Donald Trump defended his tax practices Monday in the wake of a New York Times report on tax returns from 1995 citing a $916 million loss, which experts say he could have potentially used to wipe out his income tax liability for as much as the next 18 years.
Trump told supporters in Pueblo, Colo., that he has used the tax laws “brilliantly” throughout his time in business, saying that he has a “responsibility” to pay no more in taxes than he has to.
“As a businessman and real estate developer, I have legally used the tax laws to my benefit, and to the benefit of my company, my investors and my employers. I have brilliantly used those laws,” Trump said. “I have often said on the campaign trail that I have fiduciary responsibility to pay no more tax than is legally required like everybody else. Or, put another way, to pay as little tax as legally possible.
“I hate the way they spend our tax dollars. And believe, me, that makes a difference.
“The news media is now obsessed with an alleged tax filing from the 1990s at the end of the most brutal economic downturn in our country’s history,” Trump said. “Other than 1928, there was nothing even close.”
Trump told supporters that the conditions at the time were almost as bad as they were during the Great Depression and “far worse” than the Great Recession in 2008.
“I was able to use the tax laws of this country and my great acumen to dig out of the real estate mess … when few others were able to do what I did,” Trump said.
“I knew how to use the tax code to rebuild my company when others didn’t,” Trump told the crowd. “I knew a lot. But my understanding of the tax code gave me a tremendous advantage over those who didn’t have a clue about it, including many of my competitors who lost everything they had, never to be heard from again.”
