Presidential candidate Donald Trump on Sunday offered another bit of refreshing honesty: an explanation of why he fights “like hell” to pay as little tax to the federal government as possible.
Trump, who has yet to make public his tax returns, eschewed the “fair share” argument that many politicians on both sides of the aisle bring to the tax debate, saying that — like all U.S. taxpayers — it’s in his best interest to pay as little as possible.
“I fight like hell to pay as little as possible for two reasons. No. 1, I’m a businessman. And that’s the way you’re supposed to do it. And you put the money back into your company and employees,” Trump said in a phone interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
“The other reason is that I hate the way our government spends our taxes. I hate the way they waste our money. Trillions and trillions of dollars of waste and abuse. And I hate it,” Trump said.
Trump went on to ponder whether he is “the first candidate in the history of politics within this country to say … ‘I try to pay as little tax as possible.’”
As he vies for the GOP nomination, Trump’s rhetoric on personal taxes is certainly different than 2012 failed GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who spent considerable time trying to convince the nation that he pays his fair share of taxes.
“I did go back and look at my taxes and over the past 10 years. I never paid less than 13 percent,” Romney said at one point during the 2012 campaign. “I think the most recent year is 13.6 or something like that. I paid taxes every single year.”
Routinely speaking apologetically about his tax situation didn’t help Romney come off as less detached from the realities of average American life with members of either party.
Trump’s candid rhetoric about his wealth, meanwhile, could play well with voters of a variety of political and socioeconomic groups.
One sign of that is the largely pro-Trump tone of Internet comments on the original CBS article about his tax remarks.
“If CBS was trying to make him look bad, everything he said in that article makes him out to be the only candidate for president as far as I’m concerned,” one reader offered. “He’s speaking the freaking truth, Hildabeast won’t be prosecuted because of liberal privilege.”
Another said: “I pay as little in taxes as I can, too! I’ve had home businesses since 1991, as well as my full-time employment, in order to have tax write-offs since I don’t have any children. Any ‘normal’ human being would do the same. A democrat wouldn’t have a clue how to do this because they are completely dependent.”
One commenter seemed to agree with Trump’s earlier assertions that he represents the epitome of the American dream, saying that only people bitter for lack of success would disagree with his position on personal income taxes.
“Unfortunately, there are people posting here who are freaking out about Trumps comment that he tries to pay as little taxes as possible, rather than freaking out about the massive number of people who don’t pay a dime, getting back all their taxes and then in addition, getting an extra return, thus not only paying net $0 but a negative tax, and still getting assistance,” the commenter said. “Instead of whining about how much tax Trump pays or doesn’t pay, etc. (it’s called jealousy) how about making choices in life to ensure you are at the same income level he is? Funny how the anti-rich aka anti-working left doesn’t whine about the incomes of their pals in Hollywood.”
Other commenters discussed the likelihood of the GOP losing the 2016 election if Trump manages to split the conservative vote — a very real possibility, according to Rasmussen polling.
“If Republicans are supposed to lose this election anyways, I would much rather see it happen with an unfiltered Donald Trump campaign, than with any other Republican candidate,” one person commented.
Trump’s tax information has yet to be made public. But the candidate said he has “no major problem” releasing his returns, adding that he could tie the release to Hillary Clinton’s disclosure of her State Department emails.
The post Donald Trump, without apology, fights ‘like hell’ to keep his money out of government hands appeared first on Personal Liberty®.
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