MSNBC's "Tax Records" Non-Story: Trump Made $150MM, Paid 25% Tax Rate, More Than Mitt Romney, Bernie Sanders

[SirLinksALot]

SOURCE: ZERO HEDGE

URL: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-14/msnbcs-non-story-trump-made-150-million-paid-25-effective-tax-rate


While Rachel Maddow drones on with the coherence of Janet Yellen, losing thousands of viewers by the minute, the MSNBC anchor was promptly scooped not only by the White House which revealed her "secret" one hour in advance, but also by the Daily Beast which reported that its contributor David Cay Johnston had obtained the first two pages of Trump’s 2005 federal income tax return, allegedly receiving them in the mail, and posted his "analysts" on his website, DCReport.org.

According to the documents, Trump and his wife Melania paid $38 million in total income tax, consisting of $5.3 million in regular federal income tax, and an additional $31 million of “alternative minimum tax,” or AMT.

Clean copies of Trump's tax returns pic.twitter.com/exJJZ5QqnG

— The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) March 15, 2017

The White House statement confirmed the finding:  “Before being elected President, Mr. Trump was one of the most successful businessmen in the world with a responsibility to his company, his family and his employees to pay no more tax than legally required,” the White House said in a statement. “That being said, Mr. Trump paid $38 million dollars even after taking into account large scale depreciation for construction, on an income of more than $150 million dollars, as well as paying tens of millions of dollars in other taxes such as sales and excise taxes and employment taxes and this illegally published return proves just that.”

As the Beast notes, 2005 was the year that Trump, then a newly minted reality star, made his last big score as a real-life real estate developer, when he sold two properties, one on Manhattan’s west side and one in San Francisco, to Hong Kong investors, accounting for the lion’s share of his income that year.

“It is totally illegal to steal and publish tax returns,” the White House statement concluded. “The dishonest media can continue to make this part of their agenda, while the President will focus on his, which includes tax reform that will benefit all Americans.”

But the real story here is that there is no story: what MSNBC confirmed is that Trump made more money than some of his critics said he made in the period in question, and more importantly, that he paid a generous effective income tax rate, well above the 14.1% rate paid by Mitt Romney, and even higher than the 13.5% federal tax rate paid by Bernie Sanders in 2014.

Trump 2005 tax rate: 25%
Romney 2011 tax rate: 14.1%
Sanders 2014 tax rate: 13.5%

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 15, 2017

Sadly for Maddow, with this attempt at a "blockbuster" story which has quickly backfired, she may well have killed the great distraction that was the trope of Trump's tax returns, and which the rest of the "resistance" press hammered on every now and then.

It took over 30 years for someone to top @GeraldoRivera for biggest over-hyped live TV epic fail in history. You did it Rachel Maddow !

— Mark Dice (@MarkDice) March 15, 2017

[SirLinksALot]

Drudge came out with a Siren on this news on his website.

Drudge started out saying Trump paid a very small percentage, 4%.

One will have to read further so not not to miss  the bit about the alternative minimum tax.

For me, this tax return is another nothingburger. The bigger story is who LEAKED this information? Doing so is a crime.

The main suspects are either

1) Someone in the IRS

2) Someone working for Trump's accountant

 

[r9etb]

For me, this tax return is another nothingburger. The bigger story is who LEAKED this information? Doing so is a crime.

Actually, the biggest question is .... why would anybody go to the trouble of leaking a tax return like this at all?  Who benefits from leaking something that is so remarkably uninteresting (aside from the prurient interest in knowing how rich Trump really is)?

[SirLinksALot]

[corbe]

    Trump selected her as the mail recipient because she's got better hair and longer fingers.

[ConservativeGranny]

Obviously Trump had these copies mailed. This tax return is over 10 years old. Who cares about that. I'd be more interested in seeing returns from later years. Trump had nothing to lose and everything to gain by releasing a return from 2005 and putting it in the media's hands. Now he can scream that it was "stolen" and all the attention goes somewhere else instead of Trumpcare and his wire tapping problem.

