Jill Stein Finds It Is Not Easy Being Green
My speculation for the cause of her reticence was that details in her returns that were fairly mundane would, seen through glasses with Green lenses, appear quite shocking. Dr. Stein’s mother, Gladys Stein, died in 2010. Assuming conventional estate planning, assets accumulated not only during her parent’s lives, but also. possibly, something from her grandfather who invested in Chicago real estate might leave some traces on her 2012 or 2013 returns.
It probably does not hurt Mike Pence that he had an ownership interest in a chain of gas station convenience stores, but if Jill Stein owned something like that even on a transitory basis, there would be somebody at the Green Party convention calling for her to make reparation. That was my thinking, anyway. We’ll probably never know.
Law Professor Calls Trump’s Tax Losses Fake
There is something else to consider. Apparently, that 1995 Trump return was one of the last ones prepared by Mitnick. Given Trump’s involvement in public companies, there is a pretty good chance that his return has like Romney’s been done by one of the major national firms since then.
And here is the thing about net operating losses. Trump did not deduct the loss in 1995, he got to carry it forward and commentators assume that he must have used it in subsequent years. The net operating loss is a deduction in the year that it is used. Even if the statute is closed on the year of the loss, the IRS gets a bite at it in the year that it is used. More importantly, for this discussion, the preparer of the return can’t just rely on the prior accountant having it right.
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Over and over again courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging one’s affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich or poor; and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands: taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions. To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant.