Recently, I was promoted to the position of laboratory client services manager, one of three advancements I’ve earned during my twenty-four years as a working professional.
Some of the high achievers reading this essay may scoff at my three promotions, since they most likely represent a small fraction of the number of times they’ve been gifted movement in the workplace. My promotion will remain a big deal for me, though, a sharp repudiation of those people who laughed at me, ignored me, and summarily fired me from a teaching position twelve years ago. As it has often been said, success is the greatest revenge.
In addition to carrying and prioritizing plenty of new responsibilities, my elevation to manager comes with a significant bump in my salary, finally justifying the decision to take out loans to finance my enrollment in graduate school. I should be able to afford a few extra discretionary items next year, save more frequently, and chip away at my loan balance before finally earning forgiveness in spring 2024.
An unfortunate byproduct of a higher salary is an additional tax burden in terms of dollars, as my marginal tax rate will remain constant at twenty-two percent. I’d have no problem paying this amount, except for the fact that many Americans who are richer than I routinely apportion a smaller percentage of their income to taxes. One of these people is Donald Trump, former president of the United States and incorrigible tax dodger.
I learned a valuable lesson as a young adult (age 26), one that continues to resonate with me at age forty-six. Whether it is by nefarious intention or by innocuous accident, one should never shirk their responsibility as a taxpayer.
At the turn of the twenty-first century, I made my living as a traveling performer with a national theatre organization. I was paid for my services in cash, a condition of being classified as an independent contractor by the theatre company. I performed this thankless work for a year before choosing to rescind my affiliation with the company in May 2001.
A few months after settling in Brooklyn, New York, I received a curious document in the mail, with the seemingly insignificant “1099” inscribed on the front of the page. After performing a cursory scan of the document, I shrugged my shoulders and classified it as unnecessary before tossing it into a waste basket.
Four years later it was pouring, as I was completely broke, unable to work due to sickness, and living with my two parents in Denver, Colorado. Compounding my ignoble plight was the delinquent notice that I’d received in the mail from the Internal Revenue Service. I owed a thousand dollars in back taxes, prompting a plaintive request to my father for monetary assistance. Father, a proud naturalized American citizen, acceded after warning me about eschewing my responsibilities as a United States citizen.
“Also, make me a promise,” my father said.
He and I were sitting in the car in September 2005, fresh off of depositing the check into the mailbox. Dad’s eyes were distended, bulging from their sockets as he stared in my direction.
“What promise is that?” I said.
“You’ll never allow yourself to become delinquent with your taxes again. It’s disgraceful when you don’t pay your taxes, almost as bad as being a criminal. You are not a criminal, are you?”
“No, dad. I’m not a criminal. It was just a mistake on my part. I didn’t intentionally skip paying taxes.”
“You may not have. But what does the IRS think about you now? They probably think that you did not pay them on purpose. Maybe they put your name somewhere? Huh? Maybe they will watch you extra carefully going forward. You don’t want to be on the government radar.”
“Dad, I’m not the only person to have not paid their taxes on time.”
“I know that, Eze! I know that. It still doesn’t make it okay for you.”
I sighed and said, “You’re right dad. I’m sorry.”
“My son,” Dad said as he turned the key in the ignition.
“Yeah, that is me.”
Dad was about to shift his gray 1991 Toyota Camry out of neutral when he was suddenly struck by another thought. He turned to me and said, “You don’t want to owe any kind of money to the government. That is why I paid for all your college loans after graduating.”
“I know that dad.”
Puffs of brown clouds were floating from the Camry’s exhaust pipe. Dad caught sight of where I was focusing my attention.
“No loan payments is why I have kept this car for over fourteen years. You don’t want to end up owing anything because they kill you with the interest.”
“I got it.”
“Okay. Let’s go.”
***
I haven’t been able to adhere to all of the promises I made to my father on that day. As I’ve said earlier, I have taken out loans to support the acquisition of the master’s degree I needed to gain a foothold in the healthcare industry, and I don’t regret that choice. Also, I am proud to say that I have paid every dime in taxes I’ve owed over the same period.
It can become easy for people to forget why it is important to pay what you owe to the Internal Revenue Service. The reasoning goes beyond the issues of delinquency, as income taxes are used to fund programs we take for granted. Paying taxes is a responsibility and an honor that I take very seriously, even though it can be occasionally unpleasant.
Donald Trump, a former president and career criminal, does not see any value in paying taxes. He purports himself as a billionaire genius flush with cash, but an examination of his just-released tax returns, covering six previous years, reflects a far different story. During three of the six years (2015–2017), Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, reported negative income in the millions, effectively reducing Trump’s taxable income to zero for all three of those years. Trump and Melania reported a net positive income in the millions from 2018 to 2020; however, their highest effective tax rate during this relatively buoyant period was 4.1%, roughly 18% less than my effective tax rate. The Trumps also obtained a refund of nearly six million dollars in 2020, when they reported more than four million dollars in lost income. Reporting lost income has shielded the Trumps from paying their taxes.
Trump fought hard to keep information about his taxes hidden from the American people. Here are the highlights of the report released by the House Ways and Means Committee, a congressional body that fought Trump for years to gain access to these documents:
On their 2015 federal return, Trump and his wife declared a negative income of $31.7 million, with a taxable income of $0. The couple paid federal income taxes of $641,931.
The 2016 return declared a negative income of $31.2 million, with zero dollars of taxable income. The Trumps paid $750 in taxes.
The 2017 return declared a negative income of $12.8 million, with $0 in taxable income. The couple paid $750 in taxes.
The 2018 return declared a total income of $24.4 million, with a taxable income of $22.9 million. The Trumps paid $999,466 in federal income taxes.
In 2019, the Trumps declared $4.44 million in total income and $2.9 million in taxable income. They paid $133,445 in taxes.
The 2020 return shows a negative income of $4.69 million, with zero dollars in taxable income. The tax paid by the Trumps was $0 and they claimed a refund of $5.47 million.
Doesn’t this chart enrage you?
During a presidential debate with Hillary Clinton in 2016, Trump’s aversion to paying taxes came up. Hillary began to describe how Donald Trump avoided taxes before she was interrupted by the man himself.
“That makes me smart,” said Trump with a smirk.
As I watched Trump exude his arrogance, I silently fumed. I remember thinking his comment should have precipitated a more extensive examination of his tax background right after the debate ended.
After absorbing Trump’s smug remark about his taxes, Hillary proffered a short list of the people and necessary programs that lost essential funding due to Trump’s dereliction. Millions of dollars that could have been used to support the military, fund schools, and support health institutions, the things that make America a desired destination for millions of immigrants, were hoarded by a charlatan with no sense of honor or patriotism.
To shield himself from imminent prosecution, Trump has announced his intention to run for president again. He remains a viable candidate in the Republican primary despite all of his shortcomings, as his followers still number in the millions. His stature has diminished greatly, though, a byproduct of Trump’s entanglement in a myriad of court cases and the recent horrific performances put forward by his endorsed candidates during the recent midterm elections.
We need to soundly defeat Trump for the second time, triggering his descent into ignominy and obsolescence.
His defeat will be a win for decency.