Response to N.J. Democratic Committee regarding Donald Trump’s taxes

The N.J. Democratic Committee is being disingenuous in it’s letter to the editorial board concerning President Trump’s tax returns.

He owed far more than $750 and paid them using previous tax credits. The N.Y. Times says the tax return data show that Trump’s earnings were negative for the year, so he owned nothing in regular income taxes.

But he was subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), a parallel tax system aimed at making sure wealthy people cannot use deductions to eliminate their tax liability altogether. According to the Times, “the A.M.T. formula disallowed $45 million in losses that Mr. Trump had carried over from prior years.”

As a result, Trump was left with an AMT bill of $7,435,857 (in 2017), according to the Times. He used a credit issued to him earlier by the government, a credit that can only be used to pay taxes.

Both cash and the credit are government liabilities that the U.S. government accepts as payment for taxes. Paying with the credit is not the equivalent of not paying taxes.

Commercial real estate tax law is complex. These laws were created and voted on by bipartisan Congresses. It contains depreciation, credits, carry forward losses all designed to create more commerce and taxes: employee income taxes, Social Security taxes, property taxes, sales taxes and fees.

The N.J. Democratic Committee’s letter to the editor is pure spin designed to sell Governor Murphy’s new New Jersey millionaires income tax rate which will, in the long term, drive business out of the state to friendlier states like Florida which has a zero income tax rate.

Tom Wilson

West Milford