Trump Talk™

And that, my friends, is what we call irony.

Maybe if you weren't posting from an inflatable you'd catch those errors!

I had it phrased differently and deleted it, you caught it in between two edits, you sneaky devil.

A lot of them are paying taxes* due to forged documents and SSN's, believe it or not, but that's just a symptom of the problem, not the problem itself.

Whether illegal migrant workers pay taxes* is immaterial because we don't give them the ability to.

*State and Local Taxes, mostly from sales taxes.

Most illegal immigrants pay zero or "negative" federal and state income taxes from those forged documents and SSNs. Or are you going to say that paying under the table doesn't exist?

*Federal and State Income Taxes.

And if they had legal documents (aka a green card), they are required to file a 1040NR and it's state equivalent and pay those taxes.

I'm sure you are going to pull out the study made in April 2015 that illegal immigrants pay $11.8 billion in taxes, and I'm sure you are going to say that's your evidence. I'm just going to nip this in the bud right here and show you the actual study, not some media-edited version, and tell you that these are estimated state and local sales taxes being paid. Not federal or state income taxes....

Under the table pay is common, of course, but many illegal immigrants do work with forged documents, for which FIT/FICA/SSI etc are taken from their paychecks

They would gladly pay taxes if we gave them the option to. But, we won't, because their slave wages subsidize the cost of the services they perform.

Much of the Southwest is utterly dependent on near free labor, which is why they are so against immigration reform.

In any case, the whole idea of migrant workers not paying taxes is non-sequitur, and was used as a pathetic attempt to discredit the outrage at billionaires stashing money overseas to avoid taxes.

Name one, and name the law that allows a US citizen from not paying US Income Tax on Worldwide Income.

Name one, and name the law that allows a US citizen from not paying US Income Tax on Worldwide Income. Come on, I dare you.

Media vs Trump word of the day:

Specifics! You can't vote for him cause he doesn't have specifics!

What a shitty argument.

I can count on one hand the number of politicians that can give a direct, specific answer to anything.

It'a actually a great argument for not voting

You'd have to stop here:


Because I'm being serious. I don't remember the last politician that gave an answer that was truly satisfactory to me.

Just (mostly) party-line towing and opportunities for foot-in-mouth flare ups.

For all his faults, Paul Ryan outlines his plans very well. Barney Frank always gave straight-forward answers and was clear about his plans. I can't think of many presidential candidates that have been that way. Gore was almost too analytical and honest. Perot was pretty frank, if not a little full of himself.

I agree, you're limited to very few candidates if you hold them to a reasonable standard, but if we started voting for people who actually expressed their ideas in an intelligent way and stopped letting them slide with soundbites and partisan ***, you'd start seeing a better class of leader.

If they're honest and specific they might say something I don't agree with, so I'll vote for whichever candidate sounds more like the person I'd like to have a beer with.

Legal ways: Leveraging stock options lets you get money out of them at a fixed rate and pay it off at a "loss". You didn't gain anything on those stocks, so even when you sell them at their fixed value, you pay far less than you actually made, but also have had the cash on hand the whole time to use for other investments. AKA very little or no capital gains tax.

Delaying options is an additional part, by taking large portions of your compensation as options they avoid paying income tax, then purchase them later at the fixed price or leverage against them like above.

Trusts allow you to donate and borrow against the trust without actually having to pay it back. GRAT's let people stock away a big pile of money, then pull it out sans the interest in accrued and pass the interest on tax free.

Surrendering assets... Basically, you leverage an asset, such as stocks, then default on the loan and surrender the stocks. You get the cash and don't have to pay capital gains.

Shell companies/inversions have been explained a thousand times.

Then there's the straight up illegal ones, where people transfer ownership of assets to an entity in a tax haven. That income is then used to buy things like bouillon or other commodities. That's straight up tax evasion.

There's probably a few thousand professional and unbiased articles online about the various other strategies rich people use to avoid and evade taxes and there's no way you don't have an idea how they do it, you just can't own up to it because it goes against your narrative.

Really? Are you just now tossing words together and trying to sound smart?

It isnt tax evasion if you are going by the rules and loop holes the irs sets out every year.

Come on, King. I got my accounting degree from a guy who lives in the alley behind the local IHOP and even I know this stuff.

Everyone shut up, sit down, we've got BOARD GAMES!

That's kind of a mean thing to say. What Jassik was really trying to get across was that you can do a lot of tax evading if you have proper synergy in your portfolio. When you're borrowing against trusts, you have the ability to bypass capital gains taxes by leveraging stock options against net income. It gets even more complicated when you factor in the p/e ratio, because then you can use your trial balance to write off sunk costs from inventory obsolescence. If your deferred income hits the breakeven point, then your accrued expenses are not subject to the same taxes as a non-incorporated business.

Come on, King. I got my accounting degree from a guy who lives in the alley behind the local IHOP and even I know this stuff.

It isnt tax evasion if you are going by the rules and loop holes the irs sets out every year. If you read all the tax laws most people would be guilty of some tax crime or another, unless you had a good cpa to steer you away from such mistakes.

Avoidance means working the system to minimize your tax burden.

Generally, what shifts it from avoidance to evasion is when you don't report or misreport.

Six in 10 Republican insiders in the early states say Donald Trump can’t win Iowa or New Hampshire.

