Do I have this right about the Trump write off

[edhopper]

He borrows a billion dollars to build a casino, The casino loses the billion dollars which he claims as a loss, he then declares bankruptcy so he doesn't have to pay back the billion. So he gets a HUGE tax break by losing the banks money. Screw the bank, screw the workers, screw the US.

Sound about right?

[Wounded Bear]

1. Pretty close....nt

[underpants]

2. Add in that he should have had to claim the forgiven debate as income

But due to a LOOPHOLE he didn't have to.

[unblock]

5. haha he does not get any forgiveness for the debate!

[underpants]

8. Wow that was one ironic autocorrect- should be DEBT

not debate.

[unblock]

9. sometimes it all works out ;)

[WhiteTara]

3. spot on

[unblock]

4. pretty sure that's tax fraud if it happened like that.

unless he paid taxes (or used up his net operating losses) on the "gain" from having the massive debt crammed down in bankruptcy.

there are slight variants of what you describe that take advantage of some specific real estate tax rules, but i haven't dug into the articles about those yet....

[NightWatcher]

6. I heard he could've guaranteed as little as 45 million of

And if he made as much as he claims over the next 15-20 years, he saved 25-45 million each year in taxes. Not a bad scam, huh? Put down 45 million, claim huge losses, save yourself 300-900 million over the next 20 years in taxes.

[awoke_in_2003]

12. It ain't easy being rich

Politicians don't come cheap

[spanone]

7. sounds like a good scam to me

[meadowlark5]

10. What I'm wondering is if anyone is looking at the Trump Foundation during these couple of decades

We already know he seems to launder income through the Trump foundation. If he used the Trump foundation for all of his income during the time he could take the tax deferment, then he could have actually been earning a fairly decadent income tax free.

[tonyt53]

11. But it was the best bankruptcy. The best ever.

[Jim Lane]

13. No, it was probably more complicated than that.

The leaked pages were from Trump's personal tax return, but the bankruptcies were all by his businesses.

A more likely explanation is that he took advantage of various arcane provisions of the tax code that don't affect most people. Some guy from Vermont has compiled a list of them -- see https://www.sanders.senate.gov/download/tax-loopholes-sanders-intends-to-close?inline=file -- and is preparing reform legislation.

Let me offer a constructive criticism for Clinton: She should grab the next microphone that someone sticks in front of her and loudly endorse this proposal.

[baldguy]

14. Losing a billion dollars means he's a good businessman.

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. Sound like you may have the essentials of it; Clinton voted to close a loophole like that

in 2002 - see http://www.democraticunderground.com/12512471910 and http://uk.businessinsider.com/why-did-trump-pay-so-little-tax-2016-10?r=US&IR=T