Trump could have avoided income taxes for eighteen years
By Annika Fagerholm 10/3/16
A report from The New York Times shows that Donald Trump could have been avoiding income taxes for nearly two decades.
The Times’ article, posted Sunday night, stated that Trump declared a $916 million loss in 1995 which was substantial enough to allow him to avoid paying taxes for 18 years and offset profits he had been making from other businesses. The pages were mailed to Times reporter Susanne Craig last month.
The Times did not look at his federal returns but it did look at part of his New York State resident income tax return as well as part of his New Jersey and Connecticut nonresident income tax returns. Jack Mitnick, a lawyer who has previously handled Trump’s taxes told the Times that the returns appeared to be authentic.
The documents have not been verified by news sources other than The Times, however, the Trump campaign has yet to challenge the report. They did announce in a statement after the article was published that the tax document was “illegally obtained.”
With five weeks until Election Day, the issue surrounding Trump’s tax returns has led to many questions from voters as well as Trump’s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. In the first presidential debate, Clinton suggested that if Trump did release his tax returns, then they would show that he hasn’t paid any federal taxes. Trump interrupted his opponent to say “That makes me smart.”
Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani praised Trump on CNN’s “State of the Union” saying, “The man’s a genius. He knows how to operate the tax code to the benefit of the people he’s serving.”
The Clinton Campaign has taken full advantage of the Times report. Brian Fallon, who is the campaign spokesman tweeted “Trump’s returns show just how lousy a businessman he is and how long he may have avoided paying any taxes.”
Until Trump personally releases his tax returns, there is no way to know whether or not he paid income taxes. If he refuses to do so, he will be the first presidential nominee since 1976.