Will the New York Times taxes report sink Donald
Trump?
His returns examined at last, the president stands
exposed as a tax avoider and serial debtor. It raises serious questions – but
also, most likely, the passions of his fervent supporters
Trump’s taxes: key findings from the New York Times
report
David Smith
in Washington
@smithinamerica
Mon 28 Sep
2020 02.56 BSTLast modified on Mon 28 Sep 2020 02.58 BST
From the
moment he rode down an escalator in the marble-clad, gold-trimmed Trump Tower
to declare his candidacy for US president, Donald Trump was selling himself as
a successful businessman who could run a successful economy.
It was an
image cultivated with voters for a decade on The Apprentice, the reality TV
show in which Trump sat in judgment on aspiring entrepreneurs and told most:
“You’re fired!”
On Sunday
the mask was finally torn off. According to a blockbuster New York Times
investigation into his taxes, the self-proclaimed billionaire, a
personification of the hedonism and extravagance of the 1980s, has been losing
more money than he makes.
These are
the three key points of the Times report:
- Trump is not very good at business
- Trump is very good at avoiding taxes
- Trump may have serious conflicts of interests with foreign powers
Will any of
it have a major impact on his reelection chances? Up to a point.
Donald Trump is
a fraud … a deadbeat who doesn’t pay much in taxes
Joaquin Castro
Trump
declared a staggering $1.4bn in losses from his core businesses for 2008 and
2009. He appears to have personally guaranteed loans totalling $421m, most now
due within four years. The Times reported: “Should he win re-election, his
lenders could be placed in the unprecedented position of weighing whether to
foreclose on a sitting president.”
Joaquin
Castro, a Democratic congressman from Texas, told MSNBC the Times report
“reveals what many people have suspected, which is the larger point that Donald
Trump is a fraud, that he’s not what he claims to be.
“He claims
to be a successful, deal-making businessman who built himself up from the
ground and his tax records reveal that he’s actually the opposite. He’s
basically a deadbeat who doesn’t pay much in taxes.”
Indeed,
Trump paid no federal income taxes in 11 of 18 years the Times examined. In
2016 and 2017, his tax bill was just $750 – far less than almost every US
citizen.
It pointed
to a wider story about tax avoidance by the wealthy elite.
Elizabeth
Warren, a Democratic senator, tweeted: “He knows better than anyone that
there’s one set of rules for the wealthy and giant corporations and another for
hardworking Americans – and instead of using his power to fix it, he’s taken
advantage of it at every turn.”
It it
tempting to see this as terminal for Trump in the November election against Joe
Biden. But we have been here many times before. The same was said after the
release of an Access Hollywood tape in October 2016, where Trump was heard
bragging about sexual assault.
It is also
worth remembering what happened in the first presidential debate against
Hillary Clinton. The Democratic candidate suggested that perhaps Trump was not
releasing his tax returns because he had paid nothing in federal taxes.
He
interrupted and said: “That makes me smart.”
There were
howls of outrage and prophecies that Trump must be doomed. Yet perhaps that
remark resonated with some voters who reckoned that given the chance, they too
would delight in getting around the rules in order to save a few bucks.
Some of the
rampant enthusiasm at Trump’s rallies just possibly comes from people who see
themselves in him.
When Trump
grumbles bitterly about Barack Obama winning the Nobel peace prize while his
own nomination received scant coverage, it seems to strike a chord with anyone
in the crowd who feels forgotten, neglected or passed over.
When Trump
presents the story of a self-perceived “outsider” who does not talk like the
educated elite yet still made it rich and married a model, these supporters
seem to embrace the idea of the blue-collar billionaire as one version of the American
dream.
There are
also large chunks of Trump’s cult who pay little attention to the New York
Times or Twitter as it is.
Trump’s tax
affairs have been reported before – regarding the family business, for one
Pulitzer prize-winning example from the Times, from October 2018. But the new
Times investigation raises further, even more damaging questions.
In his
first two years as president, Trump received $73m from foreign operations,
including $3m from the Philippines, $2.3m from India and $1m from Turkey. In
2017 he paid $145,400 in taxes in India and $156,824 in the Philippines – but
just $750 in the US.
The
president has been notoriously outspoken in his praise for the leaders of the
Philippines, India and Turkey.
Does
Trump’s substantial income from abroad conflict with his responsibilities as
president? Did he put his personal interest ahead of the American people? Did
he break the law?
The Times
has promised more stories to come. They won’t shake the Trump faithful, but
they might chip away at enough voters to make an important difference.
WHITE HOUSE
Trump calls NYT report on tax avoidance ‘totally
fake news’
The Times obtained records showing Trump paid no
income tax in 10 of the past 15 years because of reported losses.
By NOLAN D.
MCCASKILL
09/27/2020
06:43 PM EDT
Updated:
09/27/2020 08:00 PM EDT
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/27/trump-calls-nyt-tax-report-totally-fake-news-422330
President
Donald Trump on Sunday dismissed as “totally fake news” a New York Times report
about how little he has paid in federal taxes.
“It’s fake
news,” Trump told reporters at a news conference in the White House briefing
room. “It’s totally fake news. Made up. Fake.”
The Times
obtained more than two decades of Trump’s tax information and reported earlier
on Sunday that the president paid only $750 in federal income taxes in both
2016 and 2017, the year he won the presidency and his first year in the White
House.
“He had
paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years — largely because he
reported losing much more money than he made,” the report said, noting that
more articles on his taxes would be published in the coming weeks.
Trump on
Sunday reprised his long-held argument that he can’t release his taxes because
he’s under audit by the IRS, an agency he claimed treats him “very badly.” But
the president said he would be “proud to show” his tax returns once the audit
was over, and insisted that he’d paid “a lot” of money in taxes, including New
York state income taxes.
“It’ll all
be revealed,” Trump said. “It’s gonna come out — but after the audit.”
“The
story,” he added, “is a total fake.”
Former IRS
officials, however, have disputed Trump's claim and said there‘s nothing
stopping the president from releasing his taxes during an audit.
“From our
standpoint, if you’re being audited, and you want to do something else, share
that information with your returns, you can do that," then-IRS
Commissioner John Koskinen said in 2016.
The
chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.),
who has taken his fight for access to six years‘ worth of Trump's tax returns
to the Supreme Court, responded to the reporting on Sunday evening, saying
Trump “gamed the tax code to his advantage.“
“This
reporting shines a stark light on the vastly different experience people with
power and influence have when interacting with the Internal Revenue Service
(IRS) than the average American taxpayer does,“ Neal said in a statement. “Our
case is very strong, and we will ultimately prevail.“
Evan
Semones contributed to this report.
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