Death and taxes are the only things certain in life. For
some people though, taxes aren’t that certain. Every four years the debate on
taxes and political candidates rears its ugly head.
All the politicians want to prove they have nothing to hide.
So what do they do? They show their income tax returns to the public eye.
Everybody assumes that this has been the norm since Washington took office. Not
so fast.
Every Republican and Democratic candidate since Nixon has
released their taxes to the public. Since 1976, seven candidates (presidential and vice presidential) have refused to release any tax returns: among them were five Republicans, one Democrat, and one Green Party: Jerry Brown, Pat Buchanan, Mike Huckabee, Steve Forbes, Rudy Giuliani, Richard Lugar, and Ralph Nader.
released their taxes to the public. Since 1976, seven candidates (presidential and vice presidential) have refused to release any tax returns: among them were five Republicans, one Democrat, and one Green Party: Jerry Brown, Pat Buchanan, Mike Huckabee, Steve Forbes, Rudy Giuliani, Richard Lugar, and Ralph Nader.
Let’s add Trump to that list now.
Celebrity billionaire Mark Cuban told CNN's Alisyn Camerota
on New Day that Trump is “basically not patriotic enough because he doesn’t pay
taxes and wants Trump to explain the tax breaks he relies on to avoid taxes.”
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| Billionaire Mark Cuban |
Cuban says, "After
military service, the most patriotic thing you can do as a wealthy person is
pay your taxes. That keeps the roads paved, the military paid,
and kids going to school, and he obviously doesn't understand that
concept,"
This comes after The New York Times revealed a $916 million loss
in Trump’s 1995 tax records and the fact that he could have used the loss
to reduce taxes for the following 18 years. Trump may have “carried forward” his claimed loss of $916
million in income taxes to reduce his future tax burden.
"I can't think of anything worse I want to hear coming from someone that holds a public office or is a current presidential candidate than 'What do you have to hide'?" Cuban wrote. "The question is extremely dangerous when coming from a public official or someone running for an office.
"It is being asked for no other reasons than to intimidate and to throw the subject's privacy out the door and open them up to public scrutiny."
In 1998, Cuban was both President and Chairman of the Board of
Broadcast.com. Under the helm of Cuban, the company lost more than $10 million
in 1997. Cuban used the same tactic as Trump did to claiming millions in losses
to offset future taxation for up to 15 years; Cuban could have claimed losses
to reduce future taxation for several years . . . just like Trump.
In 1999, Broadcast.com was sold to Yahoo! for 5.6 billion dollars. It looks as if Cuban made out like a bandit, pocketing over $5 billion and avoiding taxes for up to 15 years.
*Emphasis mine