Trump has a history of bashing those who don’t pay the full amount of taxes that their tax code should make them pay. President Obama, hedge fund managers, half of Americans. All because of the “crippling debt” we are in. Against that backdrop the revelations that Trump has likely paid no taxes in almost 2 decades is indeed a damaging bombshell, further crippling Trump’s candidacy.
Meanwhile, Chris Christie as well as Rudy Giuliani are trying to put lipstick on this pig of a bombshell tax article that the New York Times just published, and they are making themselves look foolish doing so.
Highlights:
Previously Trump bashed people who don’t pay their share in taxes:
TRUMP about hedge fund managers:
”They're paying nothing. And it's ridiculous.”
“They make a fortune, they pay no tax. It's ridiculous, OK? It's the wrong thing.”
”The hedge fund guys are getting away with murder. They're making a tremendous amount of money. They have to pay taxes.”
TRUMP about Obama:
”BarackObama who wants to raise all our taxes, only pays 20.5% on $790k salary. usa.gov/... Do as I say not as I do.”
TRUMP about Americans:
“HALF of Americans don't pay income tax despite crippling govt debt”
Christie: “There's no one who's shown more genius in their way to maneuver about the tax code as he rightfully used the laws to do that.”
Christie: “This is actually a very, very good story for Donald Trump.”
WALLACE: Well, in fact, the Trump campaign issued a statement last night that was a classic nondenial denial. Here's what he put up. He has, Trump has, a "fiduciary responsibility to pay no more tax than legally required."
It’s in effect what he said in the first debate, if he paid no taxes, that makes him smart. I mean, I assume that if he had paid lots of taxes over those years, he'd have told us so. “
Giuliani: “He’s a genius. ... Absolute genius.”
Giuliani: “He would have been a fool not to take advantage of it”
Donald Trump, in the not so distant past, was very hard on people who sought to avoid taxes, or didn’t pay a FULL tax share for the supposed income bracket they are in, for instance Barack Obama, half of Americans, hedge fund managers. People not paying the full amount of taxes they should was heavily criticized by Donald Trump, citing the “crippling debt” as the main reason for why it is wrong not to pay the maximum amount of taxes you should be paying (relative to your tax bracket).
Washington Post:
Trump, taxes and Twitter: His attacks on others now back under the spotlight
Donald Trump has a history of tweeting about taxes.
He's used the topic to try to ridicule others and mock the process of filing taxes. But now, Trump's taxes have been thrust into the center of the presidential campaign following a Saturday New York Times story about the GOP nominee declaring a loss of $916 million on his income tax returns for 1995, a shortfall he could have used to avoid paying any federal income taxes for up to 18 years.
And so, the fiscal fighting words Trump has posted on social media are under a renewed spotlight, as Twitter users have re-posted some of them in the wake of the Times story.
There was the time in 2012 when he claimed tax day was President Obama's "favorite day of the year."
.On CBS ‘Face the Nation’ in August of last year:
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From the “CBS — Face the Nation” transcript, August 23rd, 2015:
Face the Nation transcript August 23, 2015
You told "TIME" magazine -- you said, "I have hedge fund guys that are making a lot of money that aren't paying anything."
TRUMP: Right.
DICKERSON: Would you change that? And how would you do it?
TRUMP: I would change it. They're paying nothing. And it's ridiculous.
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They make a fortune, they pay no tax. It's ridiculous, OK? This -- and some of them are friends of mine. Some of them, I couldn't care less about. It's the wrong thing.
The hedge fund guys are getting away with murder. They're making a tremendous amount of money. They have to pay taxes.
Wait, aren’t you supposedly “smart” and a “genius” for avoiding to pay taxes? You said it yourself in the debate, watched by more than 84 Million people. “That makes me smart”. Your top surrogates are going around calling you a genius for avoiding to pay taxes. Why are these hedge fund guys somehow getting away with murder, and “they have to pay taxes” and “It’s the wrong thing” when YOU yourself proudly pay no taxes at all on your massive income?
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Yeah, Barack Obama’s favorite day of the year, tax day, because creeps like you, Donald, manage to pay no taxes at all, and there are way too many of your like, living in unbelievable luxury and owning fabulous wealth, who pay NOTHING, ZERO, ZILCH. That is a big drain on government services and contributes greatly to the deficit. People like you, PARASITES who take advantage of the rest of us, who pay taxes, without paying any taxes at all.
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.HALF of all Americans don’t pay taxes. Can’t have that, because we have crippling debt. NOW this man is a GENIUS for not paying his taxes on income he makes?
