Letters to the Editor: A billionaire pays $750 in taxes? ‘They’re Trumps, and we’re chumps’

To the editor: So President Trump took all sorts of aggressive and probably illegal tax deductions, including $70,000 for hair care; he paid various family members as consultants while they were also employees; and he paid $750 in federal income taxes while many of us paid far more while earning much less.

I guess we’re suckers and losers for respecting and following the law. They’re Trumps, and we’re chumps.

Judging by information in the president’s income tax returns reported by the New York Times, the only reason Trump was able to stay afloat financially was the earnings from his reality TV show “The Apprentice.” Let’s show him who’s the boss and fire him on Nov. 3.

Daniel Fink, Beverly Hills

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To the editor: The L.A. Times used second-hand information from a New York Times article that cherry-picked allegedly damning information from Trump’s tax returns over several years.

That there is spin in the reporting that attempts to condemn Trump for not paying U.S. taxes is evident in the comments about his use of tax “credits” to reduce his ultimate liability.

The Times acknowledges that he paid more than $300,000 in foreign taxes in 2017. Under the U.S. tax system, fairness for every U.S. taxpayer dictates that the U.S. not tax income that has been subject to an equivalent income tax in the country where it originated.

The way our government does this is to calculate U.S. taxes on that foreign income and then allow a credit against the U.S. for the amount paid to foreign countries on the same income. If the foreign tax on the same income is lower than the U.S. tax, the U.S. does retain the excess.

Nothing could be more fair. That cannot be said about the myriad insinuations and suppositions in the L.A. Times and the New York Times.

Kip Dellinger, Santa Monica

The writer, an accountant, is a member of the tax practice management committee at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

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To the editor: The president is the ultimate con artist playing three-card monte with the American public as his “mark.”

For years, the president has been saying that he cannot disclose his income tax records because he is being audited. In fact, an audit does not prevent disclosure.

Now we know why the president lied to us about disclosing his income taxes. For the 15 years for which the New York Times has reported on the president’s returns, he paid no taxes in 10 of them.

According to a Democratic policy advisor, a single worker without children earning $18,000 in 2017 would have paid $760. In 2016 and 2017, the president paid $750 in income taxes.

It is time for Americans to stop being this con man’s mark.

Marcy Sheinwold, Laguna Woods