System disparity evident in Trump tax return
DENVER — The leak of some of Donald Trump’s tax returns highlights enormous disparities in the tax code between high-income businesses and individuals and everyone else that may have allowed the Republican presidential nominee to avoid paying federal income taxes for nearly 20 years.
Trump claimed more than $900 million in losses in 1995, enough to legally reduce his tax bill to zero for as many as 18 years, The New York Times reported on Sunday after receiving three pages of what appeared to be Trump’s tax returns filed in three states that year. Trump has broken with precedent and refused to release his tax returns during his presidential campaign, making it impossible to fully assess his finances and history of tax payments.
But the 1995 loss likely lowered his future payments significantly or eliminated them altogether. Provisions in the tax code let businesses deduct losses from future income, decreasing the amount they and their owners will owe to the federal government in coming years.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders told CNN on Sunday that Trump’s taxes “are exactly why so many millions of Americans are frustrated, they are angry, they are disgusted at what they see is a corrupt political system in this country.” Tax experts said the self-proclaimed democratic socialist may be onto something.