5 ms·

For comparison, President Trump payed $750 in federal income tax in 2016 and 2017. I just looked it up and I, a graduate student who makes like $30k a year paid

For comparison, President Trump payed $750 in federal income tax in 2016 and 2017. I just looked it up and I, a graduate student who makes like $30k a year paid three times that amount last year.

christophilus 6y ago
Warren Buffett is in a similar boat and has complained vocally about it. The US tax system is absurd when it comes to the upper echelon. [Edit: I mean, he's complained that it's unjust and that billionaires like him should be paying their fair share.]
- rrss 6y ago
  Warren Buffett is in an entirely dissimilar boat, because Warren Buffett does not have enormous losses to carry forward, and therefore actually pays significant personal income tax ($1.8 million on personal income of $11.5 million in 2015). https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161010005859/en/Tax-Facts-Donald-Trump https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161010005859/en/Tax...
  - christophilus 6y ago
    I meant that he pays well below what you or I pay. He's in a lower tax bracket than his secretary. $1.8M on $11.5M is what? Something in the ballpark of 15%? He should be in the highest tax bracket. That's my point. The tax laws favor the wealthy, and they shouldn't.
    - pwinnski 6y ago
      That's a completely unrelated and distracting issue. Trump paid $750 total, which is not 15% of anything. He could have easily paid $0, as he did before becoming POTUS. His team picked a tiny number above zero starting in 2016 when he was elected. This is completely and totally unrelated to the capital gains tax rate.
      - christophilus 6y ago
        It's not unrelated. My point is that the wealthy have a whole lot of loopholes when it comes to taxes, and we ought to address that. Almost certainly, Trump used these loopholes to minimize his taxes. I assume in his case, he had a lot of losses that he was able to use to bring his over all income down well below what you or I report in a given year. Unless Trump did something illegal (entirely possible), my point is related and not distracting.
wwright 6y ago
The problem here is that American culture has made you entitled. You think that, just because you can get into grad school and bump shoulders with the elite, you should be able to deduct $70,000 of haircuts, too. (This is a joke, to be clear.)
Taniwha 6y ago
I live outside the US, but I'm forced to pay US tax on some minimal income, I pay more that than Trump does
hiram112 6y ago
All his properties are in corporations or limited liabilities, like almost every other business in the country. Those corporations do pay taxes. His securities, investments, etc. are in a trust, required by law, I believe, which would also pay taxes separately. He donates to charity 100% of his US government salary. I'm wondering how he even owed $750 on federal taxes.
- pwinnski 6y ago
  This is wrong on many, many, many points. Please, read the article.
mmcconnell1618 6y ago
Where is the Alternative Minimum Tax? You know, that tax law that pops up frequently for high earners in the tech field when they have more deductions than seems fair? Why isn't Trump subject to the same minimum taxation that I would be?
- jeffbee 6y ago
  The AMT is for ... uh ... "wagecucks" is the 4chan terminology. If you are actually rich you never have income as such.
  - Gibbon1 6y ago
    I think of Mitt Romney who last reportedly has $87 million in his IRA. You can't contribute more than $30k/yr to an IRA. How do you get an IRA with close to 8 figures in it? Same trick of filling your bosses locked office with balloons. Slip the balloons (worthless stocks) under the door and then blow them up from the outside.
    - jjk166 6y ago
      > Tax lawyers and accountants suggest an answer: Romney may have made use of an Internal Revenue Service loophole that allows investors to undervalue interests in investment partnerships when first putting them into an IRA. These assets can produce returns far in excess of those that could be generated from other investments made at the capped level. > An investor could even set an initial value for a partnership interest at zero dollars, because under tax regulations an interest in a partnership represents future income, not current value, said Chris Sanchirico, co-director of the Center for Tax Law and Policy at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. > Whether Romney used this technique, which is legal, when he put partnership interests into his IRA is a question that won’t likely be answered when he discloses his 2010 tax returns on Tuesday. [0] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-campaign-romney-ira/how-did-romneys-ira-grow-so-big-idUSTRE80N04E20120124 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-campaign-romney-ira/h...
- throwawaysea 6y ago
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

