Quiz: Which presidential candidate paid just $750 in federal taxes in 2016 and 2017?

I'll go with #1. Why would he have any real business acumen when he made his fortune (and lost it) from handouts from Daddy? His sole business strategy seems to have been to not pay his bills.

That is not to say that he hasn't been cheating on his taxes. Some of his recent comments indicate that he doesn't understand some pretty basic things about the tax code or business accounting. Since for his entire life, he's relied on lying as a core strategy--and it's mostly worked--I would expect that he has been lying on his tax returns for quite some time as well.

PJ, many years of his most recent tax returns have now been seen, and he has about $250,000,000 in debts.  What assets he owns is easy enough to find, and while estimating their value isn't an exact science, it's also not rocket mathematics either.  Forbes and other outfits have estimated that his assets are worth about $2.75 billion, less $.25 billion in debt, leaving a net worth of about $2.5 billion.

If I recall correctly, the value of the assets that he inherited from his father amounted to $388 million in 2018 dollars.  That number may not be exact, but it's quite close.

He's been wildly successful.

You might be 100% right...in which case he's cheating on his taxes.

His returns show his wildly-successful real estate empire has not earned one cent in 15 years....and is losing millions every year.  They say his income only income has come from his TV show.    So I guess you believe him to be a scumbag tax cheat then....you might be right,.  

It's not total assets that matters. It's net worth. If he is in hock for more than the value of his assets, then he is actually broke.

If he indeed has substantial net worth, then why has he constantly felt the need to stiff the contractors, employees, etc. who work for him, and how did he acquire that wealth without incurring any real tax liability (as he claims)?

It's as PJ says. He's either a bill-dodging, tax-evading crook or a massive fraud. Either way, his "wild success" is a mirage. (Enough to fool Boiler and his ilk, though.)

It seems like a money-laundering scheme to me. 

1.  The Russians loan Trump money to buy properties. 

2.  The properties loose money every year. 

3.  Trump claims the properties appreciate in value every year despite the losses and he promptly borrows the new equity. 

4.  Shortly thereafter Trump pays back the new equity loan in cash. 

5.  Rinse repeat year after year

This is what Manafort was doing with his property. The most likely scenario is Trump is acting as a broker for Russian oligarchs allowing them to bring money into the US that they otherwise would not be able to because of sanctions.   

For example, if Trump borrows 20 million dollars, an oligarch can bring 20 million dollars into the US and claim the money is the proceeds from a loan legitimizing the 20 million and making it spendable. 

You're probably right. I think there might be a few more links in the chain, such as the Russians moving the money to an offshore corporation and then one of Trump's pseudo-companies actually borrowing the money, etc.

There also might be a LOT more money being funneled through Baby Trump and Ivanka than is immediately apparent. They both feel Daddy owes them big time for letting him fondle their asses, so they charge hefty "consulting fees," which Daddy is happy to pay.

Returning to your point, Trump being Putin's loyal puppy dog is otherwise hard to explain. Putin has something on him, big time, and it could be the simple naked threat of calling in all of Trump's paper. We'll know all the details pretty soon.

By the way, I wonder if the people who scrape stuff off the floor of Facebook and post it on internet forums and social media realize that they're acting as unpaid Russian agents.

The 750 dollars was the amount he paid to file an extension.  The Dem hate in this forum runs pretty deep.

I will check back with you boys in a couple weeks.  Vegas is calling ..........................................

Being upset that the Orange Asshole has been a tax cheat for decades while the rest of us pay our fair share isn't "Dem hate" (an idiotic term if ever there was one). Republicans should hate it, too--except for the ones who are also tax cheats, of course.

Just remember that if you hit a taxable jackpot, you'll probably owe the federal government more tax than Trump has paid in the last twenty years. I guess that will make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside...

I'm on pins-n-needles

So Trump just confirmed that he owes around $400 million to unnamed creditors, just like the New York Times (and I) claimed.

Those of you who denied it are willful fools.