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Okay, just one thought tonight on #TrumpTaxReturns: beware of too-facile conclusions because they& #39;re probably wrong.
Here, for instance: it& #39;s clearly possible @realDonaldTrump inflated assets and revenues on bank documents for loan purposes. But it& #39;s also possible he didn& #39;t. 1/ https://twitter.com/davidaxelrod/status/1310340000429481985">https://twitter.com/davidaxel...
Here, for instance: it& #39;s clearly possible @realDonaldTrump inflated assets and revenues on bank documents for loan purposes. But it& #39;s also possible he didn& #39;t. 1/ https://twitter.com/davidaxelrod/status/1310340000429481985">https://twitter.com/davidaxel...
For instance, the fact that he had tax losses doesn& #39;t tell us anything about his revenue. In fact, the @nytimes article points out that his businesses had revenue. In 2018, he disclosed $435m in revenue but claimed a tax loss of $47m. 2/
The thing is, that& #39;s not unusual. Revenue is the gross amount of money you bring in. But you reduce revenue by certain expenses. So even for financial accounting purposes, it& #39;s possible to have eyepopping amounts of revenue with net losses.
Remember @uber? 3/
Remember @uber? 3/
In the second quarter of this year, it apparently had $2.24b of revenue and a net loss of $1.78b. 4/ https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/06/uber-shares-drop-4-after-it-loses-more-money-than-expected-in-q2/">https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/0...
It& #39;s also important to keep in mind that financial accounting differs from tax accounting. Put simply, the financial information you give to a lender or investor will look different from what you send to the IRS because the rules and conventions differ.
Should they? 5/
Should they? 5/
That& #39;s a hard question to answer in a tweet-storm.
So I& #39;m going to avoid it for now.
Based on the Times& #39;s reporting, there certainly are troubling things about the way Trump has paid (or, more specifically, not paid) his taxes. 6/
So I& #39;m going to avoid it for now.
Based on the Times& #39;s reporting, there certainly are troubling things about the way Trump has paid (or, more specifically, not paid) his taxes. 6/
And a lot of smart people (also me) are going to be looking at this information (and, hopefully, if the @nytimes ever makes it public, the returns themselves) to try to make sense of what& #39;s going on. But anybody who tells you, tonight, with unearned certainty 7/
that one thing or another constitutes fraud or illegality or whatever is probably speaking beyond their expertise. Tax law is complicated, it& #39;s nuanced, and it& #39;s not really the province of hot takes.
So tune in soon for some not-terribly-hot takes on #TrumpTaxReturns. 8/8
So tune in soon for some not-terribly-hot takes on #TrumpTaxReturns. 8/8
