On Saturday night the New York Times shared the Republican nominee’s records, revealing Trump had collected a almost billion-dollar loss from his casinos venture, which allowed him to avoid paying taxes over an 18-year period. Please note the emphasis on “could”. According to the New York Times piece, Trump allegedly reported a staggering $916 million loss in his 1995 income tax return. Now that The New York Times has published information on Trump’s alleged 1995 tax returns, though, will we see a change of heart from the Trump campaign?
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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.
Not only that, Christie said, but the documents supporting the report illustrate Trump’s success in what the governor characterized as the weak economic climate of the early 1990s. Why is this even a news story? Trump claimed negative income in both those years: losses of $406,379 in 1978 and of $3,443,560 in 1979.
Bob McIntyre of the liberal Citizens for Tax Justice argued that the tax code needs to remain complicated because people like Trump keep trying to find ways to avoid the simple requirement to pay their fair share.
Speaking to USA media, Mr Giuliani said as a business owner Mr Trump has a “fiduciary duty” to the investors in his real estate company to maximise profits.
Giuliani, former NY mayor, said Trump “had some failures and then he built an empire” and called the businessman “a genius at how to take advantage of legal remedies that can help your company survive and grow”.
“There are not very many smart businessmen who don’t take advantage of the legal tax laws that are there”.
But the Times doesn’t go into any detail about the way the Clintons have protected their wealth or the fact that, since 1997, when the Clinton Foundation – aka Hillary’s Super PAC was founded – it has raised $2 billion to help promote the Clintons’ endeavours. But rumors swirled around Marla Maples, Trump’s second wife, who might have gotten them as part of her divorce proceedings in 1999.
She said a lawyer for Mr Trump had threatened the newspaper with legal action if it made a decision to publish the documents.
The Clinton campaign has hammered Trump on his unreleased tax returns.
While not admitting to paying little or nothing in taxes, Mr Trump boasted on Twitter that what he called his deftness in fiscal and business dealings is one of his greatest strengths.
Donald Trump is tweeting about the New York Times story that alleges he lost so much money in 1995 that he would have been allowed to pay no federal income taxes for as many as 18 years.
A CNBC review of IRS tax return data found that in 1995 claims of net operating losses averaged about $98,000 per return. There is no legal reason why a person under audit can not make their tax records public while they are running for the office. That’s SMART! He hired the right income tax lawyers!
Before running for president, Trump said he would release his tax returns if he ran.
The Trump did not appear publicly on Sunday, but weighed in on social media, saying he was singularly qualified to fix the nation’s tax system.
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Clinton made no mention of Trump’s taxes during her events in North Carolina Sunday and did not respond to a shouted question about it. Trump has not released a copy of the audit letter, but it is a reasonable assumption that he would be subject to a lengthy audit, given that his returns are so complex (Trump holds interests in some 500 separate entities, according to the financial disclosure reports presidential candidates are required to submit).
