What the government does for people like Donald Trump that it won’t do for the poor:
A common criticism of food stamps and similar programs is that they make getting by without contributing to society too easy, discouraging people from working as hard as they could. The tax code is full of giveaways, though, and the distortions that benefit wealthy taxpayers create all the same economic problems without doing anything for those who really need the help. (Emphasis mine)
The tax laws were written on the principle that a business ought to be able to count past losses against future gains. A business can often lose money for a while (especially in its first few years) and then make more money later on. Over time, the taxes paid should represent the overall profit earned by the business.
Trump's situation, however, is more complicated. Trump claimed the loss against his personal income, not against his businesses' income, according to the New York Times report. This suggests that like many other wealthy people, Trump owns businesses that belong to special legal categories -- such as partnerships, limited liability companies and S corporations -- allowing him to count losses in business against personal income. This could enable Trump and other taxpayers to use business losses to minimize the taxes they owe over time.
In essence, what Trump is doing is taking the losses to improve his personal bottom line, but padding the "success" of his businesses by hiding those losses in public accountability. It is worse than that, really, but that's enough for this post.
