We Did Not Pay Our Federal Taxes; Filed for Extension
José Angel Gutiérrez
joseangelgutierrezbooks.com
voiceofthemainland.blogspot.com/voces-index
April 15th came too fast for us this year. We did not have enough money on hand to pay our federal income taxes. We needed more time to find evidence for some deductions. Instead of selling items no longer needed, we give them away in exchange for a tax deduction letter. But we have to find them which is no easy task since we have file cabinets with so many files. I usually forget what name I used to identify an actual file. No, I have not learned to make an index nor have I learned to do that with passwords and PIN numbers. My wife does, but I stick my hands into the task when I get receipts, important letters, legal documents, and the like which makes a mess of record keeping.
As my wife and I deliberated to take money out of savings and suffer penalties to pay federal taxes or get an extension, we figured it was best to keep earning some interest. We could pay later given there is no penalty if we do pay up by the new deadline. Those minutes of deliberation caused us to question who pays and who does not pay federal income taxes. Surprisingly, and at times astonishingly, we found some amazing facts.
Individual Cheaters
The main one is Donald Trump and family. The Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation reported on his and Melania’s tax years 2015 through 2020. He and Melania declared negative income in the years 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2020. They paid $1,500 in 2016 and the same amount in 2017. This last year, they declared negative income of $12.8 million, $0 taxable income and paid $750 in taxes. In 2018, the negative income reported was $24.4 million and paid $999, 466 in federal income taxes. In 2019, $4.44 million was the declared income and paid $133,445 in federal income taxes. Worse yet, in 2020, he and Melania paid no federal income tax at all and got a REFUND of $5.47 million!
Son-in law Jared Kushner and wife Ivanka, Trump’s daughter, has learned not to pay income taxes as well. He and wife have not paid income taxes in years. The usual deduction is
depreciation of real estate to offset income. The couple has a net worth of $324 million. In 2015, they took in $1.7 million in salary and investment gains but claimed $8.3 million in losses and not taxes paid. He has other income from his investment firm, Affinity Partners. The Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, implicated in the murder of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, put up $2 billion dollars into Affinity. Two other Arabian governments have kicked into Affinity also: United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Kushner is one of two main negotiators to end the war in Iran yet he is not an employee of the federal government. Sheik Tahnoon gave another $2 billion to Steve Witkoff, Trump’s real estate advisor and the US representative like Kushner to end the war with Iran. How can they do both jobs at the same time and not have serious conflicts of interest if not illegal activity barred by the Logan Act and the Emoluments Clause of the US Constitution. Affinity has yet to file or report income or disbursements to investors much less Jared Kushner’s salary for this job. Similarly, Pam Bondi, the former US Attorney General, was receiving $115,000 a month for consultant services to Qatar’s Tamim bin Hammad Al Thani. What she consulted upon has not been disclosed or if she is still on the payroll. Qatar is the regime that gave Trump that humongous jet as a gift. Gifts to presidents must be made part of the US government not kept as personal items. Trump has stated he will keep it. If so that must be reported in the next round of income tax returns when he leaves office, if he does.
Corporate Cheaters
88 major corporations have not paid income taxes for 2025, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Like the Trumps and Kushner’s depreciation is the biggest deduction used to offset income. These 88 earned $105 billion in pretax profits and paid zero in federal income tax. Among these 88 are Tesla, Southwest and United Airlines, PayPal, Yum! Brands, Live Nation, Block, and Toast. This cheating has cost the rest of us who do pay taxes some $26.7 billion in uncollected tax revenue.
State Cheaters
I call state cheaters those who get more federal money than they pay into as income and other federal taxes. In US territories like Puerto Rico, Guan, Samoa, Virgin Islands, and Mariana Islands, residents do not pay federal income taxes on money earned on those islands. They pay on income earned from outside the islands. They do pay income taxes to the territorial
governments. The only exemption is if a resident is employed by the US federal government, then they do pay taxes on that income.
According to WalletHub.com’s map on tax burden by state, Hawaii has the highest federal tax burden while Alaska had the lowest. New York is #2, California is ranked #11 while Texas is at #36. New Mexico has the 4th highest burden , Illinois is at #6, and New Jersy is at #8.
Oregon has the highest individual income tax burden while 7 states do not have an income tax at all: Texas, Florida, Nevada, to name three. Vermont has the highest property tax burden while Alabama has the lowest.
Newsweek of July 8, 2025 had another map on taxes. This map showed which states pay more to the federal government than they get back in terms of programs and benefits. Usually RED states get more than they pay in than BLUE states. There are 31 states. paying in more that receiving. In 2023, the federal government collected $4.6 trillion from the states and paid back to the states $4.5 trillion. In addition to the 31 states the District of Columbia (DC) also paid in more than they received. New Mexico is at the other end, paying in only $12.4 billion and getting more than double that amount back, $29 billion.
Did you pay income tax this year?
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