37 People Who Didn’t Mince Their Words About Trump Avoiding Taxes

Political science expert Crowe explained that the US Supreme Court vacancy had taken a lot of attention away from the pandemic and “what is perceived by voters as Trump's poor response to it,” moving it to terrain that’s slightly more favorable for Trump. However, the tax disclosures have knocked the White House off course a bit. Crowe points out that “the multiple responses Trump and his administration have tried to throw against the wall” are evidence of this.

“The one thing that does make this different from previous controversies surrounding Trump's taxes is the clearly identified, easy-to-understand dollar amount: $750. Most Americans will rightly recognize that as a pittance for someone who claims to be a billionaire—and much less than they themselves pay in federal income tax,” Crowe said.

He added that Joe Biden’s campaign is talking about taxes in ads. “The Biden campaign is already running a simple but effective ad showing how much average Americans in a range of jobs (teacher, nurse, construction manager) pay in federal income tax,” Crowe stated, adding that the ad suggests Trump doesn’t “understand or care about the lives or economic circumstances of the vast majority of citizens.”

This sort of line of argument could be effective among middle-income and lower-middle-income Americans. “The effect is likely at the margins, but a state like Pennsylvania could be decided at the margins, and you would clearly rather be in Biden's position rather than Trump's on this issue,” Crowe pointed out.

Bored Panda also talked to Crowe about what Americans should do to get to the truth of the matter when the NYT report states one thing while Trump and his team state something different. “Without primary source documents, it is difficult to evaluate independently. Of course, if the President wished, he could, without violating any rules surrounding his audit, release his tax returns and let the American people judge for themselves,” the expert said.

According to him, Trump’s refusal to do so suggests that the President has something to hide and Americans should take his denials “with a grain of salt.”

Crowe added that we shouldn’t be blind to the fact that media organizations like the NYT have interests of their own: “Including, on the business side, to sell newspapers and generate web traffic, but, in general, reputable media sources—we're not talking about Breitbart or something here—trying to inform the public about issues of national concern deserve a benefit of the doubt that politicians with a reputation for obfuscation, dishonesty, and outright falsehoods do not.”

WaPo claims that the average middle-class American household paid around 3 times as much in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017 as Trump.

He allegedly paid 750 dollars in taxes in 2016 and 2017 and paid no income taxes at all in 11 of the 18 years examined by The New York Times because he reported losing “much more” money than he made.

The NYT report mentions “chronic losses and years of tax avoidance” and also suggests that Trump is personally responsible for over 300 million dollars in loans, to be due in the next 4 years. 

The President denied the allegations and claimed that he has “paid many millions of dollars in taxes” but received tax credits as well. He also stated that he had “very little debt” in comparison to the value of the assets he owns. According to Trump, the media has brought up the topic with “bad intent” and was trying to discredit him.

The NYT report alleges that “most” of Trump’s largest businesses (like his hotels and golf courses) reported losing millions “if not tens of millions of dollars year after year.” Furthermore, the report claims that some of the President’s businesses have supposedly received money from foreign officials and lobbyists currying for his favor.

According to the report, Trump allegedly made 73 million dollars in revenue from abroad during his first two years as President, writes the BBC.