Here's the real takeaway from Trump's 2005 tax return

(Image credit: Michael Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images)

published 15 March 2017

Despite widespread disappointment over MSNBC host Rachel Maddow's handling of a scoop about President Trump's 2005 tax return, Vox points out that there is one big takeaway from all the hullabaloo: Trump "has proposed a tax plan that would have made his tax bill much, much lower."

It all comes down to the alternative minimum tax, which acts as a counterweight to wealthy people's deductions, credits, and the like. "The AMT added $31.3 million to [Trump's] total tax bill [in 2005], bringing his overall effective tax rate to about 25 percent," Vox writes, up from what otherwise would have been an effective tax rate of less than 3.5 percent.

As president, Trump has proposed eliminating the AMT altogether, which his tax returns show would have personally saved him $31.3 million in 2005. Additionally, because Trump's companies are "pass-throughs," meaning that shareholders are taxed on the income rather than the company paying corporate income tax, Trump's proposal to bring down pass-through income taxes would also have helped him personally save money.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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