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Republican
Donald Trump's two-decade-old tax returns are roiling the U.S. presidential
race, with Democrat Hillary Clinton accusing him of becoming rich at regular
taxpayers' expense, while his allies describe him as a "genius" for
legally avoiding paying millions of dollars in taxes. Clinton argued Monday at
a campaign rally in the key Midwestern state of Ohio that Trump "was
taking from America with both hands and leaving the rest of us with the bill."
She leveled the
new allegations in the aftermath of a recent New York Times report showing a
portion of the Republican nominee’s 1995 state tax returns in which he declared
nearly $916 million in business losses from failing casinos and other ventures.
It was a deduction so large that it could have allowed the real estate mogul to
legally avoid paying U.S. income taxes for as many as 18 years.
“What kind of
genius loses a billion dollars in a single year?” Clinton asked.
“Trump
represents the same rigged system that he says he is going to change,” Clinton
said. “After he made all those bad bets and lost all that money, he didn't lift
a finger to help and protect his employees or all the small businesses or
contractors. They all got hammered, while he was busy with his accountants to
see how he could keep living like a billionaire."
The Trump
campaign has not denied the accuracy of the returns, with the real estate mogul
saying on his Twitter account, "I know our complex tax laws better than
anyone who has ever run for president and am the only one who can fix
them."
Trump has defied
four decades of U.S. presidential campaign tradition by refusing to release his
tax returns. He says his U.S. income tax returns for recent years are under
audit by federal officials and that he will release them when the reviews are
finished, even though there is no prohibition against disclosing the
information ahead of that time.
In interviews
Sunday on political news talk shows, Trump's allies contended the revelation
that he might have legally avoided huge amounts of taxation made him a genius.
"Don't you
think a man who has this kind of economic genius is a lot better for the United
States than a woman?" former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani asked
rhetorically. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, one of numerous Republican
candidates Trump defeated for the party's presidential nomination, called the
tax revelations "a very, very good story for Donald Trump," showing
him "a genius at how to take advantage of legal remedies that can help
your company survive and grow."
'Extraordinary
tax benefits'
The Times said
the Trump tax records expose "the extraordinary tax benefits" he
acquired from "the financial wreckage he left behind in the early 1990s
through mismanagement of three Atlantic City casinos, his ill-fated foray into
the airline business and his ill-timed purchase of the Plaza Hotel" in New
York City. The Times said the documents were mailed to a reporter at the
newspaper from a New York address, and consisted of three pages.
Nothing in the
documents sent to The Times shows illegal behavior by Trump. All Americans can
offset taxable gains with financial losses. But in a political cycle where
income inequality and transparency have been major issues, Trump’s tax history,
what is known and unknown, is giving Democrats ample ammunition as the election
draws closer.
Both Trump and
Clinton headed back onto the campaign trail Monday. Trump talked with retired
military officers in Virginia before traveling to Colorado, both closely
contested states five weeks ahead of the November 8 election.
He attacked
Clinton's use of an unsecured private email server positioned in her New York
home while she was the country's secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. She has
often acknowledged her mistake in the use of the private server rather than a
more secure government server. U.S. investigators concluded her actions showed
she was "extremely careless," but did not warrant criminal charges.
Trump contended
that Clinton's handling of national security material on her private server put
"an entire nation in harm's way." He called her "totally unfit
to be president." Later, his campaign said Trump plans to "shine the
spotlight very brightly" on how Clinton and her husband, former president
Bill Clinton, became millionaires, by making lucrative speeches to financial
institutions and corporate interests.
In the Ohio
appearance, Clinton also highlighted the disparities in the U.S. economic
system that has led to a growing gap between the country's wealthy and millions
of middle-income people. Trump's and Clinton's vice presidential running mates,
Republican Indiana Governor Mike Pence and Democratic Virginia Senator Tim
Kaine, are set to hold their only debate late Tuesday. Trump and Clinton square
off next Sunday for the second of their three planned face-to-face encounters.