Walter Williams started the nation’s first school of journalism at the University of Missouri in 1908. Williams was the first Dean and renowned for his “Journalist’s Creed” which said, in part:
I believe in the profession of journalism.
I believe that the public journal is a public trust; that all connected with it are, to the full measure of their responsibility, trustees for the public; that acceptance of a lesser service than the public service is betrayal of this trust.
I believe that clear thinking and clear statement, accuracy and fairness are fundamental to good journalism.
I believe that a journalist should write only what he holds in his heart to be true.
I believe that suppression of the news, for any consideration other than the welfare of society, is indefensible.
I believe that no one should write as a journalist what he would not say as a gentleman; that bribery by one’s own pocketbook is as much to be avoided as bribery by the pocketbook of another; that individual responsibility may not be escaped by pleading another’s instructions or another’s dividends.
. . .
I believe that the journalism which succeeds best — and best deserves success — fears God and honors Man; is stoutly independent, unmoved by pride of opinion or greed of power, constructive, tolerant but never careless, self-controlled, patient…
Williams would likely find what passes for “journalism” among Mainstream Media (MSM) today a foreign and ignoble profession masquerading as objective reporting. And leading the charge in the flood tide of biased news, the New York Times — The Gray Lady — held as the gold standard in newspaper reporting and called the “newspaper of record.”
The NYT cites its motto, “All the News That’s Fit to Print,” which begs the question, “Who decides what is or isn’t fit to print?”
In 1995, the New York Times featured an article by Brett Pulley, “Crowning the Comeback King,” applauding Trump for his business acumen whereby he turned his business loss around to rebuild his fortune. Pulley noted:
Though there are still four years to go in the 90’s, business and government leaders in New York honored Donald J. Trump yesterday for pulling off what they called “the comeback of the decade.”
Mr. Trump, the developer who came to epitomize opulent wealth during the 80’s before tumbling into deep financial trouble, has managed to erase much of his debt and is moving ahead with major projects at a time other developers are idling.
Judging from the attention showered on him yesterday at the Union League Club, some of New York’s civic and business leaders are quite captivated by Mr. Trump, despite the financial uncertainties that still surround some of his properties.
Imagine that, Donald Trump was praised by the Big Apple’s Who’s Who in Business, the NYT covering the occasion like a brilliant broadway review.
Pulley continues:
After the collapse of the real estate market of the 1980’s, Mr. Trump’s company was left holding some $8.8 billion in debt, causing his personal net worth to drop to a low of about $1 billion in the red by 1991.
But since then, his fortunes have changed. He continues to pursue the trademark trophy-style projects he is known for, such as a hotel and condominium project on the southwest corner of Central Park that is expected to open by late 1996.
. . .
…at Tuesday’s luncheon, with his family by his side, Mr. Trump was in full form, gracefully taking in all the praise, like a preacher gathering up Sunday’s collections.
The New York Times acknowledged the loss and turnaround in on October 25, 1995, but on Saturday, October 1, 2016 — 21 years later — MSM’s famed Gray Lady broke illegally obtained news with the headline, “Donald Trump Tax Records Show He Could Have Avoided Taxes for Nearly Two Decades, The Times Found.”
The column, which by any other name would be a “Hillary campaign’s Trump hit-piece,” penned by David Barstow, Susanne Craig, Russ Buettner, and Megan Twohey, speaks of the billionaire in dark tones. The quartet of brave authors inform the nation of Donald Trump’s sinister actions:
Donald J. Trump declared a $916 million loss on his 1995 income tax returns, a tax deduction so substantial it could have allowed him to legally avoid paying any federal income taxes for up to 18 years, records obtained by The New York Times show.
The 1995 tax records, never before disclosed, reveal the extraordinary tax benefits that Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, derived from the financial wreckage he left behind in the early 1990s through mismanagement of three Atlantic City casinos, his ill-fated foray into the airline business and his ill-timed purchase of the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan.
Tax experts hired by The Times to analyze Mr. Trump’s 1995 records said that tax rules especially advantageous to wealthy filers would have allowed Mr. Trump to use his $916 million loss to cancel out an equivalent amount of taxable income over an 18-year period.
