Trump’s America – Episode #8 – Tax This Trump

By Arthur Piccolo

News Americas Now, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Mar. 10, 2017: So President Donald Trump keeps telling us he is for us.

PROVE IT and make former President Obama look BAD!

This should be perfect for Trump??? Let’s find out.

For the very first time, I am calling on one of our very special media partners here in Trump’s America. The New York Times! Welcome back partner!

In fact, I am going to take a rest and let The New York Times write most of this episode after 7 straight weeks going it alone to begin Trump’s America. And it is not about Russia or even health care – it’s all about TAXES.

And former President Barack Obama gets to make an appearance after he and Michelle just signed the book deal of all book deals – reportedly for an amazing  $75 MILLION. I told you his friends would take care of them.

Now to The Times article and calling Trump’s bluff:

“Profitable Companies, No Taxes: Here’s How They Did It”

Here we go ..

“Complaining that the United States has one of the world’s highest corporate tax levels, President Trump and congressional Republicans have repeatedly vowed to shrink it.”

Yet if the level is so high, why have so many companies’ income tax bills added up to zero?

ENCORE …

Yet if the level is so high, why have so many companies’ income tax bills added up to zero?

The Times continues …“That’s what a new analysis of 258 profitable Fortune 500 companies that earned more than $3.8 trillion in profits showed.”

That’s $3.8 TRILLION and it all goes to the 1%, including Trump.

GUESS WHAT? …. Want to know when this happened? That’s YES? Right during the eight years that Barack Obama was President.

SURPRISE!

Well what is President Donald Trump going to do about it????

“Although the top corporate rate is 35 percent, hardly any company actually pays that. The report, by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning research group in Washington, found that 100 of them — nearly 40 percent — paid no taxes in at least one year between 2008 and 2015.”

ENCORE ….. nearly 40 percent — paid no taxes in at least one year between 2008 and 2015.” 40 PERCENT PAID NO TAXES. Bravo!

Imagine that being a company rich beyond imagination yet paying no taxes. The fact you are not surprised makes it worse. We know we live in a society with a government that is so, so unfair and favors the very rich.

There is a very good chance Donald Trump has one of those companies his own and why he won’t release his taxes. And he got elected President!

Back to The Times …

“Citing evidence in the report, Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent, and Senator Brian Schatz, Democrat of Hawaii, introduced a bill on Thursday to eliminate tax loopholes that encourage companies to shift activities offshore. “The truth is that we have a rigged tax code that has essentially legalized tax dodging for large corporations,” Senator Sanders said. “Offshore tax haven abuse has become so absurd that one five-story office building in the Cayman Islands is now the ‘home’ to more than 18,000 corporations.”

WHEN is President Trump going to tweet his support for this legislation? We’re waiting Donald how about right now. Where is my smart phone?

Nothing yet??? Hmmmmmmm.

Here is another good trick to avoid corporate taxes …

“Others, like American Electric Power, Con Ed and Comcast, qualified for accelerated depreciation, enabling them to write off most of the cost of equipment and machinery before it wore out.”

But of course there are more choices …

“Facebook, Aetna and Exxon Mobil, among others, saved billions in taxes by giving options to top executives to buy stock in the future at a discount. The companies then get to deduct their huge payouts as a loss. Facebook used excess tax benefits from stock options to reduce its federal and state taxes by $5.78 billion from 2010 to 2015, the institute found.”

Isn’t Mark Zuckerberg a great young American business leader? He knows how to avoid paying  corporate taxes with the best of them. Bravo Mark!

And let’s not forget the value of lobbyists …

“Individual industries have successfully lobbied for specific tax breaks that function as subsidies: for instance, drilling for gas and oil, building Nascar racetracks or railroad tracks, roasting coffee, undertaking certain kinds of research, producing ethanol or making movies (which saved the Walt Disney Company $1.48 billion over eight years, the report says).”

President Trump, are you getting all of this. Stop watching CNN; read this.

How about this more than obvious revelation from The Times …

“When the biggest companies aren’t paying their fair share, that means the rest of us are left to pick up the slack. It means small business and middle-income families are paying more.”

SO THAT’S HOW IT WORKS? (NOT).

Now here is the “best” part the biggest winners of all … we’re the Losers.

Companies with the biggest tax subsidies over the eight years, the institute’s report said, included:

■ AT&T ($38.1 billion)
■ Wells Fargo ($31.4 billion)
■ JPMorgan Chase ($22.2 billion)
■ Verizon ($21.1 billion)
■ IBM ($17.8 billion)
■ General Electric ($15.4 billion)
■ Exxon Mobil ($12.9 billion)
■ Boeing ($11.9 billion)
■ Procter & Gamble ($8.5 billion)
■ Twenty-First Century Fox ($7.6 billion)
■ Time Warner ($6.7 billion)
■ Goldman Sachs ($5.5 billion)

They all deserve Academy Awards for SCREWING the rest of us.

That’s enough! You have the story. Thank you partner New York Times.

So President Trump, what are you going to do about it? You are the people’s President aren’t you? And you will get to do something very important your friendemy Barack Obama did not do. How can you pass this opportunity up?

We are waiting on President Trump here in Trump’s America.

EDITOR’S NOTE: About The Writer: Arthur Piccolo is a professional writer and commentator and often writes about Latin America for New Americas.