I think I can put the NY case against Trump, his family members, and the Trump organization in perspective. By the way, their attorney has recently claimed the Trumps are part of a “protected class” of people with more privileges and rights than the rest of us. This is where we are in the United States right now – we have “protected classes” according to the Trumps.
I live in the Town of Topsham, Vermont and I own a home in the Town of Topsham. I am not part of any “protected class,” but if I were, imagine I go over to the Topsham Town Clerk’s office and tell the Town of Topsham this is what I want my real estate to be valued at for property tax purposes. Of course, I want a much lower valuation for property tax purposes.
Ok, I get the lower valuation from the Town of Topsham so it reduces my property taxes to a much lower level. Is this fair to my neighbors and the other tax payers of Topsham? Of course not, but too bad for them. What I am doing is not about fairness, it is about me.
Then, I go to my bank with a much higher valuation of my property, a valuation I cooked up myself so I can borrow more money on my property than I would be able to with a lower valuation. Ok, boy, I am really winning here!
Now, it is time to file my federal income taxes and I can get a bigger depreciation deduction for my business property if I use the higher valuation I gave my bank, but not the lower valuation I gave the Town. Wow, I am really racking up the wins in all of this, lower property taxes compared to the others in my community, higher valuations at my bank to increase my borrowing power, and now I have a higher valuation to give me a bigger depreciation deduction and reduce my taxes down to almost nothing.
Ok, let’s put some truth to all of this. Recent Trump tax returns based on the contradicting financial information provided to his accountants have showed him paying nothing to very little to the IRS – kind of amazing for the self-proclaimed very rich billionaire. Financial statements have been produced for at least the last ten years by his accounting firm have been based on the contradictory valuations he has been using for bank loan applications and then for assessments by the cities and towns where his property is located. His accounting firm declared the last ten years of Trump’s tax returns and financial statements to be bogus. They relied upon the information provided by Trump. (I think by now, we all have learned this is a fatal error). He has been paying less income taxes than I have in recent years with a teacher’s salary from Adult Basic Education (don’t think the same as public education salaries – not even close).
So, I look at Trump as someone getting away with financial fraud and also as someone cheating the rest of us and laughing about it all the way to the bank.
I don’t care if he is a Republican, Democrat, Liberal, Conservative, or God knows what. He is a conman and a cheat in my book. Really a parasite on society and we pay the bill. This last paragraph is the first piece of my opinion you are seeing in this post. The rest is all the truth. You can make up your own mind.
A Vermonter Writes - A Pathfinder 