though the building s market value is going up. if trump can add up enough on-paper losses year by year, he can basically erase his taxable income from the property itself and even income from other trump operations, like licensing, leasing, and tv reality shows. money, money, money, money reporter: real estate expert richard lipton says it wouldn t be surprising if all these paper losses reduced donald trump s federal income tax to zero. so if you re running a tv show, call it the apprentice, and you have real estate and it s generating losses, the tax losses from the real estate can be used to offset the income from your tv show. reporter: and the losses can be huge, even when your income is huge. thus, in 1995, donald trump files a tax return with a $916 million loss, but still, apparently, lives like a king. don t blame trump, says tax
income from the property itself and even income from other trump operations, like licensing, leasing, and tv reality shows. money, money, money, money reporter: real estate expert richard lipton says it wouldn t be surprising if all these paper losses reduced donald trump s federal income tax to zero. so if you re running a tv show, call it the apprentice, and you have real estate and it s generating losses, the tax losses from the real estate can be used to offset the income from your tv show. reporter: and the losses can be huge, even when your income is huge. thus, in 1995, donald trump files a tax return with a $916 million loss, but still, apparently, lives like a king. don t blame trump, says tax analyst and journalist lee shepard, blame the politicians who wrote the rules to benefit big developers. that s why we say that
jenna: today is tax day and many folks are rushing to get their returns out on time. we re looking at bizarre taxes you may not know about. maryland taxes flushing toilets. utah tacks partially unclothed workers. all sorts of fun taxes to talk about. the tax history project and tax analyst joins us now. joe, because of your job, your taxes must have been done in january. you have to get them done early. you would think. but actually, no. i file an extension so jenna: it s okay. i m sure you re amongst friends here as we talk about this. you take a look at some of the interesting taxes we ve had in our history and you say one tax in particular on margin points out some of the interesting parts of our tax code. how so? i think that one of the things you see happening in the tax system is sometimes
what right does the irs have to refuse to release training materials? well, first of all, tax analyst is a group that, in essence, tries to get as strong an understanding as it can of what the irs regulations and rules and approaches are in order to then help people in business comply with the law. so they ve been around for a long time. and the fact that the irs refuse toss give them these training materials is a sign, the training materials showing how a nonprofit application will be accepted or won t be accepted. i mean, this is a cover-up. there s no ifs, ands or buts about it. it s not just the tax analysts. the usa today, the begin et newspapers owned by there s been inquiries out for three months and have been stiff armed by the irs. this stinks. the new leader of the irs ought to be trying to get this issue behind the agency and the administration by being as
what right does the irs have to refuse to release training materials? well, first of all, tax analyst is a group that, in essence, tries to get as strong an understanding as it can of what the irs regulations and rules and approaches are in order to then help people in business comply with the law. so they ve been around for a long time. and the fact that the irs refuse toss give them these training materials is a sign, the training materials showing how a nonprofit application will be accepted or won t be accepted. i mean, this is a cover-up. there s no ifs, ands or buts about it. it s not just the tax analysts. the usa today, the begin et newspapers owned by there s been inquiries out for three months and have been stiff armed by the irs. this stinks. the new leader of the irs ought to be trying to get this issue behind the agency and the administration by being as