Is anyone really surprised that Donald Trump’s tax affairs are opaque? Or that he is not as rich as he claims? Is it really all that horrifying that he has for years claimed business losses in order to offset his significant income tax liability? Does it appal us that the Trump family used a Delaware-based consulting group to pay themselves?
Of course not.
Despite clearly exhaustive efforts, the Times investigative team has failed to uncover any illegality
The New York Times’s big Trump tax files splash yesterday is therefore something of a damp squib. It is well-timed — an election is fast-approaching and the story might give Biden a good attack line in the big TV debate on Tuesday night. The reportage is quite interesting, too, especially to those of us who take a sordid interest in how the richest among us can get away with paying so little to the government.
But there is no smoking gun.
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