Thanks to The New York Times, we learned what we have long suspected: Donald Trump has not been paying income tax.
He claims to have made $10 billion. Let's take him at his word. Someone earning that much money should owe the American people a lot of taxes.
What would $4 billion pay for?
1.) That money would cover the salaries of 7,407 teachers at $54,000 a year for 10 years.
2.) Because Trump did not pay his fair share, every family of four in New York City had to fork out an extra $1904. So if Trump "settles up," it could mean a substantial tax refund for everyone else.
3.) Trump's unpaid taxes are enough to purchase 20 million new laptop computers, one for every single student in the United States in both middle school and high school.
4.) Donald Trump "says" he likes police officers. New York City employs 34,000 of them. His missing taxes could have either given them each a $11,764 raise every year for 10 years, or paid the salaries for 9,520 new officers at $42,000/year for the same period.
5.) Donald Trump "claims" he loves veterans and wants to spend more on their health care. The $4 billion would have allowed the government to employ 3,636 additional VA doctors for 10 years (at a tier 2 salary of $110,000/year). Alternatively, it means $1,600 (in today's dollars) less in the the pensions of all 2.5 million soldiers that served in Iraq and Afghanistan. This equates to a pension loss of about $10,000 per veteran at retirement age.
6.) Trump's missing taxes would have paid for 4 years of in-state college tuition for 109,421 Americans, or 2 years at a community college for 597,550 students.
7.) If spent on infrastructure, it would pay for 1,000 new miles of 4-lane rural highways, or 350 miles of urban highways. Or, it could build a brand new state-of-the-art bridge across the Hudson River, something to consider the next time you're stuck in traffic.
8.) It would be enough for health insurance at $250/month ($3,000/year) for 133,333 people for 10 years. Nearly 45,000 people die every year from preventable causes due to lack of health insurance according to a Harvard study. That $4 billion, if spent on health insurance, would have saved the lives of 1,250 Americans. To put it differently, 1,250 Americans are dead because one petty man has thus far, avoided paying his taxes.
Of course, the number of teachers, doctors and police officers that could have been hired is much larger, because they indeed will be paying 25-30 percent of their salaries back in taxes.
Instead, we are all on the hook because Donald Trump has stiffed America with the bill. Trump has been able to use that money to buy things like golden baby strollers and bathrooms, and he wants to repeal the "estate tax" so he can pass on his million dollar toilets to his children (currently the estate tax only applies to the very wealthy with estates over $5.4 million).
Donald Trump has a long history of conning his clients. We have now learned that he may have essentially done the same thing to every single American. Is this the man we really want to hand the reigns of power to?
Dan Rosenberg has travelled to over 40 countries across the globe, reporting on news and culture for various publications and media outlets, including The Times (London), The Huffington Post, Islands, The Rough Guides, Afropop Worldwide, NPR, the CBC, and PRI's "The World."