For comparison, President Trump payed $750 in federal income tax in 2016 and 2017. I just looked it up and I, a graduate student who makes like $30k a year paid three times that amount last year.

christophilus 6y ago

Warren Buffett is in a similar boat and has complained vocally about it. The US tax system is absurd when it comes to the upper echelon. [Edit: I mean, he's complained that it's unjust and that billionaires like him should be paying their fair share.]

rrss 6y ago
Warren Buffett is in an entirely dissimilar boat, because Warren Buffett does not have enormous losses to carry forward, and therefore actually pays significant personal income tax ($1.8 million on personal income of $11.5 million in 2015). https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161010005859/en/Tax-Facts-Donald-Trump https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161010005859/en/Tax...
- christophilus 6y ago
  I meant that he pays well below what you or I pay. He's in a lower tax bracket than his secretary. $1.8M on $11.5M is what? Something in the ballpark of 15%? He should be in the highest tax bracket. That's my point. The tax laws favor the wealthy, and they shouldn't.
  - pwinnski 6y ago
    That's a completely unrelated and distracting issue. Trump paid $750 total, which is not 15% of anything. He could have easily paid $0, as he did before becoming POTUS. His team picked a tiny number above zero starting in 2016 when he was elected. This is completely and totally unrelated to the capital gains tax rate.
    - christophilus 6y ago
      It's not unrelated. My point is that the wealthy have a whole lot of loopholes when it comes to taxes, and we ought to address that. Almost certainly, Trump used these loopholes to minimize his taxes. I assume in his case, he had a lot of losses that he was able to use to bring his over all income down well below what you or I report in a given year. Unless Trump did something illegal (entirely possible), my point is related and not distracting.

wwright 6y ago

The problem here is that American culture has made you entitled. You think that, just because you can get into grad school and bump shoulders with the elite, you should be able to deduct $70,000 of haircuts, too. (This is a joke, to be clear.)

Taniwha 6y ago

I live outside the US, but I'm forced to pay US tax on some minimal income, I pay more that than Trump does

hiram112 6y ago

All his properties are in corporations or limited liabilities, like almost every other business in the country. Those corporations do pay taxes. His securities, investments, etc. are in a trust, required by law, I believe, which would also pay taxes separately. He donates to charity 100% of his US government salary. I'm wondering how he even owed $750 on federal taxes.

pwinnski 6y ago
This is wrong on many, many, many points. Please, read the article.

mmcconnell1618 6y ago

Where is the Alternative Minimum Tax? You know, that tax law that pops up frequently for high earners in the tech field when they have more deductions than seems fair? Why isn't Trump subject to the same minimum taxation that I would be?

jeffbee 6y ago
The AMT is for ... uh ... "wagecucks" is the 4chan terminology. If you are actually rich you never have income as such.
- Gibbon1 6y ago
  I think of Mitt Romney who last reportedly has $87 million in his IRA. You can't contribute more than $30k/yr to an IRA. How do you get an IRA with close to 8 figures in it? Same trick of filling your bosses locked office with balloons. Slip the balloons (worthless stocks) under the door and then blow them up from the outside.
  - jjk166 6y ago
    > Tax lawyers and accountants suggest an answer: Romney may have made use of an Internal Revenue Service loophole that allows investors to undervalue interests in investment partnerships when first putting them into an IRA. These assets can produce returns far in excess of those that could be generated from other investments made at the capped level. > An investor could even set an initial value for a partnership interest at zero dollars, because under tax regulations an interest in a partnership represents future income, not current value, said Chris Sanchirico, co-director of the Center for Tax Law and Policy at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. > Whether Romney used this technique, which is legal, when he put partnership interests into his IRA is a question that won’t likely be answered when he discloses his 2010 tax returns on Tuesday. [0] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-campaign-romney-ira/how-did-romneys-ira-grow-so-big-idUSTRE80N04E20120124 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-campaign-romney-ira/h...
throwawaysea 6y ago

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]