Billionaire Trump is singing the blues but not sharing the burden

They are different from you and me, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about the very rich.

Donald Trump wants us to forget this as he drones on about his reverence for the little guy.

But one of his most interesting quotes from the presidential debate Monday night was a firm reminder of the Republican nominee’s otherworldly perspective.

When Hillary Clinton accused the billionaire businessman of not paying federal taxes, he responded coolly, proudly: “That makes me smart.”

I guess the late real estate magnate Leona Helmsley was feeling smart, too, until her belief that “only little people pay taxes” landed her in prison for tax evasion.

Surely, Trump has better accountants. Smarter ones. But even if Trump is smarter than the rest of us — a huuuge feat for a man who doesn’t read books — does avoiding taxes make him responsible, or fair, or any of the other upstanding qualities Americans once desired in our highest representative?

I would say no. But apparently, some people are fine with that.

When I tweeted about Trump’s remark and what it says about civic duty, or lack thereof, I got some clever responses. One suggested Trump’s taxes reveal fatal flaws in the tax code. Here was another:

“If you don’t believe in tax deductions, don’t claim them on your returns.”

Somewhere, there’s a line between fair deductions and gaming. If a billionaire is paying nothing in taxes, it crosses that line.

And, as a presidential candidate, the hypocrisy is too rich. Here’s a guy running to lead a country he doesn’t feel obligated to help pay for. It’s akin to a preacher stiffing the collection plate.

Of course, there’s nothing jaw-dropping about Trump’s comment to anyone who has been following the reporting on his charitable spending. The Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold recently reported that Trump spent more than a quarter-million from his charitable foundation to settle

lawsuits involving his for-profit businesses, expenditures that may have violated laws that prohibit nonprofit leaders from using charity money to benefit themselves or their businesses.

It’s a charity

Clinton is no perfect candidate. She messed up with the private email account, and she has been caught in some lies. She seems unable or unwilling to behave publicly in a way that a regular person could interpret as authentic.

In fact, her attempts at authenticity often seem the most contrived.

But I have to laugh when critics equate Trump’s selfenriching shenanigans with the goings-on at the Clinton Foundation. Sure, there are important questions about influence and conflict regarding how the Clintons managed the foundation.

In the end, though, it’s a charity. The fact-checking website Politifact has verified that the Clintons don’t collect a salary from their work, or any other direct monetary benefit.

How does it know that? Tax documents. The kind Trump refuses to hand over. The kind Trump says aren’t really helpful anyway.

The tax kerfuffle only spotlights another problem with the popular conservative belief that government should operate like a business.

Trump is this concept incarnate. There’s a kernel of merit in that argument; many government agencies could benefit from the best practices of the private sector.

But government is not business. It can’t be. Businesses exist to make a profit. In the process, they create jobs, which provide income for families and boost the economy, and many corporations are generous philanthropists.

But the No. 1 priority is always profit.

Quality takes money

Government has other considerations: national security, education, transportation, scientific research, health programs such as Medicare. Government must consider the greater good. It must take us all into account.

In Trump’s view, America is in shambles. We’re mired in debt. We’ve got crumbling roads, bridges and “Third World” airports. The U.S. military, he says, is a “disaster.”

As Trump knows, quality takes money. The bare minimum takes money. It all takes money.

Yours and mine. Apparently, not his.

I don’t understand that philosophy. And, from the looks of my tax returns, I never will.