Tax fraud hurts schools and students like mine. So does Donald Trump-style tax avoidance.
Most students can't understand why people who have the most and need the least can legally pretend they have no income and pay little or no taxes.
When former President Donald Trump’s company and CFO Allen Weisselberg were indicted for tax fraud late last month, reactions were predictably mixed. Trump and his loyalists alleged another witch hunt.
For those less enamored by the former president, there is disappointment that Trump himself has not been frog-marched out of his resort. But there must be some satisfaction witnessing the IRS perils of a company owned by a man who declared to the world that not paying taxes made him smart. I suppose it should be noted that Trump’s claim, made during a presidential debate with Hilary Clinton in 2016, was in reference to legal tax avoidance. Not tax evasion, which is a crime.
Tax avoidance is a national pastime that employs thousands of very smart people. But when the biggest beneficiaries of the tax-avoidance loopholes are the same individuals, families and entities whose money most influences who gets elected and how they legislate, forgive me for seeing a big blur when I look for the line between criminal and smart.