Bernie Sanders Is About To Lay The Smackdown On Trump's Tax Loophole
It's not exactly a secret Senator Bernie Sanders is not a fan of the "billionaire class," and he's particularly angry Donald Trump might've avoided paying federal income taxes for nearly two decades via tax rules that favor wealthy real estate investors.
On Tuesday, Sanders announced he will introduce legislation during the next session of Congress aimed at closing the loopholes Trump possibly used to avoid paying taxes.
The Vermont senator said,
Special tax breaks and loopholes in a corrupt tax code enable billionaires and powerful corporations to avoid paying their fair share of taxes while sticking the burden on the middle class It's time to create a tax system which is fair and which asks the wealthy and powerful to start paying their fair share of taxes. I will be introducing comprehensive legislation at the beginning of the next session of Congress to do just that.
Sanders released a factsheet on the tax loopholes his bill would close.
Over the weekend, the New York Times reported Trump declared a loss of $916 million on his 1995 income tax returns, which could've allowed him to avoid paying federal taxes for 18 years due to certain tax rules.
According to the Times, this might have allowed Trump to earn $50 million per year for 18 years without paying taxes.
Trump's surrogates have attempted to paint him as a business genius for this.
But Bernie Sanders clearly isn't having it.
On Sunday, Sanders told Jake Tapper,
Trump goes around and says 'Hey, I'm worth billions, I'm a successful businessman, but I don't pay any taxes. But you, you make 15 bucks an hour, you pay the taxes, not me.' That is why people are angry and want real change in this country.
Sanders also completely dismissed the notion Trump's tax practices make him a "genius" on ABC's "This Week."
If everybody in this country was a genius like Mr. Trump is at not paying any taxes we would not have a country. I think it's outrageous... We have massive income and wealth inequality in this country today. Rich are getting richer; almost everybody else is getting poorer. And yet billionaires like Donald Trump are able to manipulate the tax system so that they avoid paying federal income tax. If Mr. Giuliani thinks that Mr. Trump is smart and all of the rest of us are dummies because we believe in America, we believe in our kids, we believe in national defense, well I think they have a very distorted view of the American people and what this country is about.
The man has a point.
Citations: Sanders Announces Bill to Close Tax Loopholes Used by Trump (Bernie Sanders)
