Loser

Dean Baquet wasn't bluffing.

The New York Times executive editor said during a visit to Harvard in September that he would risk jail to publish Donald Trump's tax returns. He made good on his word Saturday night.

[...]

Federal law makes it illegal to publish an unauthorized tax return.

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Baquet said [...] he would argue that such information is vital to the public interest because the real estate mogul's "whole campaign is built on his success as a businessman and his wealth."

  WaPo

Perhaps they already had the documents at the time. At any rate....voila!

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.

  NYT

Sad!

On Wednesday, The Times presented the tax documents [for verification] to Jack Mitnick, a lawyer and certified public accountant who handled Mr. Trump’s tax matters for more than 30 years, until 1996. Mr. Mitnick was listed as the preparer on the New Jersey tax form.

Trump has refused to make his tax records public because he's under an IRS audit (which does not prevent him from releasing the records). He griped in the debate that he's always being audited. No wonder! At a $916 Million loss claim, his records are probably red-flagged for 20 years.

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.

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.

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Under I.R.S. rules in 1995, net operating losses could be used to wipe out taxable income earned in the three years before and the 15 years after the loss.

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Ordinary investors in the new company [he created to assume ownership of his Atlantic City casinos], meanwhile, saw the value of their shares plunge to 17 cents from $35.50, while scores of contractors went unpaid for work on Mr. Trump’s casinos and casino bondholders received pennies on the dollar.

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Mr. Trump declined to comment on the documents. Instead, the campaign released a statement that neither challenged nor confirmed the $916 million loss.

Give it a few days and keep your eye on Trump Tweets.

They did say this:

“Mr. Trump knows the tax code far better than anyone who has ever run for President and he is the only one that knows how to fix it.”

Naturally, Trump's lawyers have threatened a lawsuit against The Times for publishing the information. I'm sure The Times is quaking in its boots.

It won't hurt his base support, and, in fact, The Times might want to double their building security.

[T]he 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.

The next debate is going to break records for viewing audience numbers, and Trump's got his ready made defense: It's all legal. Just means he's smart.

And he's the only one who can fix it.  Fix it to benefit himself even more.

In “The Art of the Deal,” his 1987 best-selling book, Mr. Trump referred to Mr. Mitnick as “my accountant” — although he misspelled his name. Mr. Trump described consulting with Mr. Mitnick on the tax implications of deals he was contemplating and seeking his advice on how new federal tax regulations might affect real estate write-offs.

Mr. Mitnick, though, said there were times when even he, for all his years helping wealthy New Yorkers navigate the tax code, found it difficult to face the incongruity of his work for Mr. Trump. He felt keenly aware that Mr. Trump was living a life of unimaginable luxury thanks in part to Mr. Mitnick’s ability to relieve him of the burden of paying taxes like everyone else.

“Here the guy was building incredible net worth and not paying tax on it,” he said.

Did Trump stiff him, too?  (And did he misspell the name on purpose?)

Mr. Mitnick will no doubt be named in a Trump lawsuit now. I assume The Times will cover his expenses.

....but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.