This article originally appeared on Real Clear Markets on October 2, 2020.
Even diehard socialists know that it’s foolish to pay more taxes than you owe.
During Tuesday night’s debate, moderator Chris Wallace asked President Trump about his taxes based on a story in the Sunday New York Times that claimed that President Trump paid no taxes in 10 of the 15 years ending in 2015 and paid nominal amounts in 2016 and 2017 despite millions in gross revenue. The President responded that he paid millions in taxes in some years but has long admitted there were years when he paid no taxes – because he owed no taxes – as noted in a 2016 Times article titled “Donald Trump Acknowledges Not Paying Federal Income Taxes for Years.”
But the real question isn’t whether the President paid a lot, a little or no taxes. It’s whether he paid what he owed. Even Bernie Sanders has admitted that’s the standard to which one should be held.
In recent years, Sanders’ income from book sales put him in the highest tax bracket. As most people do, he took full advantage of both deductions to reduce his taxable income and the lower tax rates available under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which he voted against. Asked about his tax liability in an April Fox News town hall, Sanders said “C’mon, I pay the taxes that I owe.”
That’s really all we have a right to expect.
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