Sam Brunson Profile picture
Sep 29, 2020 6 tweets 3 min read Read on X
So some people have been asking @CBHessick why we should care about the president's taxes if everything he's done is legal.

First, it's not clear that everything has been legal. But assume it is/

I assume her interlocutors' feeling comes from the SCOTUS opinion in Helvering: 1/
"Any one may so arrange his affairs that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which will best pay the Treasury; there is not even a patriotic duty to increase one’s taxes." 2/ uniset.ca/other/cs5/69F2…
Which is fine, I suppose. It's a really popular statement that is quoted in judicial opinions, tax textbooks, articles, and all over the internet.

And it's not wrong.

But it leaves out the next important part of the opinion: 3/
"Nevertheless, it does not follow that Congress meant to cover such a transaction, not even though the facts answer the dictionary definitions of each term used in the statutory definition." 4/
What this means in short: just because you technically tick off all of the boxes in the Internal Revenue Code doesn't mean that, when you put all of those boxes together, you've complied with the law. You can't technicality yourself out of being a tax cheat. 5/
So even assuming Trump didn't technically do anything wrong if you look at each piece of his returns individually doesn't mean he didn't do anything wrong. #TrumpTaxReturns 6/6

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More from @smbrnsn

Sep 18, 2023
Today #HunterBiden filed a suit against the @IRSnews alleging that the IRS unlawfully disclosed his tax return info.

So I thought I'd run through the complaint and take a look. (Note that there may be a big break in tweets--I have a meeting shortly.) 1/storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
Central to the suit is an allegation that two IRS agents regularly went on network and cable news to discuss audits and criminal investigations against Biden and that this behavior violated the tax law.

This is the operative provision: 2/ taxnotes.com/research/feder…
Image
The Code provides for not-insignificant civil damages against those who violate it. (Note that largely this applies to federal and state employees and officers, not normal citizens.) 3/ taxnotes.com/research/feder…
Image
Read 25 tweets
Feb 10, 2023
Okay, I know that training can be annoying and that it can be necessary.

But this particular Red Flags Rule training may well be the worst I've ever done at @LoyolaChicago. Why? 1/
Because I have no idea how it applies to me as a professor. Essentially, the training talks about flagging red flags as a financial institution, and especially in dealing with customers.

But here's the thing: even if the university is covered (which I assume it is? 2/
only the training never explained how?), *I* don't deal with student funds. They don't come to me about withdrawals or money or anything like that.

And that absolutely doesn't mean I don't have some kind of Red Flags Law obligation! 3/
Read 4 tweets
Feb 9, 2023
I'm thinking I'm going to live-tweet this complaint about Ensign Peak Advisors. Because on the first page it says this: 1/ Image
That's decidedly not true. Currently, the IRS audits about 0.41% to tax returns. That number shoots up for the very wealthy and the very poor, but for the vast majority of Americans, they're never going to face an audit. 2/ trac.syr.edu/reports/706/#:….
I suspect the audit rate for tax-exempt orgs is similarly miniscule. And for religious auxiliary organizations like EPA? Next to zero (if you can be any more next to zero). 3/
Read 45 tweets
Oct 14, 2021
Okay, I read this so you don't have to.

And responding is going to be really hard because it's basically utterly incoherent. And also, Mr. Vance doesn't understand tax law at all.

Still, let's go through a couple of his assertions: 1/
(1) First, of course, is the creation of "the Left," an organization dedicated to, idk, harassing churches and, um, help fund private business? 2/
But let's leave aside his inchoate boogeyman, why don't we, and address something substantive that he says? 3/
Read 30 tweets
Oct 12, 2021
Look, the law school rankings are flawed enough. What possible use could anybody ever have for ranking *elementary schools*?!?

Seriously, this is perhaps the dumbest thing I can possibly imagine. 1/
There is literally nothing good that can come from @USNewsEducation ranking elementary and middle schools, but there is a ton of potential harms, ranging from discouraging teachers from teaching where they're needed to convincing wealthy and white parents that 2/
they need to sequester their kids from certain schools and neighborhoods.

This is literally the most inequitable and harmful news I can imagine hearing from @USNewsEducation. 3/
Read 4 tweets
Mar 20, 2021
I get that Turley likes writing about things he doesn't understand. And I sincerely hope he enjoyed writing about wealth taxes because he very clearly doesn't have a clue what he's writing about. A short thread: 1/
First thing: it's hard to argue that a 2-3% tax is "soaking the rich." The S&P has a long-term average return about 9%.

Now admittedly, people with >$50m aren't investing *all* of their wealth. But their investing a lot of it. 2/
A 2-3% tax will make their money grow more slowly but, unless they're beyond terrible investors, will neither touch principal nor eliminate asset growth. 3/
Read 15 tweets

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