On Wednesday, while speaking about his newly introduced tax plan, President Donald J. Trump
told Americans "I think there’s very little benefit for people of wealth.”
Really? So, how many of you actually buy that one? I think this one deserves a bit more scrutiny.
On May 17, 2016, then presidential candidate Donald J. Trump filed a new personal financial disclosure form that detailed a net worth of more than $10 billion (Reuters)
told Americans "I think there’s very little benefit for people of wealth.”
Really? So, how many of you actually buy that one? I think this one deserves a bit more scrutiny.
On May 17, 2016, then presidential candidate Donald J. Trump filed a new personal financial disclosure form that detailed a net worth of more than $10 billion (Reuters)
$10 billion. Yes, the decimal is in the right place, $10 billion. Every modern presidential candidate with the exception of Pat Paulson, has released copies of their personal income tax returns, but DJT refused to do so in the past presidential campaign, telling Americans that it wasn't necessary, because the financial disclosure forms actually contained MORE information than his tax returns. Despite ongoing pressure from Democrats, Republicans in congress ignored the matter and didn't make income tax return disclosure a requirement of the campaign, possibly because the little munchkins saw DJT as the wonderful but mysterious wizard and willfully chose to follow him down the yellow brick road, desperately hoping the wizard would fulfill each one of their individual wishes
In the interest of full disclosure, it should be pointed out that several financial organizations such as Bloomberg News estimated DJT's net worth to be closer to $3 billion at the time, but DJT claimed this was fake news at its finest, spread by the liberal elite who were jealous of his greatness. As always, his audience was his base, and the $10 billion figure, accurate or not, was there to impress all the little people.
And so if he was worth $10 billion back in May 2016, with markets up over 20% since then, he's probably worth closer to $12 billion today. How could such a great man be worth anything less?
I hope to grow up and be just like him some day.
Fast forward to this week, when DJT announced his new tax plan.
He had to announce something, for the effort to "Repeal and Replace" the Affordable Care Act was replaced with "Rewind and Regurgitate... Again", and its most recent form, it failed... again (a topic for another day, I promise).
I hope to grow up and be just like him some day.
Fast forward to this week, when DJT announced his new tax plan.
He had to announce something, for the effort to "Repeal and Replace" the Affordable Care Act was replaced with "Rewind and Regurgitate... Again", and its most recent form, it failed... again (a topic for another day, I promise).
So the new tax plan was pulled out of moth balls, and as we suspected,
(i) it does very little for the little guy,
(ii) significantly reduces the income tax burden for the top 1% of income tax earners as it lowers the top income tax rate from 39.6% to 35%, and
(iii) because it's a net tax cut, the country's annual deficits and debt levels will balloon way beyond there already excessive levels.
Many of my old conservative, and now deceased, good republican friends are rolling over in their graves on the last point. DJT will tell you, worry not, we are going to grow our way out of these deficits, which might be believable if the message didn't come from someone with lower credibility than Richard "I am not a crook" Nixon.
(i) it does very little for the little guy,
(ii) significantly reduces the income tax burden for the top 1% of income tax earners as it lowers the top income tax rate from 39.6% to 35%, and
(iii) because it's a net tax cut, the country's annual deficits and debt levels will balloon way beyond there already excessive levels.
Many of my old conservative, and now deceased, good republican friends are rolling over in their graves on the last point. DJT will tell you, worry not, we are going to grow our way out of these deficits, which might be believable if the message didn't come from someone with lower credibility than Richard "I am not a crook" Nixon.
What seems to be getting much less press is the fact that the DJT tax plan also eliminates the estate tax, a.k.a. the death tax.
That's not surprising really, and the reason is the vast majority of Americans aren't impacted by it. According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, 99.8% of estates owe no federal estate tax at all, leaving only the estates of 0.2% of the wealthiest Americans to pay up. According to the Tax Policy Center, just 4,700 estates were taxable in 2013.
How does the estate tax work? If you have a net worth of $11 million or more, you probably already know, because a married couple can avoid paying estate taxes on this amount, but, and this is the kicker, must pay a 40% federal tax on any excess.
So if you are in the stratoshere of the ultra-wealthy, this change in the tax law is the holy grail. And if it passes, just think of all that excess cash that can be freed up to go to in to the new, "Donald Trump is God" Super PAC, which should be up and running around the time the 2020 Presidential election kicks off.
Now while very wealthy individuals can take some steps to lower the impact the estate tax, in the case of the Trump family, based on DJT's personal assessment of his net worth, they could be looking at estate tax bill of roughly $4.8 billion (40% of $12 billion) when the big guy goes to that great big real estate tower in the sky. Not exactly chump change.
But that all goes away, if he is successful in his effort to repeal the tax, a fact that DJT seemed to ignore when he told Americans on Wednesday “I don’t benefit. I don’t benefit. In fact, very, very strongly, as you see, I think there’s very little benefit for people of wealth.”
Let's play that one back, again....in slow motion, so we can all thoroughly grasp his point... THERE'S VERY LITTLE BENEFIT... FOR PEOPLE OF WEALTH
Now I find this remarkable on several levels.
- First, that DJT can actually make the statement without twitching uncontrollably and exploding like the Hindenburg.
- Second, that he thinks his base won't be the least bit bothered by his bold face lie.
- And third, that his base won't be the least bit bothered by his bold face lie.
It's just mind bongling, his base seems to epitomize the term "selective recall", as they have the uncanny ability to selectively ignore the collective falsehoods espoused by their man, if they happen to contradict their own personal image of their own personal wizard.
They seem willing to gloss over this massive tax benefit he will deliver to his family and to tolerate absolutely anything he says or does, on any given day, on any given topic, perhaps because they still believe him when he says,
that Mexico will pay for the wall, and it will be beautiful.
How does the estate tax work? If you have a net worth of $11 million or more, you probably already know, because a married couple can avoid paying estate taxes on this amount, but, and this is the kicker, must pay a 40% federal tax on any excess.
So if you are in the stratoshere of the ultra-wealthy, this change in the tax law is the holy grail. And if it passes, just think of all that excess cash that can be freed up to go to in to the new, "Donald Trump is God" Super PAC, which should be up and running around the time the 2020 Presidential election kicks off.
Now while very wealthy individuals can take some steps to lower the impact the estate tax, in the case of the Trump family, based on DJT's personal assessment of his net worth, they could be looking at estate tax bill of roughly $4.8 billion (40% of $12 billion) when the big guy goes to that great big real estate tower in the sky. Not exactly chump change.
But that all goes away, if he is successful in his effort to repeal the tax, a fact that DJT seemed to ignore when he told Americans on Wednesday “I don’t benefit. I don’t benefit. In fact, very, very strongly, as you see, I think there’s very little benefit for people of wealth.”
Let's play that one back, again....in slow motion, so we can all thoroughly grasp his point... THERE'S VERY LITTLE BENEFIT... FOR PEOPLE OF WEALTH
Now I find this remarkable on several levels.
- First, that DJT can actually make the statement without twitching uncontrollably and exploding like the Hindenburg.
- Second, that he thinks his base won't be the least bit bothered by his bold face lie.
- And third, that his base won't be the least bit bothered by his bold face lie.
It's just mind bongling, his base seems to epitomize the term "selective recall", as they have the uncanny ability to selectively ignore the collective falsehoods espoused by their man, if they happen to contradict their own personal image of their own personal wizard.
They seem willing to gloss over this massive tax benefit he will deliver to his family and to tolerate absolutely anything he says or does, on any given day, on any given topic, perhaps because they still believe him when he says,
that Mexico will pay for the wall, and it will be beautiful.
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