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Signing your tax return is "ridiculous?" When you have a big fat zero as your tax obligation, that should make you do the happy dance, you charlatan:
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You call yourself a “genius” and “smart” for paying ZERO in taxes. Yet, you, who pays NOTHING on hundreds of Millions income get on Obama for paying “only 20.5%”? “Do as I say, not as I do” indeed.
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You pay ZERO and are “smart” and a “genius” for it. So, what is your excuse for not employing more people then?
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I agree that hedge fund manager need to pay more. 15% is a joke. The regular income tax rates should apply. But, THAT sentiment coming from a man who considers himself “smart” and a “genius” for paying NOTHING in taxes? Don the Con.
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Of course, despite Trump’s previous ramblings that those who don’t pay taxes are “getting away with murder They make a fortune, they pay no tax. It’s ridiculous, ok?” he himself considers it “smart” and “genius” to “get away with murder”, “pay no tax.” Because in his case he should be REWARDED for not paying any taxes by letting him become President so he can CHANGE the system so people like him won’t be able to take advantage, “get away with murder” and take us all to the cleaners, greatly contributing to shortfalls in our tax income, the deficit, the debt. ANYONE believe that he would actually DO that? Give the fox the run of the hen house? REALLY?
Trump’s surrogates, in what can only be called tone deaf delusion, are defending his non-tax-paying ways by calling him a “genius” for avoiding to pay any income taxes.
Chris Christie: Bombshell Trump Tax Piece Is Actually Good For His Campaign
Nothing to see here. Move along.
A bombshell New York Times report that suggested Donald Trumpmay have avoided paying federal income taxes for 18 years was a positive for the candidate, one that exhibited his “genius” and underscored his policy acumen, Trump’s top surrogate said Sunday.
Appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” Chris Christie was given the unenviable task of being the first to respond to the Saturday night story that revealed, for the first time, pages of Trump’s tax returns (specifically those from 1995). And the New Jersey governor put a remarkably sunny spin on the entire issue.
“This is actually a very, very good story for Donald Trump,” he declared at one point.
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Here is the full interview on Fox News Sunday with Chris Christie:
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“What it shows is what an absolute mess the federal tax code is and that’s why Donald Trump is the best person to fix it. There is no one who has shown more genius in their way to maneuver around the tax code.”
“The genius of Donald Trump is to make sure he follows the law ... and politically he has said he is going to change these laws,” Christie said. He added that Trump should only be “taking a bow for the fact that he has said, well before this story came out, that we need to change the tax laws because they are harming the American people every day.”
Here is the relevant portion of the transcript of Christie’s appearance on Fox News Sunday:
Christie on leaked Trump tax return - Transcript
CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: I’m Chris Wallace.
With new reports Trump may have paid no federal income taxes for years, he and Clinton plot their strategies for the campaign's final five weeks.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, R-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The Clintons are the past. We will be the very bright and clean future.
WALLACE: Trump threatens to go after Bill Clinton's sex scandal.
TRUMP: Impeachment for lying. Remember that? Impeach.
WALLACE: And doubles down on attacking of former Miss Universe.
TRUMP: A lot of things are coming out about her. I’m not going to say anything. I couldn't care less.
WALLACE: We'll talk with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a top adviser, about Trump's controversial comments and how it affects his standing with women.
Then, Hillary Clinton takes a victory lap after the first debate.
HILLARY CLINTON, D-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: One down, two to go.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: And hello again from Fox News in Washington.
Donald Trump faces a new controversy today with a report in The New York Times, he declared a $916 million loss in his 1995 tax returns, a loss so big the paper says he could -- repeat could -- have avoided paying any federal income taxes for up to 18 years.
Meanwhile, Trump has opened a new line of attack on the Clintons' marriage, and he continues to fan a storm of criticism over comments about a former beauty queen.
In a few minutes, we'll talk with Clinton supporter Senator Claire McCaskill, but we begin with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, the head of Trump's transition team.
Governor, let's start with this new report that Trump had a billion dollar loss in 1995 that could have meant he paid no federal income taxes for years, maybe as much as 18 years. One, what does that say about him as a businessman? And what does that say about him failing to pitch in like the rest of us to pay for our military and our roads and other services?
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, R-NEW JERSEY: Well, first of all, Chris, what it shows is what an absolute mess the federal tax code is, and that's why Donald Trump is the person best positioned to fix it. There's no one who's shown more genius in their way to maneuver about the tax code as he rightfully used the laws to do that. And he's already promised in his tax plan to change many of these special interest loopholes and get rid of them so you don't have this kind of situation.
I think the worst part, Chris, is this is a tax code that people in America suffer under every day. And so, it's an awful thing.
Second thing is on The New York Times report -- you know, fact is that even their own tax expert, after a big splashy headline, said there was nothing in there that was outside the law or outside the ordinary.