Although Mr. Trump’s taxable income in subsequent years is as yet unknown, a $916 million loss in 1995 would have been large enough to wipe out more than $50 million a year in taxable income over 18 years.
The New York Times is depending on national stupidity of epic proportions: tax filings are complex for business entities, but the ethics governing those filings are not. Any tax accountants, tax attorneys, and business owners understand, that tax avoidance is smart and imperative.
Tax avoidance is completely legal—and extremely wise.
Tax evasion, on the other hand, is an attempt to reduce your tax liability by deceit, subterfuge, or concealment. Tax evasion is a crime.
The Times‘ deliberatively-provocative headline misleads the reader. In the middle of the article, an important graff should have more priority:
The tax experts consulted by The Times said nothing in the 1995 documents suggested any wrongdoing by Mr. Trump, even if the extraordinary size of the loss he declared would have probably attracted extra scrutiny from I.R.S. examiners. “The I.R.S., when they see a negative $916 million, that has to pop out,” Mr. Rosenfeld said.
Nothing suggested any wrongdoing? So this is much ado about nothing? Or at least nothing criminal or even immoral?
Except of course, those so-called journalists — David Barstow, Susanne Craig, Russ Buettner, and Megan Twohey — who illegally obtained the tax records.
Bereft any business acumen and tax knowledge, and armed with an Empire State Building-sized bias against the wealthy, the Gray Lady authors further impune Trump:
But the most important revelation from the 1995 tax documents is just how much Mr. Trump may have benefited from a tax provision that is particularly prized by America’s dynastic families, which, like the Trumps, hold their wealth inside byzantine networks of partnerships, limited liability companies and S corporations.
The provision, known as net operating loss, or N.O.L., allows a dizzying array of deductions, business expenses, real estate depreciation, losses from the sale of business assets and even operating losses to flow from the balance sheets of those partnerships, limited liability companies and S corporations onto the personal tax returns of men like Mr. Trump. In turn, those losses can be used to cancel out an equivalent amount of taxable income from, say, book royalties or branding deals.
Horrors! Not “net operating loss?” Hillary, pillar of all that is righteous tweeted:
Trump "apparently got to avoid paying taxes for nearly two decades—while tens of millions of working families paid theirs." pic.twitter.com/g62jB9fKr5
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 2, 2016
But not so fast Hillary Rodham Clinton! Remember this? Reported by Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge:
Well this is a little awkward. With the leaked 1995 Trump tax returns ‘scandal’ focused on the billionaire’s yuuge “net operating loss” and how it might have ‘legally’ enabled him to pay no taxes for years, we now discover none other than Hillary Rodham Clinton utilized a $700,000 “loss” to avoid paying some taxes in 2015.
And as noted in the article, a priceless display of blatant hypocrisy:
Finally, as we noted previously, the NYT itself is also perfectly happy to take advantage of the US tax to minimize the amount of money it pays to the government: in 2014 the company got a tax refund of $3.6 million despite having a $29.9 million pretax profit, an effective negative tax rate for 2014, which it explained was favorably affected by approximately $21.1 million for the reversal of reserves for uncertain tax positions due to the lapse of applicable statutes of limitations.
So the net takeaway of the Trump Tax Kerfuffle?
Donald Trump not only did nothing illegal nor immoral, he and his team of accountants and attorneys used the tax laws appropriately, as is incumbent upon any business concern to do for the health of the entity and for the sake of the employees.
And not only did Trump’s business adroitly use the tax laws, the media-adored Clinton’s and the New York Times employed like tax practices.
The only difference being of course, the New York Times and the Clintons are the precious darlings of MSM. Or to be more exact, the NYT is the king-pin of Mainstream Media and marketing arm of the Clinton/Democrat machine.
Meanwhile, Journalism pioneer Walter Williams, were he still alive, would be completely befuddled at what the New York Times calls “all the news that’s fit to print.” Perhaps the Times should change their motto to, “only the news we Progressives see fit to print.”
Here’s hoping good Americans have ears to hear the truth.
First published at SavingOurFuture.com
