Trump a ‘genius’ over federal income tax after $916m loss, say allies
New York Times says nominee may not have paid federal income tax in 18 years, leading Giuliani and Sanders to defend nominee while Sanders leads Democratic attack
Donald Trump responded on Sunday morning to a New York Times report that he may not have paid federal income tax for 18 years, tweeting: I know our complex tax laws better than anyone who has ever run for president and am the only one who can fix them.
The Clinton campaign called the report about the Republican nominees taxes a bombshell, and called for him to release his full tax returns. Bernie Sanders, once Hillary Clintons opponent for the Democratic nomination and now a supporter of her campaign, said the report was evidence of a corrupt political system in this country.
Trump did notdeny the report, which was based on documents from his 1995 tax return, mailed to the newspaper by an anonymous source.
Susanne Craig, the reporter to whom the documents were sent, told CNN on Sunday morning the Trump camp had threatened to sue the paper, saying tax returns are confidential, and we made a decision last night to go forward.
I dont think its a crime to check your mailbox and thats what we did and we did some reporting, she said.
Asked if the Times was sitting on more documents, Craig said: Were doing a lot of reporting around this. So were going to keep on going. Asked if the paper knew who had sent the documents, she offered no comment.
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The Times report did not accuse Trump of any illegal practice, but citing analysis by tax experts, suggested that by registering a loss of $916m, the businessman could have canceled out equivalent taxable income until 2013.
Campaign allies defended Trump. New Jersey governor Chris Christie told Fox News Sunday the story was very good for the candidate as it showed the genius of Donald Trump .
Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani told CNN: Well all I have is the New York Times story to go on, so lets comment on it as if it were true. This is perfectly legal.
He has an obligation as the head of a business to take advantage of and to use the lawful deductions and tax advantages that are available to you. The man is a genius, he knows how to operate the tax code for the benefit of the people he is serving.
Giuliani did not say whether he himself paid federal income tax. I pay my lawful tax and [Trump] paid his lawful tax, he said. If he did not take advantage of those tax deductions or advantages that he has he could be sued. His obligation is to make money for his enterprises and save money for his enterprises. It would be insane for him not to take advantage.
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Speaking in support of Clinton, Sanders told ABC: If everyone in this country was a genius like Mr Trump and did not pay taxes, we would not have a country.
This is exactly why so many millions of Americans are frustrated, he added to CNN. They are angry, they are disgusted at what they see as a corrupt political system in this country.
Trump has a long history of criticizing people who do not pay taxes, such as tweet from September 2015 in which he said: The hedge fund guys (gals) have to pay higher taxes ASAP. They are paying practically nothing. We must reduce taxes for the middle class!
On Sunday, Sanders said: You have middle class people working longer hours for low wages, they pay their taxes. They support their schools, they support their infrastructure, they support the military, but the billionaires, no, they dont have to do that because they have their friends on Capitol Hill. They pay zero in taxes.
So Trump goes around and says, Hey, Im worth billions, Im a successful business man, but I dont pay any taxes, but you, you who earn 15 bucks an hour, you pay the taxes. Thats why people are angry and want real change in this country.
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
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
Jack Mitnick, a semiretired accountant who according to the Times handled Trumps taxes for three decades, told the paper Trump had a brash and undisciplined style.
Mitnick, 80, who prepared a New Jersey return obtained by the Times, recalled, for example, that when Donald and Ivana Trump came in each year to sign their tax forms, it was almost always Ivana who asked more questions.
Trump has refused to release tax returns, saying that he cannot do so while under audit. There is no rulepreventing the release of records. Clinton has released tax returns dating back to 1977.
In the first presidential debate, on Monday, Trump broached the question of his tax returns. When Clinton wondered aloud whether such records would reveal that Trump was not as rich as he says he is or not as charitable as he claims to be, or whether he had paid nothing in federal taxes, Trump interjected: That makes me smart.
In another tweet on Sunday Trump said: I have created tens of thousands of jobs and will bring back great American prosperity. Hillary has only created jobs at the FBI and DOJ!
Speaking to ABC, Giuliani said the only thing she has ever produced is a lot of work for the FBI, checking out her emails.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/02/donald-trump-federal-income-tax-new-york-times