Trump refused to talk about his tax returns and slammed the Times report as "completely fake news" on Sunday. But the article portrays the anti-elite crusader critic of a corrupt system as being effectively using its loopholes to avoid paying any federal taxes whatsoever in 10 of the 15 years starting in 2000 by writing off his staggering losses.
In 2016 and 2017, Trump paid only $ 750 in federal income taxes - far less than many Americans working hard amid a deep recession to stay afloat. Trump got huge discounts - including $ 70,000 to take care of his hair - and it also appears to have written off the hundreds of thousands of dollars that he paid his daughter Ivanka as an adviser to Trump's organization, according to the newspaper's report. The story also reveals the extent to which Trump's position as president is being used to support his losing projects - for example his Washington, DC hotel, and his golf resorts.
Tony Schwartz, who penned Trump's book The Art of the Bargain, even said he was surprised by the "utter rudeness" of Trump's behavior, remarking to CNN reporter Anderson Cooper that he had revealed "the kind of mind that would think" I could get it "without paying taxes on hundreds of income. Millions of dollars. "
The publication of the deeply reported article, based on more than two decades of its tax information obtained by The Times, comes just two days before the first presidential debate and 37 days before the election in which Democrat succeeds Joe Biden. It poses a serious challenge to the presidency that we now know Trump may need to preserve to overtake creditors with hundreds of millions of dollars in loans soon.
It leaves the president facing multiple questions about his ethics and behavior - and his patriotism as he appears to pay more taxes to many foreign countries than he pays Uncle Sam. The reports also raise the possibility that Trump's fraudulent impeachment, which has already been the focus of many investigations in New York, could expose him to serious legal issues when he leaves office.
The Times report, for example, says the president has been fighting the Internal Revenue Service for years over whether the losses he claimed would result in a staggering $ 73 million tax refund.
Biden discussion opening
In the short term, the New York Times report gives Biden a golden opportunity to put Trump on the defensive during his first debate in Cleveland, Ohio, Tuesday evening.
"In Donald Trump, you have a president who spends his time thinking about how to make his way out of paying taxes to fulfill the obligation that every other worker in this country meets every year ... With Joe Biden you have someone with him from a completely different perspective than it means to be a family." Working in this country. "
The key figure - that Trump only paid $ 750 in taxes in two consecutive years - is perhaps the most compelling, because it is recognizable and strikes such a clear comparison with the largest number almost all Americans pay. If a man with his private plane, gold-leafed houses, and a chain of golf resorts can get away with it, who would argue that the system is not irreversibly biased against ordinary people?
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