Yes of course it's political. Shipwreckedcrew sets this up nicely:
...
Former President Donald Trump is probably the most investigated individual of the last 100 years. Yet he’s never been charged with any criminal offense.
He has employed attorneys and accountants for four decades in connection with dozens and dozens of business ventures and investments. As is likely true of any closely held and family-run organization like Trump Inc., the organization’s state and federal tax returns have been the subject of scrutiny for decades.
No investigation has ever led to evidence deemed strong enough to indict him for a crime.
...
The kinds of allegations that have been floating around that might suggest some kind of financial irregularities in the business and accounting practices of Trump Inc. involve allegations of fluctuating values assigned to various properties depending on the use for which the valuation was needed. ...
If claims like those are truly the centerpiece of the investigation now underway, I say “full steam ahead.” Waste all the time and New York taxpayer money you can get away with. Trump Inc. will line up a dozen accountants and attorneys to explain exactly why the appraisals were perfectly appropriate and legal as to each purpose for which they were obtained.
... At some point, the realization is going to set in and they will realize that the reason he has never been charged or prosecuted is that he always obtained legal and accounting advice, and he followed it.
Wake me when it’s over.
At some point, too, a critical mass of the American public will catch on to the Left. We know from Trump's numbers in the last election how many there already are. More will join.
My first thought when I heard of these so-called investigations of Trump was, "Russia." These oligarchs obsess over Russia because it's just the sort of system they long for here in their hands. They imagine themselves as a metrosexual version of Putin, commanding and commandeering and hounding to death any who dare oppose them. What they are doing to Trump is the Putin script and the oligarchs follow it to the letter.
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@Mark
ReplyDelete"At some point...they will realize that the reason he has never been charged or prosecuted is that he always obtained legal and accounting advice, and he followed it."
And...the reason 'they' are still investigating him is that 'they' are still very afraid of him.
So they investigate the man, Trump, looking for the crime...any crime...he may have committed.
This is, of course, the Soviet style of 'law enforcement', made famous by the statement attributed to Lavrentiy Beria, head of Joseph Stalin’s secret police, who supposedly said, “Show me the man, and I’ll show you the crime.”
Its not so much that I support Trump...the messenger...as that I despair for what has become of our country and for its future.
Well put Cassander, I could add nothing more.
DeleteBy now, these hacks have only managed to demonstrate that Trump is quite possibly the cleanest businessman / politician on the I-95 corridor.
ReplyDeleteA long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...I toiled for the IRS whilst I strolled thru college and I always remember what the examiners used to say (amongst themselves, of course): that if a decision was around 50-50, the taxpayer should always come down on their own side and fight it out later in Tax Court. If the Trump organization didn't aggressively take advantage of the Tax Code, local ordinances, legal "loopholes", et al, they would be remiss in their "duty to make money" and keep the organization (and its employees) afloat financially, so to speak, but hey what do I know?
ReplyDeleteTrump has an excellent response.
ReplyDeleteOnly thing lacking is attacking “prosecutions immunity”, which Glenn Reynolds has written is unconstitutional.
@Hotlanta Hippie
ReplyDelete"...but hey what do I know?"
A lot.
United States Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Learned Hand famously wrote in 1934 in the case of Gregory v. Helvering:
“Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's taxes. Over and over again the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands.”
The decision was affirmed by the United States Supreme Court and it is the law of the land.
His Returns Show Joe Biden Has Dodged Half A Million In Taxes While Urging Tax Increases
DeleteBiden went out of his way to avoid paying Obamacare taxes, using a loophole that tax experts said he put in place solely to reduce his tax bill.
https://thefederalist.com/2021/05/19/his-returns-show-joe-biden-has-dodged-half-a-million-in-taxes-while-urging-tax-increases/
Hah!
DeleteBut I don't think Learned Hand was referring to politicians who vote for tax loopholes in which they have an interest and then take advantage of them.
The irony (no surprise for hypocritical Joebama) was that Biden once said (during the O-years) that paying taxes was a patriotic duty.
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