For years, conservative billionaires have treated Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas to opulent vacations and trips on their private jets. If these were anything other than disinterested gifts, then they’re taxable — and Thomas owes the IRS a huge bill.

For years, conservative billionaires have treated Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas to opulent vacations and trips on their private jets. If these were anything other than disinterested gifts, then they’re taxable — and Thomas owes the IRS a huge bill.

When Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas flouted longstanding ethics laws by refusing to disclose billionaire gifts, he avoided public outrage for years. Based on new revelations about the potential motivations behind those gifts, he also may have avoided laws requiring Americans to pay taxes on such donations, legal experts say.

Recent reporting from ProPublica revealed that Thomas was showered with luxury gifts from wealthy benefactors, including vacations, private flights, school tuition, and even a loan for a high-end RV. Though Thomas has insisted the gifts were just the innocent generosity of friends, many came after he threatened to resign over the justices’ low salaries — and one of Thomas’s vacation companions said the money was given to supplement the justice’s “limited salary.”

According to experts, if these benefits were given to Thomas as a way to buttress his regular pay and keep him on the court, they could be considered a taxable transaction rather than a gift. By refusing to publicly disclose such transactions, Thomas made it impossible for watchdog groups to alert tax-enforcement officials about the potential issue in real time.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    1001·
    11 months ago

    How does a “public servant” get to just choose to not release financial transactions?

    By having a lifetime appointment that no one will ever take away from you.

      • LufyCZ@lemmy.world
        1540·
        11 months ago

        I’d be careful with things like this.

        If not anything else, it makes you not much better than the republicans calling for the death of “election riggers” and the lot.

        Be better.

        • Sanctus@lemmy.worldEnglish
          211·
          11 months ago

          Hercules did not throw away the Nemean Lion, and we should not either. We need this anger. It is the energy source of a movement for something better. There will always be stray calls of violence and badly pointed half-jokes. But never call for someone to quell the spark that transforms the world around you. That spark always starts with something thats not right and a fiery will that seeks to change it. We are not like the Maggats chanting for death. Good is less subjective in this context than nuance would have you believe.

          • WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world
            34·
            11 months ago

            We are not like the Maggats chanting for death.

            Look at pretty much any political Lemmy thread. That’s exactly what you are. Hell, look at the grandparent to your own post.

          • LufyCZ@lemmy.world
            23·
            11 months ago

            The guy legitimately “proposed” killing a supreme court justice.

            In no fucking world is something like that okay. Don’t legitimize killing people.

            You’re no better than the very thing you hate.

            • Sanctus@lemmy.worldEnglish
              2·
              11 months ago

              The same Supreme Court Justices who have sentenced countless women and children to death and despair with the removal of Wade vs Roe? The same nefarious judges who accept bribes and are the most corrupt to ever take a seat on the highest court in the land? Those judges? Yes, threats are uncivilized. But theres a difference between this anger and the bigotry of the fascist right. We are angry our rights and protections are stripped. They are angry because trans people exist. We are not the same.

              • LufyCZ@lemmy.world
                22·
                11 months ago

                The same judges who did something they had a right to do.

                I don’t support what they did, but they had the right to do it.

                Blame the lawmakers for not codifying basic human rights, blame the people who didn’t vote, hell, blame the judges for making a retarded decision.

                But if you care, don’t threaten to kill any of them. Felons can’t vote last time I checked.

                • Sanctus@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  1·
                  11 months ago

                  Thats logical, but not how real life emotions work. People see that they shot it down, and now they are angry at them. Thats how it goes. Now we can use that anger, and point it in tbe direction of progress and reforms. We can use this anger and get together to sign petitions and take all the official routes, and we should. But don’t throw it away, and don’t let anyone tell you anger is useless. You have to get angry about the bad parts of our society to change them. Like I said, there will be stray calls of violence, it does not mean you should throw away your anger towards the fucked up shit in the world.

          • GrundlButter@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            102·
            11 months ago

            “Look at these folks on the violent left, threatening a Supreme Court justice.”

            -Trump probably

            Democracy and civility was fucked to death the day Nazis stormed Charlottesville and executed a counter protestor, and Trump called them “fine people” and still got elected. It was necrophilia when he told the Jan 6th terrorists to go home in peace and that he loved them.

            • candybrie@lemmy.world
              24·
              11 months ago

              Who is often more unpopular than Trump.

              At any point, more than half of democrats don’t approve of him and basically no Republicans do.

          • LufyCZ@lemmy.world
            13·
            11 months ago

            So where does this stop?

            Today, we’re proposing killing a supreme court justice.

            Tomorrow, we’ll be storming the Capitol.

            You’re fueled by hate and it’s destroying the thing you stand for. You hate the republicans so much for the things they’ve done that you’re ready to do the very same.

            You are a part of the problem. And if not yet, one day you will be.

          • WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world
            27·
            11 months ago

            You never tried going high. Going high would mean fighting for justice while holding yourself to the standards that you wish to enforce. Obama’s strategy of appeasement and capitulation was never “going high” despite what Michelle says.

            • bean@lemmy.world
              6·
              11 months ago

              He was maintaining dignity and respect in the office. He at least tried to work with them.

        • agitatedpotato@lemmy.world
          21·
          11 months ago

          Republicans all have the same superpower where if they hold their breath long enough, the world becomes a better place. Is that what you mean by be better?

              • LufyCZ@lemmy.world
                11·
                11 months ago

                I suggest you read my comment again. What you came up with is completely unrelated.

                I’m telling the lad who thinks killing people is the best way to solve problems that he might want to reconsider being a shitty person, and if nothing else, at least not committing a felony (arguably).

                Have a nice day, doesn’t sound like you have those very often.