issue 5// vol 47 opinions // no. 19

You re angry about the wrong thing

» Why Trump's tax dodge isn’t the problem

Matthew Fraser
Opinions Editor

 

n September 27, the New York Times

(NYT) released a 10,000+ word article
detailing the tax schemes employed by
Donald Trump to conserve his image
and his wealth. After reading the article
in its entirety, I can tell you that it is not
the bombshell we hoped for as it doesn't
expose any new or unheard-of ties to
Russia. I do think that these show for the
umpteenth time that Trump is a failed
business man, and if somehow you didn't
think that he engages in some of the most
egregious nepotism, there is a section that I
believe can inform you of that.

Forget the potential legal aspects of
how the New York Times acquired this
information and let’s consider the real
story in this article. The same day that
the article was released, Speaker Pelosi
tweeted: “It is a sign of President Trump's
disdain for America’s working families
that he has spent years abusing the tax
code while passing a GOP Tax Scam for the
rich that gives 83 percent of the benefits
to the wealthiest 1 percent.” Yet, she was
part of the very house that passed the
“Great Recession bailout” that Trump
exploited. I believe the tax schemes that
netted Trump almost two decades worth
of tax avoidance starting in the mid ’gos
have been used by thousands of real estate
moguls before and after him. Anger at the
meager tax payments of Trump excuses
the real problem of tax loopholes that
the rich can and do exploit; the fact that
these loopholes still exist basically renders

any and all efforts to increase tax rates
meaningless.

Tax loopholes have existed in America
and have sometimes been exploited by
anyone with enough money to hire the
right accountants and lawyers since at
least the 1970s. In fact, the article details
how Richard Nixon used similar loopholes
to pay a meager $793 dollars on his 1970
income, an act that raised such uproar that
it subsequently spawned the precedent that
all presidents and presidential candidates
would release their taxes to the public.

Yet these tax loopholes pass congress and
lawmakers desks with bipartisan support
all the time. The 2009 economic stimulus
package was passed under President
Obama, with a $787-billion dollar price tag.
Most of that money went to bailing out
banks but it included corporate tax cuts
and provisions to protect the wealthy from
further taxation. The NYT article states
that a mostly unnoticed provision within
the 2009 bailout doubled the validity of tax
coupons from two years to four and allowed
business owners to get 50 percent of the
value of credits more than five years old. It
shouldn't surprise anyone that Trump slid
himself into one of those tax cuts and has
used his tenure in office to make a couple
more.

Even the failsafe of alternative
minimum tax (a program designed to
ensure that wealthy people couldn't
completely fall through the cracks) couldn't
stop him. As quoted in NYT: “in 2015, he
paid $641,931, his first payment of any
federal income tax since 2010.” To see that
not even that can catch a wealthy man in

the midst of an IRS audit for almost half
a decade should tell people that the tax
laws are too lose and too lenient. When
the poor and lower middle class are paying
upwards of 30 percent of their income
while business elites shimmy away with fat
pockets and a smile, the real villain is the
system that allows it.

But frankly, this corruption is
wholly and totally unsurprising. The
Panama Papers showed just how deep
and widespread these corruptions are;
if one looks to media for examples, even
old gangster movies or TV
shows like The Sopranos
accurately showed just how
money gets laundered in our
world today. In my opinion,
Trump has shown himself to
be corrupt almost everyday
that he has been in the
media spotlight since he first
started his path of stardom.
TED talks like Nick Hanuer’s
have outlined the evils of
this wealth accumulation
for years as Trump has been
but a naked display of this
greed like no one before him,
but that doesn’t make it all
that surprising. This is what
motivated Occupy Wall street
to disrupt the machinations
of the elite businessmen. This
type of corruption is what
motivated the protagonist
of Mr. Robot. This is as
unoriginal and bog standard
as greed can get.

As much as I want to celebrate the
faux outrage expressed by politicians, |
know all too well that they are complicit
in the schemes involved. With the laws
that benefit corporations being passed
at every session and the millions of
dollars they pour into American political
campaigns, it’s clear that the people will
never benefit from the politics currently
at play. There is no point in increasing tax
rates if every business loss and hairdressing
appointment becomes a tax write off.

  

Photo by Billy Bui

The term ‘baby gay’ can be harmful

» Infancy is not a viable identity for newly out queers

Alexis Zygan
Contributor

 

iven that | believe patriarchal,

heteronormative society defines
heterosexuality as the default, a female-
identifying individual may not question
their romantic preference until partnered
with the opposite gender. This unconscious
awareness can prompt them to seek
answers through an “Am I Gay or Straight?”
Buzzfeed quiz—maybe they are bisexual.
Keep in mind; sexuality is fluid, not fixed.
After the person confides to friends and
family, elders of the LGBTQ+ community

label them a “baby gay.”

Is the term baby gay even necessary?
Baby gay has harmful connotations by
devaluing the newly-out person based on
their lack of experience. We should refrain
from using labels that reduce identity
to infancy. The crowd-sourced resource
for jargon Urban Dictionary defines
baby gay as “a newly out or young gay
person.” Undeniably, baby gay is justified
in labelling those who disclose their
sexuality in elementary school or earlier.
A part of youth is uncovering who you
are. However, not everyone can be open
about their sexual orientation at a young

 

age, especially if they grow up in one of
the 72 jurisdictions where identifying as
queer can result in a prison sentence. For
those coming to terms with and sharing
their not-so-hetero sexuality later in life,
the label baby gay can feel invalidating;
othering them as freshmen to the scene.

When enculturated as a straight
person, all the unfamiliar concepts
embodied by queer culture can feel
overwhelming. Baby gay has become a
commonplace tease in conversations
between sapphics. Refinery 29 combined
a list of 29 lesbian terms to inform the
baby gay. The catalogue begins with the
problematic term gold star, which has
been criticized as ranking bisexuals as a
downgrade.

Similarly, the term baby gay
establishes a hierarchy that places them
into a box based on their inexperience.
Even though unveiling their sexuality
parallels a newborn baby’s first time
outside the womb, the term implies that
growth is necessary to reach an adult level
of acceptance in the community. Someone
who I know, recently opened up about their
queerness recognized “[the phrase as] a way
to diminish the impact of the statement,
‘Tm gay, because it’s a scary thing to say at
first.’ Ideally, we should be able to be out
without the fear of repercussions due to a

lack of experience.

All kinds of youth learn about
relationships from romantic comedies; the
portrayal of mainstream media focuses
on heteronormative relationships. In
contrast, some lesbians see themselves
represented as serial killers, villains, and
martyrs to the male gaze. They depend
on their community to seek guidance on
where to purchase the best button-up
shirt or differentiate between a friend ora
potential romantic partner. An interview
subject shared their take on the term “[as a]
time of excitement, a time where someone
who may have navigated the waters could
take them under their wing and help that
person to grow."

By eradicating the term baby gay,
newcomers to the LGBTQ+ community
could seek advice from their peers without
being viewed as undeveloped and naive.
Their endorsement would support them
with the courage to ask questions while
navigating sexuality recognized asa
deviation from the norm. While also
receiving a gentle reminder not to purchase
every article of clothing with a rainbow.
There are other ways to show you belong
that does not involve a dazzling spectrum
of colour. Just be yourself and live your best
queer life.