A lot has happened in the last week that may have distracted you from this previous headline, but that doesn’t change the fact that Donald Trump, a self-proclaimed billionaire, consistently pays almost no taxes. According to the New York Times the current president has not paid taxes for 10 of the last 15 years, and in the years 2016 and 2017 he only owed $750. For comparison, data from the IRS in 2018 shows that the average American pays $15,332. How is it that this man, who claims to be an incredibly successful businessman, shows monumental losses every year and pays a fraction of the average income tax? Well a lot of people have had a lot to say about it, but in my opinion, most of the analysis misses the mark.
Mainly, I have heard two arguments about this situation that really bother me. First, is that this proves Trump is a bad businessman, showing that his persona is based on a lie. I do not think this is wrong, I simply think it doesn’t matter and doesn’t tell the public anything they couldn’t figure out on their own. Liberals have called him a liar since before the campaign trail in 2016, so it is unlikely further evidence will not change anyone’s mind. Secondly, people will rightfully question how he isn’t arrested for tax fraud. This argument is closer to what I believe should be the true take away. People are justly frustrated that one of the wealthiest men in the public sphere pays less taxes than them and are dumbfounded when he isn’t thrown in jail for it. But that is exactly the point — what he did was not illegal.
Too often people tend to focus on the moral optics of the president’s actions instead of addressing the system which consistently incentivizes that exact behavior. To cite just a few examples: Amazon paid $0 dollars in federal taxes in 2019 despite shattering revenue records with $280.52 billion according to Marketwatch.com, Apple has avoided taxes for decades by paying Irish taxes despite being an American company (for a full list of malpracticing companies check here), and finally, the panama papers. The panama papers, if you have not heard of them, were attorney-client information documents for more than 214,488 offshore entities. To put it simply, these documents, leaked in April of 2016, showed that almost all the rich and powerful of almost every country in the world are simultaneously involved in tax evasion schemes to put tens of trillions of dollars in tax havens and offshore bank accounts.
The rich and powerful know that what they are doing is wrong, and a crime against the good of humanity. Therefore the arguments at the beginning of this piece are futile. In the words of Assata Shakur, “Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them.” You cannot stop these people from looting the labor of workers around the world by declaring their acts to be wrong, they already know that. Trump does not care if he commits what most people would call tax evasion, because he has the wealth to do it legally, with the best lawyers money can buy. He is not bothered by being called a bad businessman because he is winning the game. Declaring millions in losses means nothing when it got him into the presidency of the most powerful nation in history. He makes the rules now; he decides if he is successful.
I know at this point my analysis may sound like I’m complaining about the people with valid moral criticisms of those in power, so I digress. The moral of my argument is that you cannot just say these people are bad people, because that won’t help. Continue to call them out, continue to show the common people who don’t see it yet, just how much they have rigged the system against us. But, and this is the point I really care about, do more. Vote in November, if you think it will help, because it will in some ways. Then, after the election is decided, continue the good fight.
It is not enough to simply talk about how evil these schemes are to take money away from the public and those who actually need it. The good fight is that which leads to the liberation of all mankind. Help fight for the right to a decent life. The pursuit of happiness, to use the terms of our founders, requires access to good healthcare that won’t bankrupt you, it requires the right to a house, and an income, if not (at the very least) enough food to survive. You have more in common with the homeless man on the streets of New York than you do with any of the top 1%, so maybe its time to fight for that man on the street rather than justify the acts of those in power. You may feel powerless to change the system that is so powerful, but the least you can do is try. Be an advocate for the good, everyday, everywhere and in every way you can.
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