That’s the assessment of this week’s POLITICO Caucus, our weekly bipartisan survey of the top operatives, strategists and activists in Iowa and New Hampshire. Their conclusion comes on the heels of the latest national poll, from CNN/ORC, that reports the controversial real estate mogul is leading the GOP presidential field even after crudely attacking Fox News host Megyn Kelly last week following the first GOP debate, which she co-moderated.

“Many Trump enthusiasts are showing up for free food and verbal fireworks at his events, but won’t sit through a precinct caucus,” an Iowa Republican said, when asked whether Trump would win if the early-state contests were held today.

“Telling a pollster you support Trump is whiskey courage. Most of them will sober up enough to realize they aren’t going to walk into a ballot booth and vote for a misogynist jerk,” agreed a New Hampshire Republican, who like all participants was granted anonymity in order to speak freely.

The percentages were nearly the same in both states: 58 percent of Iowa Republicans said Trump would not win, compared to 61 percent in New Hampshire.

Still, Iowans report signs of Trump organization on the ground, and many insiders acknowledge, to their chagrin, that he remains a force in both states for now. Several, however, were skeptical that the voters who enjoy Trump’s broadsides against the media, the GOP establishment and Washington in general will ultimately trust him to be commander-in-chief.

“Trump is generating a lot controversy, but he is not taken seriously as a potential president,” a New Hampshire Republican said. “I have heard from many people who say ‘I love him! Love what he’s saying!’ But when I ask if they would really vote for him, they say, ‘hell no.’”

Added a Granite State Democrat, who like all participants responded through an online survey: “NH Republicans are pretty sophisticated and strategic and will pick someone they think can beat Hillary. And to beat Hillary, a candidate is going to have to at least draw with Republican women. And he has destroyed his chances with women.”

Other insiders said that many of the voters expressing interest in Trump aren’t typically deeply involved in the political process. And Iowans, whose caucus system is more complicated than simply casting a ballot, said they doubted Trump’s support was deep enough to result in heavy turnout.

It’s unlikely he would win today,” an Iowa Republican said. “His organization will have to be deeper than it is right now, but it’s certainly possible. The concern they should have is that a lot of his support is drawing from people who have never participated in a caucus. That means his ballot may not transfer to action. Attending a caucus is a much higher bar than stopping by a polling place. But this is a totally unpredictable environment.”

Another Iowa Republican added, “Trump supporters have to show up to the caucus. Finding that many Trump [supporters] that I talk to have never attended a caucus before and when they find out it is not just showing up and casting a ballot, they may find that is not worth the effort. His is a campaign built entirely on celebrity and short attention spans.”

Even so, 40 percent of Republican insiders — and three-quarters of Democratic insiders — said Trump would win their states today.

“One third of the Republican primary vote has been propagandized into believing Obama was born in Kenya and wanted to invade Texas, that illegal immigrants are raping and pillaging their way through the countryside,” a New Hampshire Democrat said. “In a divided field, if he keeps the overwhelming majority of those voters, he can win.”

From the other side of the aisle, a Granite State Republican said, “Sadly, the Establishment Republican party refuses to embrace the understanding that people are truly fed up with politicians, and are so willing to send that message, that they will vote for a psychopath before they desire to vote for the establishment.”

Two Republicans — one from Iowa, one from New Hampshire — weren’t sure, but said they were “praying” he wouldn’t be competitive.

“Praying no,” the Iowa Republican said. “Trump has not offered any credible plans for what he is talking about. Saying he will accomplish things with his ‘intellect’ and because he ‘is smarter’ is no different than Obama saying he has a pen and a phone. If Trump wants to stay ahead, he would be smart to put some ‘meat on the bone.’”

Lamented the Granite State Republican: “I hope and pray he cannot, but worry that we may have to take him seriously if this continues.”

Bursting Biden's bubble

Caucus insiders also weighed in on the potential presidential candidacy of Vice President Joe Biden, who is said to be considering a run. But 88 percent of Democrats said he could not win their states if the contests were held today.

“He is starting way too late, and doesn’t have time to build ground organization,” a New Hampshire Democrat said. “Also, while people like him, he’s never taken off here. Would put the kibosh to O’Malley, however, only room for one Irish American guy from mid-Atlantic states. “

“Although he is much loved by NH Democrats, many feel he wouldn’t win,” added another.

Several insiders pointed out that Biden couldn’t run much to the left of Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, and does not have a clear path.

“He won’t get the Feel the Bern [Bernie Sanders] vote and HRC is too well organized here,” a New Hampshire Republican said. “However, any further bad news stories re [Clinton’s] emails, etc could get the middle really scrambling for an alternative.”

“Biden pulls from Clinton voters,” added another GOP Granite Stater. “He doesn’t occupy the lane that Bernie’s driving in right now, nor will he resonate with the far-left progressives that make up a big part of the NH Dem voting bloc.”

King your definition of loopholes and mine are SO different.

In mine loopholes may be carefully constructed and passed into law.

Loophole:

noun
1. a small or narrow opening, as in a wall, for looking through, for admitting light and air, or, particularly in a fortification, for the discharge of missiles against an enemy outside.
2. an opening or aperture.
3. a means of escape or evasion; a means or opportunity of evading a rule, law, etc.