Tax – BroadViews

“The Economy is soooo good, perhaps the best in our country’s history (remember, it’s the economy stupid!)” Donald Trump via Twitter September 10, 2018

As Donald Trump lurches from one lie to another, one national embarrassment to another, and one moral failing to another, Republicans forgive his behaviour and deficiencies by focusing on the economy. A common refrain heard from likely Republican voters is, “He’s not perfect but he’s really turned our economy around.” A Republican ad running just before the midterms warns that [the strong economy] “could all go away if we don’t remember where we came from.” Where they came from, according to the Republicans, is an economic nightmare of high unemployment and slow growth, apparently just “a few years ago.” Continue reading ““But the economy….” If that’s what’s keeping Trump and the Republicans afloat, they’re in trouble.”

Tax policy by Leona?

A long, long time ago, I learned in business school the difference between tax evasion and tax avoidance. Simply, one is legal, one is not. I learned more about the distinction from my first employer, when the company deferred indefinitely the payment of a full year of income tax by essentially forming a partnership with itself. That was avoidance. And it was entirely legal at the time. So was Donald Trump’s claiming of $916 million in business losses to shield his income from taxes for subsequent years, even though the majority of the losses had been absorbed by his bankers, not by him or his companies. So was Apple Inc.’s parking of the bulk of its income in low-tax Ireland, by claiming a corporate residency of…nowhere. So is the wholesale reduction of corporate tax by tech giants Google, Facebook, Microsoft, etc. by housing their IP assets (and hence reported income from those assets) in tax havens. It’s not a stretch to suggest that the most creative, innovative people within these companies are not involved in product design and development – they’re in the tax department. Continue reading “Tax reform, the hard way. How Morneau and Trump screwed it up”