Trump and the Taxman

I don't have a lot of questions about the exposé on Trump's tax returns published this past Sunday in the New York Times.  In fact, I only have two.

 

I don't have a question as to how Trump avoided paying taxes for eleven out of fifteen years.

I don't have a question as to how he paid only $750 annually in two consecutive years, 2016 and 2017, when Barack Obama and George Walker Bush have paid substantially more in annual taxes.

I don't have a question as to how Trump gets away with reducing his tax liability because all of his businesses and subsidiaries have lost dumpster loads of money, including more than $316 million in losses from his golf courses.

I don't have a question as to his personal guarantee of $421 million in debt, most of which is due before 2024 and could pose serious problems for the country if Trump gets a second term.  Nor do I have a question as to what would happen in the event that Trump's creditors could find themselves in the "unprecedented position of weighing whether to foreclose on a sitting President," as the Times suggested, if he does win re-election.

I don't have a question as to why he hasn't paid creditors back a sum of $287 million in the past decade.

I don't have a question as to why, despite his pledge not to, he has received money from licensing deals in other countries - including countries with authoritarian governments - totaling $73 million.

I don't have a question about how he wrote off $26 million by listing his daughter Ivanka as a "business consultant." 

No, my only two questions are these:

How did the the New York Times reporters who worked on this story, Russ Buettner, Susanne Craig and Mike McIntire, find all of this out?

And when the pandemic is over, can I give Susanne Craig a nice, big, wet kiss? :-D