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News folks: I expect tax nerds on all your shows. This stuff is complicated and can be spun both ways, and, while this generally looks really damning for Trump based on the NYT article, we only have the NYT interpretation to go on. 1/
A responsible news outlet will have a tax pro on their show who will, first and foremost, acknowledge that we are at the mercy of the Times in understanding what this means unless the Times shares the underlying documents with that tax pro. 2/
This tax pro (and really, it does need to be a tax pro) would inform your audience of the various ways these numbers can be arrived at, including the legitimate ways, and then discuss how those legitimate ways are abused 3/
For example, partners are allowed to claim losses from the underlying partnerships if those partnerships have losses. But there are LOTS of exceptions to this rule, resulting in what are called suspended losses—losses the partner can’t use for that tax year 4/
Trump may be abusing some of those exceptions. The $70k hair styling is another thing. Entertainers may be able to deduct some of those expenses, but if Trump is claiming his TV appearances other than on the Apprentice allow him to take that deduction, well...that’s something 5/
He probably shouldn’t be taking those types of deductions while he’s president, and a w-2 employee. 6/
Anyway, all this to say my heart goes out to you in your efforts to explain extremely complicated and nuanced information to the general public. That’s a really tall order, so please put tax experts on, not talking heads. 7/
Also, this is an EXCELLENT opportunity to highlight how our tax code is skewed in favor of the very wealthy. Trump’s returns aren’t necessarily a good example of that because he probably abused and broke most of those rules. 8/
But they’re a good jumping off point to show that even if he had followed the rules, he likely would have been able to strip a good deal of tax revenue from our system. This topic is too complex for a Twitter thread, & gets into the ways income, property, and sales taxes play 9/
together to shift the tax burden away from capital and to labor, which drives inequality. So I guess what I’m asking is if that interests you, don’t try to cram it in with a discussion of Trump’s returns. It deserves its own treatment. 10/10
