NET LOSS, DONALD’S GAIN
Backers say tax flap could benefit Trump
Trump supporters say the New York Times’ gotcha piece on Donald Trump’s taxes missed its mark — highlighting the candidate’s business and accounting savvy while revealing the paper as an unofficial arm of the Clinton campaign.
“I don’t think people care about Donald Trump’s taxes. They care about their own taxes, they care about the state and federal government not using their tax money in the way they want it to be used,” said state Rep. Geoffrey Diehl, Massachusetts co-chairman of Trump’s campaign. “For the New York Times to stoop so low to use his taxes as part of their own personal crusade to stop Trump should tell you he’s in a very good position to win this election.”
The Times Saturday posted three documents from Trump’s 1995 state tax returns that showed he declared a net loss of $915,729,293 that year along with analysis that a loss that large could have allowed Trump to not pay taxes for up to 18 years. Trump has not released his tax returns, saying he is currently being audited by the Internal Revenue Service.
But Democrats touted the article as evidence of Trump’s business losses and his failure to support working-class Americans by paying taxes.
“These taxes pay for our troops, our schools, our roads,” said U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, (D-Salem). “And right now middle-class Americans are carrying water for Trump because of his epic failure as a businessman.”
Trump responded to the Times article on Twitter by saying it shows he has a strong understanding of the tax code, writing: “I know our complex tax laws better than anyone who has ever run for president and am the only one who can fix them.”
Diehl said the documents did not show any illegal tax-dodging, and that he didn’t think voters who paid taxes would be put off by Trump potentially paying none.
“What the American people are looking at more is he’s been a leader in multiple industries and created tens of thousands of jobs that resulted in great taxpaying by citizens across the country,” Diehl said. “If he’s using the tax code the way it’s laid out, that’s his right.”
Clinton repeatedly has called on Trump to release his tax returns but did not mention the story or Trump’s taxes at her events in North Carolina yesterday and did not respond to a shouted question about it. Trump adviser and cochairman of the campaign’s veterans coalition Al Baldasaro, a New Hampshire state representative, said the Times was doing Clinton’s work for her. “I think the Times is going above and beyond to protect Hillary and go after Trump,” he said. “Why not go after her emails and foundation money?”