[Frank Cannon]

[TomSea]

Romney is famous though for giving most of his money to charity, something Russian Hedge missed.

[Frank Cannon]

Romney is famous though for giving most of his money to charity, something Russian Hedge missed.

They missed it because a large chunk of that charitable giving Mitt did went into the Mormon Church.

[catfish1957]

What I find interesting is that Trump's 2005 Gross income was $48M. 

Now let's runs some ROI numbers.....

at 10% ROI that translates to a worth of $480M
at a 5% ROI (and I hope he is a better business man than that) translates to $960M.

and I thought this guy was supposed to be a mega-billionaire?

Hmmmm ........  (Bad year for capital losses?)

[XenaLee]

Hmmm...... if your opponents (the hounds) are nipping at your heels....

best to throw out some bait....

to throw them off the chase and/or to slow them down and distract them from the chase.

Just a thought.

[Silver Pines]

 Ben Shapiro posed a fair question.  If this is what Trump is hiding, why not release the returns?

[kevindavis007]

Ben Shapiro posed a fair question.  If this is what Trump is hiding, why not release the returns?

That is a legit question.

[Cripplecreek]

Maddow got played. Team Trump released a single year they wanted to release.

On the other hand it suggests that Trump expects more damaging releases in coming months and was trying to inoculate himself.

[r9etb]

Maddow got played. Team Trump released a single year they wanted to release.

On the other hand it suggests that Trump expects more damaging releases in coming months and was trying to inoculate himself.

You could be right.  It reminds me of the old joke about the guy who was accused of killing a man and his dog.  "Not guilty, your honor.  See?  Here's the dog!"

[ABX]

Maddow got played. Team Trump released a single year they wanted to release.

On the other hand it suggests that Trump expects more damaging releases in coming months and was trying to inoculate himself.

That's something that seems to be buzzing this morning. Maddow said she had one to release, so Trump proactively released it before her show. It just happened to be the exact same copy, redacted the same, and just the same page she had, nothing different. It is very interesting they knew exactly what she had before she released it. Either she told them or they are the source of the leak.

[ABX]

Ben Shapiro posed a fair question.  If this is what Trump is hiding, why not release the returns?

He also made a big deal that he legally could not release them while he was under audit, but as soon as the word came out they were being released, he released them. I guess he could after all.

[Cripplecreek]

You could be right.  It reminds me of the old joke about the guy who was accused of killing a man and his dog.  "Not guilty, your honor.  See?  Here's the dog!"

They cherry picked a single year from more than a decade ago.

So team Trump who threatens everybody else suddenly acts as if they're proud of this leak against them. Shouldn't they be screaming about the leak and threatening to hunt the perpetrators to the ends of the earth?

[Rivergirl]

Nice to ignore that he earned $150 million but also took a $100 million deduction/loss on his income tax return.

Doesn't everyone do that???

[Rivergirl]

Doubtful Romney ever claimed a $100 million loss on ANY year's tax return.

[Frank Cannon]

Nice to ignore that he earned $150 million but also took a $100 million deduction/loss on his income tax return.

Doesn't everyone do that???

Never really owned a business before, have you?

[Suppressed]

Maddow got played. Team Trump released a single year they wanted to release.

Yeah, I'm not a betting man, but even I would put down cash on it being Trump release.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4316030/Trump-fires-fake-news-MSNBC-tax-return-broadcast.html

Well, if not Trump, then perhaps it was John Baron.

[ABX]

Nice to ignore that he earned $150 million but also took a $100 million deduction/loss on his income tax return.

Doesn't everyone do that???

As a percentage of his business size, it doesn't seem unusual.

[Frank Cannon]

As a percentage of his business size, it doesn't seem unusual.

Let's not forget that even though he took a $100 Mil write down he STILL payed $38 Mil in taxes. He pays a higher rate than the sainted creep Warren Buffett pays.