The "carried-interest tax loophole" allows managers of investment funds to treat the bulk of their earnings as long-term capital gains instead of income. The current tax rate on capital gains for higher-income tax brackets is 20%. The ordinary tax rate for the same ultra-wealthy class is 39.6%. This tax break benefits only about 2,000 people in the country. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that taxing carried interest at ordinary rates would net $18 billion over 10 years. ["Capital and Main," by Judith Lewis Mernit, June 21, 2016]
In plain English, yes, Trump is proposing getting rid of a tax loophole that would raise taxes on a few wealthy people, and lower taxes by $18 billion overall (if the revenue were distributed in a way that benefited other taxpayers).
Yes, for as far back as we have records: in his 2015 book, in his 2011 book, and in his 2000 book. Some sample excerpts:
KAINE: But why won't he release his tax returns?
PENCE: His tax returns showed he went through a very difficult time, but he used the tax code just the way it's supposed to be used. And he did it brilliantly.
KAINE: How do you know that? You haven't seen his tax returns.
PENCE: Because he's created a business that's worth billions of dollars today. This whole riff about people saying he didn't pay taxes for years--Donald Trump has created tens of thousands of jobs. And he's paid payroll taxes, sales taxes, property taxes...
PENCE: [Trump] is going to release his tax returns when the audit is over.
KAINE: Richard Nixon released tax returns when he was under audit.
FACTCHECK: When asked about Trump's assertion, the IRS said in a statement, "Nothing prevents individuals from sharing their own tax information." But while tax law does not prevent Trump from releasing his returns, waiting until his audit is completed may be beneficial, experts said.
The important distinction here is that stop and frisk as a tactic is constitutional. The way it was applied in New York City, and as it was challenged in the lawsuit that Trump was referring to, was found unconstitutional. Blacks and Hispanics who were stopped by New York police sued the city, arguing that they were targeted for stops in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
The Center for Constitutional Rights, which argued the case on behalf of the plaintiffs, confirmed that the practice was found unconstitutional in the 2013 case. But NYPD rejected the claim that stop and frisk is unconstitutional, saying Scheindlin ordered remedies to ensure the agency "applies the lawful policing tool constitutionally."
The MIT Atlas indicates that Trump is incorrect: "The top export destinations of North Korea are China ($2.67B), India ($71M), Pakistan ($40M), Nigeria ($20M) and Brazil ($19M). The top import origins are China ($3.49B), Thailand ($107M), Russia ($82M), India ($75M) and Singapore ($48M)." Iran is not in the top five trading partners of North Korea, whether counting exports or imports.
Maybe Trump meant that North Korea is on the top list of Iran's trading partners? The MIT Atlas indicates that Trump is also incorrect if that's what he meant "The top export destinations of Iran are China ($25B), India ($10B), Japan ($6B), South Korea ($4B) and Turkey ($1B). The top import origins are China ($24B), India ($4B), South Korea ($4B), Turkey ($4B) & Germany ($3B)."
We note that South Korea is on Iran's list of top trading partners--not North Korea!
The US share is calculated on the basis of GDP--and adjusted regularly. Currently that's 22%, compared to about 15% for Germany, 11% for France, 10% for the UK, 8% for Italy, 7% for Canada, and so forth--based on NATO's guideline, established in 2006, that defense expenditures should amount to 2% of each country's GDP. The median spending in 2015 is just 1.18% of GDP, compared to 3.7% for the US, Just four other countries currently exceed the 2% guideline.
However, on INDIRECT funding, NATO says, "The volume of the US defense expenditure effectively represents 73% of the defense spending of the Alliance."
In short, direct funding of NATO is allocated on a reasonable formula, with the US paying just 22% of the cost. But indirect funding is a different issue, with U.S. defense spending far exceeding the spending of other NATO members.
Trump indeed recently said, "With Iran, when they circle our beautiful destroyers with their little boats, and they make gestures at our people that they shouldn't be allowed to make, they will be shot out of the water." Wonkette.com reports that on Sept. 4, seven Iranian Revolutionary Guard patrol boats approached the USS Firebolt in the Persian Gulf; one Iranian boat came within 100 yards of the USS Firebolt. Wonkette.com concludes that Trump's tough talk was cheered by the crowd at the Values Voter Summit, which chanted "USA! USA!" and "Shoot them!"
