In the wake of Trump’s leaked tax returns, the candidate claimed on Twitter that he is “the only one who can fix” our complex tax laws. He has had several tax plans since the start of his candidacy, with the current Trump tax plan focusing on tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations.

What the plan does not address is a so-called billionaire taking a $916 million loss and using that loss to avoid paying his taxes for nearly two decades.

Alan Cole, of the Tax Foundation, told NBC News that “nothing about the plan would change the basic idea that if you take a loss you can carry it forward and count it against future income.”

What the Trump tax plan does do is inordinately benefit the most wealthy Americans.

He would repeal the “death tax,” a significant revenue generator for the government, except for capital gains valued over $10 million. Honestly, I think there are typos in the plan, or at the very least it is confusingly written. It’s difficult to parse out the exemptions from the way that it is written. This law would protect most of the billions that Trump claims to have from taxation upon his death. The estate tax really only affects the top 0.2% of the country, and would cost $240 billion in revenue but at least Donald Trump’s kids wouldn’t go hungry with all those extra millions.

He would reduce the top income tax bracket from 43% to 33%, saving himself and his fellow billionaires millions. It would save him millions if he actually paid any taxes that is. Trump would also repeal the Affordable Care Act tax of 3.8% on investment income, and reduce capital gains taxes to 20%, again inordinately befitting the wealthiest Americans at the expense of the lower classes.

Most shockingly, Trump would cut the corporate tax rate by 58%, reducing it from the current 35% to 15%. While this would possibly benefit smaller businesses, it would inordinately benefit large corporations and billionaires rather than less wealthy Americans. This would cost the government about $2 trillion in revenue over 10 years according to the Tax Foundation.

Donald Trump understands the tax system for sure, and has exploited it for his own use for decades. He has used American roads and infrastructure and benefited from the protection of the government to help himself to billions of dollars, while paying in nearly nothing back in to the system. “Because I’m smart” he says. And to say that he will “fix” the tax codes is laughable, as his tax proposal benefits himself and his billionaire pals to such a degree that it is likely to cause a $5 trillion revenue shortfall over 10 years. But what does Donald Trump care?

Sources:
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/donald-trump-claims-he-ll-fix-tax-system-so-what-n658341
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/policies/tax-plan/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/whom-would-donald-trumps-tax-fixes-help-the-most-donald-trump/2016/10/02/65684424-88b8-11e6-875e-2c1bfe943b66_story.html?utm_term=.246c930cc53f