Donald Trump acknowledged during Sunday's second presidential debate that he had avoided paying federal income taxes for years thanks to a claim in 1995 of nearly $1 billion in business losses. Click image to watch Newsy video report on Warren Buffett's response to Donald Trump's tax charges. The Republican presidential nominee then pivoted from his 1040s, which we still haven't seen, to wealthy supporters of his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. Trump specifically accused his fellow billionaires of also using tax laws to their advantage. Duh! That's not unusual. Nor is it illegal. It's just a bit infuriating in many cases.... Read more →
Elections
Donald Trump kicked off his ultimately successful bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination with an attack on Mexicans who enter the United States without proper authorization. A small fence separates densely-populated Tijuana, Mexico (right), from the San Diego, California, sector of the U.S. Border Patrol. The building in the foreground on the San Diego side is a sewage treatment plant built to clean the Tijuana River. (Photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Gordon Hyde via Wikipedia) Although he's vacillated at times as the campaign has progressed, many Trump supporters are still firmly behind his initial call for a... Read more →
Did you watch the vice presidential debate? Stephen Colbert took advantage of a live broadcast of his Late Show on Tuesday night to skewer the vice presidential candidates and some of their, uh, highlights during their lone debate. Click image to watch the YouTube video. Did it deliver? Or were you disconcerted by the Freaky Friday nature (your choice, the original Jodie Foster 1976 flick, or the 2003 remake with Lindsay Lohan) of the event, where Democratic VP candidate Sen. Tim Kaine was very Trumpian, on the offensive and interrupting a lot, while Republican VP candidate Gov. Mike Pence was... Read more →
Will taxes, specifically, Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump's still officially secret federal filings dominate tonight's vice presidential debate? It's showdown time tonight for Sen. Tim Kaine, above right, the Democrats' vice president choice, and Gov. Mike Pence, below right, who is the Republican veep candidate. Maybe. Debate directions for both VP candidates: You can be sure that Sen. Tim Kaine, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's running mate, will try to make it an issue. Kaine and the former secretary of state have released years of their federal and state filings. UPDATE, 9:37 p.m. ET: As expected, Kaine Hits Back... Read more →
No, we still haven't seen Donald Trump's federal tax returns. Donald Trump shared this photo on his Twitter account last October of him signing what he said was his 2015 federal tax return. However, it was old state returns that have given us a glimpse into the Republican presidential candidate's tax bills. The information about his $916 million business loss in 1995 comes from state tax returns filed with New York, New Jersey and Connecticut for that year and which were obtained by the New York Times. While that yuge loss could have, as the Times notes, served as a... Read more →
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton finally went toe-to-toe last night in the first debate of the 2016 presidential election campaign and taxes were discussed. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton discuss taxes and emails on the first debate of the 2016 presidential election campaign. Click the image to view The Guardian's video clip of the candidates discussing Trump's still hidden tax returns. UPDATE/MORE COVERAGE: You can see more about Trump's taxes and the debate, complete with video of the Hillary Shimmy, in my tumblr blog Tumbling Taxes item on this topic. Unfortunately, there really wasn't much tax talk about policy direction... Read more →
Whether Donald J. Trump's admiration of Russian President Vladimir Putin is simply a one-sided man crush on Trump's part or a full-fledged bromance between the two is debatable. Click screenshot to watch the full Jimmy Fallon piece on YouTube. But one thing is certain. It's great fodder for late-night television comedy skits. On last night's The Tonight Show, host Jimmy Fallon looked at the pros and cons of the relationship between the Republican presidential nominee and the divisive Russian autocrat. Of course, The Donald's taxes were part of the presentation. As Trump might phrase it, some people say that one... Read more →
$10,162. That's how much of a federal tax refund that Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence and his wife Karen received on their 2015 tax return. Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, GOP vice presidential candidate, campaigning among Ohio State tailgaters during a stop earlier this month in the key Nov. 8 election state. (Photo via @mikepence Twitter account) Since the Pences' refund is almost four times the amount of the average tax refund of $2,732 (per Internal Revenue Service filing data through May 13), the $10,162 that the Pences are getting back from Uncle Sam also earns this week's By the... Read more →
Donald Trump is still refusing to release any of his tax returns, but word is that we could get a look today at some of his running mate's tax filings. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his veep choice Mike Pence do many things together as they campaign for the White House, but they diverge when it comes to releasing their personal tax returns. Click image for a video report of their recent visit to Ohio. "Donald Trump and I are both going to release our tax returns,” said GOP vice presidential nominee Indiana Gov. Mike Pence during an interview... Read more →
Not to pile on Donald Trump, even though he makes himself such an easy target so often, but there's another person saying he should show us his tax returns. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, during his Aug. 24 appearance on CNN's The Lead, joined the chorus of Republicans calling on GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump to be more transparent about his wealth and health. And it's another member of his own political party (again) . Oversight chief sets sights on Trump: Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) is used to going after high-profile folks. The chairman of the House Oversight Committee has been seeking... Read more →
