4 Things You Might Have Missed While You Were Paying Attention To The Trump Tax Return Headlines
September 27 proved to be more newsworthy than your typical Sunday. President Trump held a press conference at The White House. He brought to light a report of a $3.5 million wire transfer Hunter Biden received from the wife of a Russian billionaire. He wants “Sleepy” Joe to submit to a drug test before the Tuesday night debate. Trump continued to call out the “lame” stream media’s utter hypocrisy. Trump also took aim at the IRS, claiming that they “do not treat me well”. Hours later, the New York Times releases a report of Trump’s coveted tax returns. Here are some of the headlines:
Twitter had a good time, too. Numerous anti-Trump hashtags trended at once including #TrumpIsBroke, #TrumpMeltdown, #LockHimUp and, my personal favorite, #TrumpTaxCheat (because Americans are increasingly cheating on their own taxes and owe roughly $131 billion to the government, but we won’t go there right now).
While some of you were caught up in Trump Tax Mania, here are some news items you might have missed.
1) Donald Trump exploited some tax policies put in place by President Obama
Per The New York Times:
Until 2009, those coupons could be used to wipe away taxes going back only two years. But that November, the window was more than doubled by a little-noticed provision in a bill Mr. Obama signed as part of the Great Recession recovery effort. Now business owners could request full refunds of taxes paid in the prior four years, and 50 percent of those from the year before that.
Mr. Trump had paid no income taxes in 2008. But the change meant that when he filed his taxes for 2009, he could seek a refund of not just the $13.3 million he had paid in 2007, but also the combined $56.9 million paid in 2005 and 2006, when “The Apprentice” created what was likely the biggest income tax bite of his life.
The records reviewed by The Times indicate that Mr. Trump filed for the first of several tranches of his refund several weeks later, in January 2010. That set off what tax professionals refer to as a “quickie refund,” a check processed in 90 days on a tentative basis, pending an audit by the I.R.S.
His total federal income tax refund would eventually grow to $70.1 million, plus $2,733,184 in interest. He also received $21.2 million in state and local refunds, which often piggyback on federal filings.
In plain English, Trump attempted to do what many other wealthy people and businesses do in this country: find loopholes in the tax system. Immoral? Possibly. Illegal? Not exactly.
2) The 1619 Project is quietly backtracking some of its claims
President Trump received backlash for his push of patriotic education and his disdain for anti-American propaganda like The 1619 Project. “Teaching this horrible doctrine to our children is a form of child abuse, the truest sense”, the President said. Maybe he was correct. The original text of the project reads,
“The 1619 Project is a major initiative from The New York Times observing the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. It aims to reframe the country’s history, understanding 1619 as our true founding and placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.”
Not only has the NYT and author Nikole Hannah-Jones backpedaled from the notion that America was founded in 1619 (it was founded in 1776), but the words “true founding” have been scrubbed from the literature completely. Why would you go back and revise something that was awarded a Pulitzer Prize? Because it was chockfull of false information, that’s why. Historians, some being Pulitzer Prize winners themselves, have refuted The 1619 Project for its claims that the Revolutionary War was fought to defend slavery, one of many lies throughout the project.
Keep in mind, Black Lives Matter has also done some backtracking. They have wiped clean the part about “destroying the nuclear family” from their mission statement.
No one has said a word. Silence is violence, right? Or was it silence is compliance?
3) Joe Biden lies again
Joe Biden does not say much, but when he does it might be a lie. According to The Washington Times, Delaware State University, one of 99 historically black colleges and universities, issued a statement about Biden’s claims to have attended the school. The current Democrat presidential nominee said in 2019, “I got started out of an HBCU, Delaware State — now, I don't want to hear anything negative about Delaware State. They're my folks." (Folks? SMH.) Carlos Holmes, Director of News Services at the university said in a statement, “Vice President Biden did not attend DSU”. Biden did attain an honorary doctoral degree from the school.
4) Jimmy Butler is in the NBA Finals
This year’s NBA Finals matchup puts a smile on my face for two main reasons: LeBron will win his 4th ring and Jimmy Butler finally makes it to the Finals. He came from very humble beginnings in the Houston, TX area, with both parents abandoning him by the age of 13. Butler developed a tenacious grit that would propel him into NBA superstardom. Butler has made his rounds throughout the league. Chicago to Minnesota to Philadelphia and now Miami. At the absolute peak of his powers, he now has the stage to show the world what he is made of. He will not win a ring, but still a great story nonetheless.
