THERE’S AN OPTION TO PAY MORE TAXES TO THE IRS THAN YOU OWE; IT RAISED A TOTAL OF $775,000 IN 2018, OR HALF A PENNY PER TAXPAYER
Editorial by Kevin Ryan
There are a lot of blatantly partisan arguments being made today on the subject of Donald Trump’s taxes. But perhaps the most intellectually dishonest are from those claiming that the President not paying more than he owes is unpatriotic.
“The President is facing multiple questions about his morals, behavior — and patriotism” in the face of the New York Times story about his low tax bill, CNN wrote today.
Such arguments ignore the fact that nobody—not you, not the President, not any Democrat, and not the New York Times—intentionally pays more than they owe in taxes.
For example, when you fill out your taxes, you’re given a choice: Use the standard deduction, or itemize your deductions. Which one do you choose?
The answer, of course, is that you choose the one that results in lower taxes (or, if the difference is small, the one that takes less time and expense to fill out). Almost nobody purposely chooses the method that results in higher taxes. How do I know that?
Because there’s an option to pay more taxes than you owe, and the government tracks how many people choose this option.
And in the most recent year available, 2018, the amount of these “donations to the government” totaled $775,000.
That amounts to half a penny each from America’s 143.3 million taxpayers.
If this upsets you, feel free to make a donation to the federal government right now if you want. Just click here: https://www.pay.gov/public/form/start/23779454
But don’t feel guilty if you decide not to. Nobody pays more in taxes than they owe.
Not even the New York Times, who in 2014, for example, paid no net taxes despite a pre-tax profit of $30 million. Instead, the company gave millions to accountants and lawyers to reduce their taxes so much that year that they actually received $3.5 million in tax rebates. Which they kept, and did not decide to give back to the government.
SOURCES: https://apnews.com/article/2073a805c228406a8bad37e18c7e81e2
https://www.nytimes.com/…/…/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html
https://nytco-assets.nytimes.com/…/2014-Annual-Report-FINAL…
https://www.cnn.com/…/donald-trump-taxes-electio…/index.html