Donald J. Trump previously confessed that he tries to “pay as little as possible” when it comes to taxes. Therefore, it came as no surprise when a partial report of the Republican presidential nominee’s 1995 tax records confirmed his financial outlook.

The New York Times published Trump’s 1995 income tax returns on Saturday, which explain how the former reality TV show host and real-estate mogul could have avoided taxes for nearly two decades. That year Trump declared a $916 million loss, a loss that could have allowed him to legally avoid paying federal income taxes for up to 18 years.

Trump was recently criticized by Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton during the first presidential debate for not being forthcoming about his tax returns. Clinton suspected that the businessman didn’t pay his federal income taxes–a claim Trump said made him “smart.”

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani agreed with Trump’s statement and called him a genius after the tax records were released.

“The reality is, this is part of our tax code. The man’s a genius. He knows how to operate the tax code to the benefit of the people he’s serving,” Giuliani told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”

Legal, yes. Genius, not so much.

The Washington Post’s Allan Sloan, a seven-time winner of the Loeb Award (business journalism’s highest honor), didn’t offer the same sentiments as Giuliani. Sloan’s op-ed said:

Sure, the $900 million-plus of losses reported by the New York Times–losses that could be used to offset income for a total of 18 years–are totally shocking. Legal, yes. But shocking.

But there’s something I consider even more shocking–although it involves a much smaller number.

By my read of the Trump tax return published by the New York Times, he would have been tax-free because of a $15,818,562 loss reported on Line 11 of the return under “Rental real estate, royalties, partnerships, S corporations, trusts, etc.” It looks to me that this loss reflects the outrageous, special tax break that real estate developers that people like Trump can get, but that the rest of us can’t.

In the current election cycle Trump has refused to release his returns, unlike every other presidential candidate in modern history. As the candidates begin to bridge the gap between voters, it is imperative they remain honest and forthcoming–a common complaint for both of their campaigns.

Trump declined to comment on the documents. Instead, he tweeted a personal attack at the Times.

I know our complex tax laws better than anyone who has ever run for president and am the only one who can fix them. #failing@nytimes

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2016

The Trump campaign released a statement that neither challenged nor confirmed the $916 million loss.

“Mr. Trump is a highly-skilled businessman who has a fiduciary responsibility to his business, his family and his employees to pay no more tax than legally required,” the statement said. “That being said, Mr. Trump has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in property taxes, sales and excise taxes, real estate taxes, city taxes, state taxes, employee taxes and federal taxes, along with very substantial charitable contributions.”

Bryan White

Bryan is an editorial intern at Law Street Media from Stratford, NJ. He is a sophomore at American University, pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Journalism. When he is not reading up on the news, you can find him curled up with an iced chai and a good book. Contact Bryan at BWhite@LawStreetMedia.com.

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The New York Times teamed up with music mogul Jay Z and illustrator Molly Crabapple to release a short op-ed film Thursday critiquing the United State’s war on drugs.

The film, which is titled “A History on the War on Drugs: From Prohibition to the Gold Rush,” is written and narrated by Jay Z, and is described by the Times as being “part history lesson about the war on drugs and part vision statement.”

Paired  perfectly with Crabapple’s vivid animations, Jay Z  critiques the double standards existing between drug dealers–more specifically between poor people of color and their wealthy white counterparts.

The project was proposed last year by Dream Hampton, the filmmaker and a co-author of Jay Z’s book “Decoded.” According to the New York Times:

Ms. Hampton wanted to tackle the contradiction raised by Michelle Alexander, the author of “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,” in 2014: Why were white men poised to get rich doing the very same thing that African-American boys and men had long been going to prison for?

“In 1986, when I was coming of age, Ronald Reagan doubled down on the war on drugs, that had been started by Richard Nixon in 1971,” Jay says in the beginning of the film of the Nixon administration. “Drugs were bad, fried your brain and drug dealers were monsters, sole reason neighborhoods and major cities were failing.”

He goes on to explain how the federal government made a distinction between people who sold powder cocaine and people who sold crack cocaine, even though they were the same drug, but were consumed differently. This led to courts handing out mandatory life sentences for low-level drug sales–that just  so happened to specifically target African Americans. Jay Z says,

Even though white people used and sold crack more than Black people, somehow it was Black people who went to prison. The media ignored actual data to this day, crack it’s still talked about as Black problem.

