But it probably feels like a tax increase because may not have paid taxes in a decades
Donald Trump’s move to the center has begun, the press insisted on Sunday.
So far this tactical shift has included attacking Rosie O’Donnell again, spending Mother’s Day insisting that women have it easier than men and babbling about his economic plans.
Basically, it’s his same old bullshit: Trump purposely alienating the voters he needs most and the press wishcasting that he’s doing otherwise in hopes this race will be close.
The babble about his economic plans got the most attention and most effectively showed how incapable the press is of doing any sort of critical analysis of Trump’s purposefully contradictory nonsense. While there has some clarity that Trump’s plan to default on our debt would create a global economic catastrophe, they completely fell Trump’s BS on the minimum wage and tax cuts for the rich.
Trump actually called for eliminating the federal minimum wage and cutting taxes for the rich, but slightly less than the outrageously generous tax breaks he originally proposed.
Somehow this ended up being reported as him wanting to raise the minimum wage and raise taxes on the rich.
The biggest news to come out of this weekend is that Trump will probably not release any tax returns before the election, making him the first candidate in generations not to do so.
Even more than Mitt Romney, Trump’s tax returns are crucial document to consider, especially because he may not have paid taxes for decades by taking advantage of a loophole created for real estate “professionals.” It’s breaks like this that are feeding massive income inequality that’s turning families like Trump’s into feudal lords who can expect to suck in all the gains of the economy.
Exposing how Trump exploits these kickbacks would be a first step toward ending these unnecessary giveaways, just as Mitt Romney’s tax returns made the case for ending the Bush tax breaks for the rich.
We can’t expect the press or Trump to get his tax plan right.
But they should at least ask him how much he’s paid in taxes over the last decade — if he’s paid anything at all.
[CC image credit: Gage Skidmore | Flickr]