Last point I want to make on this, Chris, you know, the late 19 -- the early 1990s was a difficult time for lots of folks. We went into a recession, as I know you'll recall, and Donald Trump wrote the book "The Art of the Comeback." This is a guy who when lots of businesses went out of business in the early 1990s, he fought and clawed back to build another fortune, to create tens of thousands of more jobs. This is actually a very, very good story for Donald Trump.
WALLACE: Wait. You're saying it's a good story for Donald Trump that he failed to pay any federal income taxes -- first of all, that he took a billion-dollar loss, and that he failed to pay any federal income taxes for years. That's a good story?
CHRISTIE: Chris, first of all, you don't know he didn't pay for federal income taxes for years. All the story said was that kind of loss can be used for up to 18 years. But if Mr. Trump made $600 million the next year, $600 million, that loss would be wiped out.
So, let's be precise about what it said. The New York Times does not have any information in that story that says Mr. Trump did not pay taxes. Aw all they did was quote the law which says if you have that kind of loss, you can use that kind of loss to offset income for up to 18 years.
What we have said is that Mr. Trump has paid millions and millions and millions of dollars in taxes, state and local taxes, property taxes, and federal income taxes over time.
WALLACE: If I may --
CHRISTIE: But, Chris, that's not what the report says. You can't come on TV this morning and say that Donald Trump did not pay taxes for years and years when that's not what the story says.
WALLACE: Well, in fact, the Trump campaign issued a statement last night that was a classic nondenial denial. Here's what he put up. He has, Trump has, a "fiduciary responsibility to pay no more tax than legally required."
It’s in effect what he said in the first debate, if he paid no taxes, that makes him smart. I mean, I assume that if he had paid lots of taxes over those years, he'd have told us so.
CHRISTIE: Well, that's a big assumption on your part, given that the advice he's gotten -- by the way, this proves the advice he's gotten from his lawyers and accountants is the right advice, because if you're talking about a tax return from 1995 and all of you in the media have been saying, why don't you release the tax returns that aren't under audit? Well, they're all connected, because of the byzantine tax laws.
And the genius that Donald Trump has been, to make sure he follows the law, which is exactly what he's done, and politically he has said that he's going to change these laws and that there's no one who's better suited to change these laws than someone like him who's been subjected to audit by the IRS year after year after year.
WALLACE: So, just to sum this up, because I want to move on to other subjects -- as a top Trump adviser, as the head of his presidential transition team, your reaction to the story in "The Times" today is no apologies?
CHRISTIE: Oh, for gosh sakes. No apologies for complying with the law. And, by the way, taking a bow for the fact he's said well before this story ever came out that we need to change the tax laws because they are harming Americans every day with their complexity and favoring people that they shouldn't favor.
And Donald Trump has been the one person who against his own personal interests has said that he wants to change those tax laws and as president he will. That's the kind of leadership America needs.
And one last thing, Chris, you know, about the losses -- the fact is that this is a guy who rebuilt his entire business empire after the recession in the early 1990s, wrote "The Art of the Comeback." Let me tell you, America needs a comeback, and we need somebody like Donald Trump to lead that comeback.
So, then, what Trump and Christie are saying, it’s ok to be a Billionaire, make lots of money, have houses everywhere, live a luxurious lifestyle with gold faucets, Million Dollar parties, but pay not a dime in taxes, apparently for decades, for schools, police, the military, caring for vets, building and maintenance of roads and highways, etc? Just because the tax code might allow for it in form of a loophole? No, it makes Trump, the Billionaire, a parasite who takes advantage of all of us who ARE paying federal income taxes every year. And, to claim that that kind of person is the right person for the job to actually FIX the problem is the most brazen spin of all. It is like saying the person who robbed a bank should keep all the money he stole because he was great at finding the flaws in the bank’s security system, and, well, Finders, Keepers, right?
For his part, Rudy Giuliani was banging the same drum on ABC’s THIS WEEK:
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“My response is, he’s a genius. ... Absolute genius,” Giuliani said. “This is a perfectly legal application of the tax code and he would have been a fool not to take advantage of it. Not only that, he would have probably breached his fiduciary duty to investors, to his business. You have an obligation when you run a business to maximize the profits, and if there is a tax law that says I can deduct this, you deduct it. If you fail to deduct it, your investors can sue you.”
These people are disgusting and shameless. They are trying to sell this damaging story of Trump as a serial tax avoider as “Trump is an absolute genius” and a “smart” guy, meanwhile we get to pay our taxes every year so people like Trump and his family can take advantage of all the federal government has to offer without paying a penny in taxes.
A super wealthy Billionaire who is not paying a penny in taxes is considered a “genius” and “smart”? No, the proper description is: He is a con man, a parasite, everything that’s wrong with this country.