For years people have struggled to understand the topic of mass incarceration of African Americans, especially since they make up around 13 percent of the U.S.  population, yet are 31 percent of those arrested for drug law violations, even though they use and sell drugs at the same rate as whites. This visually stunning op-ed continues to open up the dialogue on this topic, as well as help strive for necessary changes to our flawed judicial system

For a full transcript of the film click here

Watch the Video Below

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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In a shocking article yesterday, The New York Times revealed the fate of some of the unclaimed dead that end up on Hart Island off the Bronx. In a perfect setting for a horror movie, these graves sit in the company of a former insane asylum and a tuberculosis clinic. But the bodies that end up buried in mass graves are not only poor people with no family or John Does, but also bodies accidentally discarded after being donated for medical research, without the family’s knowledge.

The article tells how in the 1800s bodies from black slaves were used for anatomical research and dissection, either donated by slave owners or just poached from burial grounds. But when a lack of corpses resulted in white, “respectable” bodies being stolen from morgues for the purpose of medical studies, it caused riots. The solution was to legalize the donating of unclaimed bodies to the schools, and these later ended up at Hart Island. Burials started in 1869 and the island is now the last resting place for more than a million people.

If you’re wondering how this could be possible, it’s important to keep in mind that the burial and cremation laws are different for every state. A casket is not necessary to be buried in the state of New York, even though most prefer one, and it is often a big expense that can range from $500 to over $20,000, depending on design and material. On top of that come fees for handling the body, embalming if you prefer, clothes to be buried in, refrigeration, and more. The total cost for being buried in New York can be around $10,000, so it’s not hard to imagine that many don’t come close to affording it.

The window a family has to claim a body can be as short as 48 hours after death, after that the body is available to any medical schools, or mortuary classes. New York is unique in that these unclaimed bodies are later taken to the potter’s field on the uninhabited and remote Hart Island by a group of inmates.

According to the article, private donations of bodies to medical research have increased so much that bodies from city morgues are rarely claimed for this purpose anymore. And even these bodies, that can be extremely wealthy or have a big, loving family, can accidentally end up on Hart Island in cases of miscommunication. It’s a disturbing concept, but one that has now grasped the public’s attention in light of the New York Times piece.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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It’s been two-and-a-half years since Hurricane Sandy last dominated headlines, but recently the storm has been pulled back into the media. From the 60 Minutes special “The Storm After the Storm,” to this funny yet poignant spot on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” and an article in last week’s edition of The New York Times have all described problems along the road to recovery.

Some residents of the New York/New Jersey area who received the brunt of the hurricane’s wrath are still waiting to receive full compensation for their damaged homes and businesses. Daily Show correspondent Jordan Klepper created a satirical news package that brought to light the struggles of one Staten Island neighborhood. The spot revealed that victims of Hurricane Sandy are still waiting to receive money to rebuild their destroyed houses. One woman explained that she was frustrated because organizations such as “Build It Back” lose paperwork and do not do enough to help affected communities.

The coverage on “60 Minutes” attributed the delayed or missing compensation to intentionally doctored paperwork, claiming there is evidence that insurance and engineering companies often falsified reports. In one example, a company claimed that the damage caused by the storm was long-term damage that existed before the hurricane rolled into town, even though paperwork from a previous visit to the home determined the damage was due to the storm. The resident maintained that the damage was indeed caused by the events of Hurricane Sandy, producing evidence of the paperwork from the original visit.

How is FEMA reacting to all this hoopla? Well, the organization will be reviewing every flood insurance claim filed by homeowners affected by Hurricane Sandy. FEMA’s message was announced by Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, along with Senators Robert Menendez and Cory Booker, Tweeter Extraordinaire, of New Jersey. (Seriously though, check out Senator Booker’s on-point Twitter account here).

Along with reviewing every flood insurance claim, FEMA will also be launching its own internal inquiry. While all of these reviews and inquiries sound great in theory, there is still not a concrete plan of attack as to when (or how) Sandy victims will be compensated. Steve Mostyn, the lead lawyer representing New York homeowners, remained cautiously optimistic:

We are happy that FEMA now agrees to reopen all Sandy claims. However, that process has not been worked out and the details of that process will determine if it is real or just window dressing.

Hurricane Sandy caused 117 deaths and more than $60 billion worth of damage, second only to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. If America does not improve its process for addressing national disasters, what will happen to homeowners seeking compensation in the future? How many years will they have to wait to rebuild? Is the United States ill-equipped to handle the aftermath of the next deadly tornado in Nebraska, or future large-scale fire in California? Hurricane Sandy might have been an East Coast problem, but fair–and timely–post-storm compensation is a national issue.

Corinne Fitamant

Corinne Fitamant is a graduate of Fordham College at Lincoln Center where she received a Bachelors degree in Communications and a minor in Theatre Arts. When she isn’t pondering issues of social justice and/or celebrity culture, she can be found playing the guitar and eating chocolate. Contact Corinne at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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