LuFins Dad]

@Aqua-Letifer said in NYT publishes Trump tax returns:

Don't the details that were publicized mean that either he's using loopholes, legal though they may be, or he's not the successful captain of industry his devotees make him out to be?

Yes, I tend to think that a big part of it is loopholes. A lot of shell games. Frankly, Trump can and should use this to his advantage. Point out that yes, it is ridiculous that he spent $750 in taxes, but hey, that’s the rules and system that Mr. Biden and Biden’s friends in Congress set up. He simply played by their rules. Not his fault he was better at it then they were... But this the very reason why he, Donald Trump, has been working to simplify the tax system and do away with this Byzantine system...

[Doctor Phibes]

@LuFins-Dad said in NYT publishes Trump tax returns:

@Aqua-Letifer said in NYT publishes Trump tax returns:

Don't the details that were publicized mean that either he's using loopholes, legal though they may be, or he's not the successful captain of industry his devotees make him out to be?

Yes, I tend to think that a big part of it is loopholes. A lot of shell games. Frankly, Trump can and should use this to his advantage. Point out that yes, it is ridiculous that he spent $750 in taxes, but hey, that’s the rules and system that Mr. Biden and Biden’s friends in Congress set up. He simply played by their rules. Not his fault he was better at it then they were... But this the very reason why he, Donald Trump, has been working to simplify the tax system and do away with this Byzantine system...

This might be more believable if he hadn't refused to release his returns in the first place. Or maybe boasting about doing something you've been trying to cover up is the next level 5D chess.

[Loki]

@LuFins-Dad said in NYT publishes Trump tax returns:

@Aqua-Letifer said in NYT publishes Trump tax returns:

Don't the details that were publicized mean that either he's using loopholes, legal though they may be, or he's not the successful captain of industry his devotees make him out to be?

Yes, I tend to think that a big part of it is loopholes. A lot of shell games. Frankly, Trump can and should use this to his advantage. Point out that yes, it is ridiculous that he spent $750 in taxes, but hey, that’s the rules and system that Mr. Biden and Biden’s friends in Congress set up. He simply played by their rules. Not his fault he was better at it then they were... But this the very reason why he, Donald Trump, has been working to simplify the tax system and do away with this Byzantine system...

Really good points and any good tax advisory service would point out all the things they were doing to your tax return. Duh

[LuFins Dad]

@Doctor-Phibes said in NYT publishes Trump tax returns:

@LuFins-Dad said in NYT publishes Trump tax returns:

@Aqua-Letifer said in NYT publishes Trump tax returns:

Don't the details that were publicized mean that either he's using loopholes, legal though they may be, or he's not the successful captain of industry his devotees make him out to be?

Yes, I tend to think that a big part of it is loopholes. A lot of shell games. Frankly, Trump can and should use this to his advantage. Point out that yes, it is ridiculous that he spent $750 in taxes, but hey, that’s the rules and system that Mr. Biden and Biden’s friends in Congress set up. He simply played by their rules. Not his fault he was better at it then they were... But this the very reason why he, Donald Trump, has been working to simplify the tax system and do away with this Byzantine system...

This might be more believable if he hadn't refused to release his returns in the first place. Or maybe boasting about doing something you've been trying to cover up is the next level 5D chess.

The fact is that the numbers the Times are reporting are useless without context. Compensation takes place in ALOT of ways, a lot of which don’t show up on a P&L.

[jon-nyc]

@Larry said in NYT publishes Trump tax returns:

@jon-nyc said in NYT publishes Trump tax returns:

@Larry said in NYT publishes Trump tax returns:

I looked it up - just the golf courses alone generated 1.9 billion dollars in profit during his first 3 years in office.

Nonsense.

I stand corrected. The figure is for all his businesses, and it was gross, not net. Still, that's far from being broke, and everything else I said still stands.

Nope they have the returns for the whole Trump organization, not just his personal returns. In fact, they're missing 2018 and 2019 of his personal returns.

The Forbes piece was just estimates.

[LuFins Dad]

And the NYT figures are “We promise! Trust us!” numbers without context or supporting docs...

[jon-nyc]

I wonder if there's a legal reason for them not to release the actual docs or if they would identify the source.

[Axtremus]

@jon-nyc said in NYT publishes Trump tax returns:

I wonder if there's a legal reason for them not to release the actual docs or if they would identify the source.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/27/us/trump-taxes-editors-note.html
"We are not making the records themselves public because we do not want to jeopardize our sources, who have taken enormous personal risks to help inform the public."

[Copper]

OK, so we are informed.

Now let's lock up the sources.

[George K]

@Axtremus said in NYT publishes Trump tax returns:

@jon-nyc said in NYT publishes Trump tax returns:

I wonder if there's a legal reason for them not to release the actual docs or if they would identify the source.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/27/us/trump-taxes-editors-note.html
"We are not making the records themselves public because we do not want to jeopardize our sources, who have taken enormous personal risks to help inform the public."

Give it 3 months. It'll all come out who they are. The only way for two or more people to keep a secret like this is for only one of them to be alive.

[jon-nyc]

I'm a bit curious if the legality depends on the source.

Obviously it's illegal for an IRS employee to leak them. But is it an actual crime if, say, the secretary at the accounting firm does? I could imagine that going either way. Obviously they'd face professional and civil repercussions.

[Jolly]

They need to go to jail.

Trump. Biden. Clinton. I don't care. For stuff like this, somebody needs to go to jail.

[xenon]

@Jolly said in NYT publishes Trump tax returns:

They need to go to jail.

Trump. Biden. Clinton. I don't care. For stuff like this, somebody needs to go to jail.

The leak sounds illegal (I don't really know of any legal ways to leak a tax return).

That said - once the info is out, it's out.

I dunno what it means, haven't had a chance to look through myself yet.

[Jolly]

@xenon said in NYT publishes Trump tax returns:

@Jolly said in NYT publishes Trump tax returns:

They need to go to jail.

Trump. Biden. Clinton. I don't care. For stuff like this, somebody needs to go to jail.

The leak sounds illegal (I don't really know of any legal ways to leak a tax return).

That said - once the info is out, it's out.

I dunno what it means, haven't had a chance to look through myself yet.

Yep, once it's out, it's out.

Somebody needs to go to jail.

[Loki]

@xenon said in NYT publishes Trump tax returns:

@Jolly said in NYT publishes Trump tax returns:

They need to go to jail.

Trump. Biden. Clinton. I don't care. For stuff like this, somebody needs to go to jail.

The leak sounds illegal (I don't really know of any legal ways to leak a tax return).

That said - once the info is out, it's out.

That’s what this year taught me.

[Axtremus]

@Jolly said in NYT publishes Trump tax returns:

Somebody needs to go to jail.