Trump paid federal income taxes in three out of five years from 1975 to 1979, according to a report to the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, which viewed Trump's tax returns when the Trump Plaza Corporation applied for a casino license in the state in 1981.
Although the returns were not disclosed, the report indicated that Trump paid $18,714 in taxes on $76,210 in income in 1975, $10,832 in taxes on $24,594 in income in 1976 and $42,386 in taxes on $118,530 in income in 1977. Trump reported income losses of $406,379 in 1978 and $3,443,560 in 1979, and thus paid no federal income tax for those years.
Bloomberg Fact check: NAFTA had a modest effect on manufacturing jobs. An Economic Policy Institute analysis says manufacturing jobs dropped in the 1990s from 17.9 million to 17.6 million.
Trump said of Hillary, "She's been doing this for 30 years. And why hasn't she made the agreements better? The NAFTA agreement is defective," [implying that Hillary and Bill Clinton held primary responsibility for NAFTA]. Chicago Tribune fact-checkers noted that while NAFTA was signed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, it was largely negotiated under the administration of George H.W. Bush.
Ford is moving production of the Ford Focus and Ford C-Max from its Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne to Mexico in 2018. Ford said in April it plans to invest $1.6 billion to build a new plant in Mexico and create 2,800 jobs to build small cars there. However, Ford also plans to replace the products it makes in Wayne with two new vehicles and has repeatedly said no jobs will be lost. Ford's CEO said that "zero" jobs will be lost in the US and said "it is really unfortunate when politics get in the way of the facts."
Trumps' comments also prompted tweets from both Ford and the UAW countering Trump's claims. The automaker also made a commitment in November to invest $9 billion in U.S. plants and creates or retains more than 8,500 jobs as part of a new four-year contract with the UAW.
When a company in Germany makes goods to sell at home, it has to pay the VAT. But if it makes them to sell in the US, it doesn't--the tax gets waived at the border. If a US company sells in Germany, it does have to pay the VAT. [The UC Irvine] interpretation is that] border adjustability turns the VAT into an "implicit export subsidy" for foreign companies and an "implicit tariff" on US exporters. This is just dead wrong. Everybody has to pay Germany's VAT when they're selling goods in Germany. Nobody has to pay Germany's VAT when they're selling goods outside of Germany.
You can't really blame Trump for this one: a guy with a PhD in economics fed this stuff to him.
TRUMP: I never said take the Veterans Administration private. I wouldn't do that. But I do believe, when you're waiting in line for six, seven days, you should never be in a position like that. You go out, you see the doctor, you get yourself taken care of. The V.A. is really almost a corrupt enterprise. So we are going to make it efficient and good. And if it's not good, you're going out to private hospitals, public hospitals, and doctors.
FACT-CHECK: Trump's campaign published a "Veterans Plan" last October. It doesn't call for the VA to be completely privatized, but allows veterans to get care at any non-VA medical center that accepts Medicare. Trump stuck to the idea when he released his "Ten Point Plan To Reform The VA" in July, giving "every veteran the choice to seek care at the VA or at a private service provider of their own choice."
TRUMP: I was totally against the war in Iraq. You can look at Esquire magazine from '04. You can look at before that. I was against the war in Iraq because I said it's going to totally destabilize the Middle East, which it has.
USA TODAY Fact-Check: Trump expressed mild support for invading Iraq when asked about it on the Howard Stern radio show on Sept. 11, 2002--about six months before the war started. Stern asked Trump if he supported a war with Iraq, and Trump responded, "Yeah, I guess so." Trump cited an Esquire article that appeared in August 2004 to show his opposition to the war. But that article appeared 17 months after the war started. The facts don't support either candidate's strong assertions.
TRUMP: She made a terrible mistake on Libya. And not only did she make the mistake, but then they complicated the mistake by having no management once they bombed the you-know-what out of Gadhafi.
USA TODAY Fact-Check: This isn't the first time Trump has ignored his past support for the U.S. intervention in Libya. During the 10th GOP debate, Trump said he had "never discussed that subject" when Sen. Ted Cruz called him out on supporting U.S. action in the country. But Trump said in a February 2011 YouTube video that the U.S. should go into Libya "on a humanitarian basis" and "knock [Gadhafi] out very quickly, very surgically, very effectively and save the lives."