Hillary Clinton's 2015 tax bill was $3.6 million. We know this because today she released last year's tax return. Donald Trump's tax bill last year was, who knows? What, me worry about letting voters see my tax returns? Nah. Well, some folks know. The Donald and his phalanx of tax attorneys and accounts know. So does the Internal Revenue Service since, as the Republican presidential candidate tells us every time the tax return question comes up, the agency is auditing him. But we, the voters who in November will choose the next White House occupant, haven't had a chance to... Read more →
Donald J. Trump has rewritten a lot of rules so far this presidential election season. Today, however, he learned one of the old ones when it comes to taxes. Sometimes you have to compromise. Donald J. Trump, the 2016 Republican presidential nominee, presents his economic policies and revised tax plan to the Detroit Economic Club on Monday, Aug. 8, 2016. Click image to watch the C-SPAN video of the full speech. Zero tax rate zeroed out: In a speech today at a packed Detroit Economic Club, the Republican presidential nominee presented a glimpse of his economic plan, including some changes... Read more →
If you need further evidence of how the 2016 presidential election has become a political Bizarro World, check out the list of billionaires who have disavowed one of their ostensible peers, self-proclaimed -- we're still waiting for the tax return proof -- billionaire Donald J. Trump, and opted instead to support Hillary Clinton. Bizarro World DC Comic panel courtesy DC-Wikia Meg Whitman, former Hewlett Packard executive and one-time California gubernatorial GOP candidate, says she's with her, meaning Clinton. Beaucoup billionaires: She joins fellow billionaires Michael Bloomberg (former New York City mayor and news/investment media mogul), Mark Cuban (owner of the... Read more →
Warren Buffett is the third richest man in the world. He's also like a lot of us who are a whole lot poorer. Buffett wants to know what's on Donald J. Trump's tax returns. Warren Buffett challenges Donald Trump to a tax return face-off during a rally for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in Omaha, Nebraska, on Aug. 1, Click image to watch the full CNN Money video. He's the third billionaire within a week to call on Trump to release his returns. Former New York City mayor and media mogul Michael Bloomberg and Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA's... Read more →
Those of us outside the Old Dominion are getting to know Tim Kaine, the junior senator from Virginia who on July 22 was selected by Hillary Clinton as her vice presidential running mate. Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine on their first 2016 campaign stop in Florida. (Photo courtesy Hillary Clinton campaign Facebook page) Two decades+ in elective office: Before his election in 2013 to the U.S. Senate, Kaine served in a variety of other public positions. His first elective office was in 1994 as a Richmond, Virginia, city council member. He was elected mayor of Richmond in 1998, a post... Read more →
The political version of The Apprentice is in high-gear today as Donald Trump prepares to name his vice presidential pick. Donald J. Trump will soon have help on the campaign trail from his vice presidential pick, whom he's scheduled to name on Friday, July 15. UPDATE, Friday, July 15: It's official. Trump taps Indiana Gov. Mike Pence for GOP veep spot. UPDATE, Thursday, July 14: Trump has postponed announcement of his running mate in light of the attack in Nice, France, on Bastille Day. However, if Indiana Gov. Michael Pence is the pick, we should get some indication by noon... Read more →
It's been a crazy weekend, with much of Sunday spent with my mom, who's a major golf fan, and not a bad player herself when she was younger. She still has her hole-in-one trophy. Since I spent most of the day at my mother's, I didn't get around to blogging today. But because part of our conversation between lunch and pedicures and shopping (both for clothes and food) was about Brexit and the U.S. presidential election and, of course, how they converged at Donald Trump's renovated Turnberry, Scotland, golf course and resort, the following tax-related golf quip seemed an appropriate... Read more →
We're still waiting for Donald J. Trump's federal tax returns, but we have received some clarification on his New York condo's property tax bill. This isn't The Donald's Big Apple home, but another apartment for sale with similar views in New York City's Trump Tower. Trump's attorney asked the New York City tax collector to remove a tax break the presumptive Republican presidential nominee had received that typically is awarded only to taxpayers making less than $500,000. The city complied, thereby increasing Trump's tax bill on his Trump Tower condo by $1,046.41, according to The Wall Street Journal. The removed... Read more →
When Crain's New York Business reported in March that self-proclaimed brilliant businessman Donald J. Trump got a tax break available only to folks making $500,000 or less, the ostensible billionaire's people said it was a mistake. If that's true, it's an error that's being repeated. Crain's June 6 online article says that Trump once again received a middle-class tax break on the property tax bill for his luxurious apartment in Trump Tower (pictured at left) on Fifth Avenue. The initial report that Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, was poor enough to get a special Big Apple property tax break... Read more →
If you had any doubt that Donald J. Trump plays by his own rules, this will convince you that he's totally doing things his, and his only, way. While Trump is insistent that he won't release his own personal tax returns -- because the audits, all the never-ending audits! -- he expects potential VP candidates to reveal their filing info. Katy Tur, the reporter covering The Donald for NBC News, confirmed Wednesday, May 18, that Trump will ask all potential vice presidential picks to release, at least to the campaign, their tax returns. It's part of the presumptive GOP candidate's... Read more →