Hillary Clinton’s campaign unveiled an online tool to troll Republican presidential nominee over reports that he could have paid no federal income taxes for much of the last two decades.
Clinton’s Twitter account posted a link to a tool supposedly meant to show the user how much he or she would pay in income taxes if he or she were Donald Trump.
No matter what amount was entered into the tool, the result was $0.
“If you were Donald Trump, you would have paid $0.00 in federal income taxes,” the website stated.
“Donald Trump says it’s because he’s smart. The New York Times says it’s because he lost almost a billion dollars. Either way, Donald Trump may have avoided paying federal income taxes for 18 years after losing $916 million in 1995. And Trump really did pay zero, or nearly zero, in federal income taxes in 1978, 1979, 1984, 1991, and 1993. Until we see evidence otherwise, we’ll assume it’s still zero.”
Trump’s finances are under scrutiny in the wake of a New York Times report that he lost $916 million in 1995, according to tax returns leaked to the newspaper. According to experts quoted by the newspaper, that means Trump could have legally not paid federal income taxes for 18 years.
The report did not allege any wrongdoing on Trump’s part.
The Clinton campaign has seized on the report as evidence Trump is not as great of a businessman as he says and that he is not subject to the same rules as everyday Americans.
The tool didn’t stop the trolling there, however. At the bottom of the post, the campaign directed media inquiries to former Trump spokesman Corey Lewandowski, now a contributor to CNN.
“Factcheckers: Please send inquiries to senior strategist Corey Lewandowski at [email protected],” the campaign stated.