"The Obama administration secretly arranged a plane’delivery of’$400 million’in’ cash on the same day Iran released four American prisoners’and’formally implemented’the nuclear deal. The money was flown into Iran on wooden pallets stacked with Swiss francs, euros and other currencies’as the first installment of a $1.7’billion settlement’resolving’claims at an international tribunal at The Hague over a failed arms deal under the time of the Shah.
The $400 million was Iran's to start with, placed into a US-based trust fund to support American military equipment purchases in the 1970s. When the Shah was ousted by a 1979 popular uprising, the US froze the trust fund. Iran has been fighting for a return of the funds--plus $1.3 billion in interest--through international courts since 1981."
We fact-checked and found that Trump's daughter Ivanka, converted to Judaism in 2009 and is raising Donald's grandchildren under Jewish tradition. According to Vogue magazine (Feb. 25, 2015), Ivanka in 2007 met her future husband Jared Kushner, who is an Orthodox Jew and a real estate developer in New York. Ivanka converted to Judaism prior to their marriage in 2009, and they keep a kosher home and, Ivanak says, "we observe the Sabbath; from Friday to Saturday we don't make phone calls. It's an amazing thing when you're so connected-- for [our daughter] Arabella to know that she has me, undivided, one day a week We don't do anything except play with each other, hang out with one another, go on walks together. Pure family.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that he was against the Iraq War before it began, despite no evidence of him publicly stating this position. Trump's comments on Stern's show are more in line with what he wrote in his 2000 book, The America We Deserve, where he advocated for a "principled and tough" policy toward "outlaw" states like Iraq.
Asked at the CNN town hall about the Stern interview, Trump said, "I could have said that. I wasn't a politician. It was probably the first time anyone has asked me that question. By the time the war started, I was against it, and shortly thereafter, I was really against."
The ad, called `Politician,` begins by showing images of Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton and asks which presidential candidate supports higher taxes. `It's Donald Trump,` the narrator says.
Asked for backup, the Club for Growth referred us to a Feb. 15, 2000, article in The Advocate in which Trump states, `My plan to impose a onetime net worth tax of 14.25% on the super-wealthy, when combined with our current projected surpluses, will raise enough to pay off the national debt.` But Trump isn't advocating anything like that in 2015.
But Trump isn't advocating anything like that in 2015. On Aug. 18, Trump said he would not propose changes that increase the net amount of taxes. But he also stopped short of agreeing to sign the Americans for Tax Reform pledge against raising taxes because `I may want to switch taxes around.`
In an Aug. 26 interview, the host noted that `carried interest` would affect not only hedge fund managers, but also people in limited real estate partnerships like Trump, asking `So you are proposing you'd like to raise taxes on yourself?`
`That's right. I'm OK with it,` Trump said. `You've seen my statements, I do very well, I don't mind paying some taxes. The middle class is getting clobbered in this country. I know people in hedge funds, they pay almost nothing and it's ridiculous, OK?` Some interpreted those remarks as Trump agreeing to raise taxes on the wealthy.
On Aug. 25, Trump said, "Our bridges, 59% of our bridges are in trouble. Think--whoever heard of that? I mean, in trouble. Serious trouble." Whoever heard of that? Not the FHWA. The agency annually produces a report on the state of the nation's bridges. The FHWA's most recent report found 61,365 bridges were "structurally deficient" and 84,525 were "functionally obsolete" in 2014. That's a total of 24%
Functionally obsolete doesn't mean the bridge is unsafe: it may be the source of traffic jams or may not have a high enough clearance to allow an oversized vehicle.
We don't mean to minimize the number of bridges in need of attention, but the number is simply not as high as Trump says. Where did he get the figure 59%? We don't know. His campaign did not respond to our questions.
Here is our investigation into what those poor elephants were experiencing:
"The Cruelest Show on Earth": Bullhooks. Whippings. Electric shocks. Three-day train rides without breaks. Our yearlong investigation rips the big top off how Ringling Bros. treats its elephants.
|
The above quotations are from Fact-checking on 2016 presidential, gubernatorial, and Senate campaigns.
Click here for other excerpts from Fact-checking on 2016 presidential, gubernatorial, and Senate campaigns. Click here for other excerpts by Donald Trump. Click here for a profile of Donald Trump.
Please consider a donation to OnTheIssues.org!
| Click for details -- or send donations to: 1770 Mass Ave. #630, Cambridge MA 02140 E-mail: submit@OnTheIssues.org (We rely on your support!) |