This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The recent tax scandal from the Trump campaign has scratched off the scab from American politics, revealing class divisions, anti-government resentment, even questions about how the government provides public services, or whether it even should.
We can get all riled up about taxes very easily and start pointing fingers around. From sales taxes to income taxes, both federal and state, property taxes, hunting licenses, gas tax, etc., it is clear we all pay some taxes somehow, but much of the time it's not in a very fair way. Maybe the issue of "fairness" is where we should devote our energy and "genius."
One thing we can take from the release of the three pages of Trump's 1995 returns in The New York Times is that Trump is right when he says the system is rigged.
As the Washington Post put it, "What he doesn't say is that it's rigged in his favor and in the favor of people like him — and against regular people, those of us who earn money, pay income tax on it, and financially support the country in which we live."
Despite admiration for Trump expressed by some Americans, the fundamental question for us as Americans isn't how much can I get away with, or how much does someone else get away with, but what are the appropriate and just responsibilities we all share in supporting our society together.
Keith Homer
Midvale