Trump and federal taxes, NYT

[LDAHL]

And in a few hundred thousand years she will have written off the same amount as him. She still paid over $3 million in taxes last year. But yes, if she hadn't been so 'devious' she would have paid perhaps an extra $1140.

So you feel the magnitude involved makes a difference ethically?

[bae]

I see the EU is demanding the Irish collect back taxes from Apple. They can't dictate member countries' tax policy, but the "Commissioner of Competition" believes Apple's preference for deploying capital where it is taxed more lightly is "unfair".

Póg mo thóin!

[LDAHL]

Póg mo thóin!

For all I know, that's how you get to be the Commissioner of Competition. Knowing what to kiss and when is an important talent for advancement in large, unaccountable bureaucracies.

[Alan]

I see the EU is demanding the Irish collect back taxes from Apple. They can't dictate member countries' tax policy, but the "Commissioner of Competition" believes Apple's preference for deploying capital where it is taxed more lightly is "unfair".

I think the EU wants to be the United States, without the burden of several hundred years of chipping away at member states liberties we've enjoyed, going the full monty on government over-reach in the early stages.

[Yossarian]

I saw an accountant on CNN who said that at the time of Trump's filing there was a real estate loophole that has since been closed where you could actually write off the loss even if it was funded by debt! So if the lender lost the money and took the hit, the debtor could (at that time) still take the write-off. So Trump may have carried over his leverage. Crazy.

You can still write off debt funded losses. That is not really controversial. But not paying back debt is supposed to create income (called, inventively, cancellation of debt income) that usually results in you losing the tax benefit of the loss. The latest thinking/speculation on what the tax returns show is Trump may have taken a Gitlitz position, which let him take the benefit of the loss without impairment from the CODI. That's legal, the courts said so, but philosophically wrong and was subsequently changed by legislation.

[LDAHL]

I think the EU wants to be the United States

That only seems fair, as so many people here seem to want to be the EU.

[jp1]

So you feel the magnitude involved makes a difference ethically?

Yes. Differences of magnitude warrant different responses in all sorts of situations. For example, I'd like to think that if the 9/11 attacks had only succeeded in killing one American that our response would not have been to start wars with two countries. Or that we wouldn't consider using the same punishment for someone that shoplifts a dollar candy bar as we would someone that manages to grab a multi thousand dollar piece of jewelry at an expensive jewelry store. Or on the positive side, I will have a different opinion about one's commitment to helping people with AIDS if one has a foundation, to which they have donated millions of dollars personally, and that has bought HIV meds for half the infected people in Africa compared to another rich person who drops a check for $25 in the mail to GMHC.