By Robert Laurie ——Bio and Archives--March 15, 2017
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Thank you Rachel Maddow for proving to your #Trump hating followers how successful @realDonaldTrump is & that he paid $40mm in taxes! #Taxes
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) March 15, 2017
Trump WH confirms my report, but fakes numbers. Trump paid $36.5m income tax, not $38 & not $40m Don Jr. claims. False WH statements. Sad!
— David Cay Johnston (@DavidCayJ) March 15, 2017
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Trump WH confirms my report, but fakes numbers. Trump paid $36.5m income tax, not $38 & not $40m Don Jr. claims. False WH statements. Sad!
— David Cay Johnston (@DavidCayJ) March 15, 2017
Whoa! Nailed again! All of this "rounding" MUST be dragged out into the light and put down like a lame horse. So, for the sake of accuracy, we should point out that Johnston's claim of Trump only paying $36.5 Million is actually rounded ...down. He's very carefully specifying that Trump paid $36.5 million in "income tax." That's technically correct, but it ignores the fact that Trump also paid $1.9 million in self-employment tax, bringing the total over $38 million. I don't know about you, but when say "I paid X-amount in income tax this year," I don't follow that up with "Oh, and I also paid self-employment tax totalling X-amount." I just rattle off the total number. Johnston is splitting hairs in the lamest, cheapest, way imaginable. We're sure Mr. Johnston doesn't care how chintzy this makes him sound. Trump is the great white buffalo, and he's on a hunt. However, just in case he still maintains a shred of self-respect, here's a penny's worth of free advice: When you've embarrassed yourself so, so, badly with a nothingburger report, following it up with parsed, petty, and ultimately meaningless attacks is probably not the best plan.Amazing @nytimes gets the numbers wrong on Trump tax return. He paid 24% on $152.7 million.
— David Cay Johnston (@DavidCayJ) March 15, 2017
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