Trump says ‘of course’ he used $916 million loss as tax write-off
ST. LOUIS — Donald Trump at Sunday’s presidential debate did not deny that he used a nearly $1 billion loss more than 20 years ago to avoid paying federal taxes in subsequent years but pointedly declined to say how long he used that write-off.
The exchange came after Hillary Clinton called Trump a hypocrite for talking tax policy when he himself may not pay federal taxes. That prompted moderator Anderson Cooper to ask Trump to respond to leaked pages of his 1995 tax return published by the New York Times and the paper’s suggestion that he could have used the listed $916 million loss to avoid paying taxes for years.
Asked specifically by Cooper if he had used that loss to avoid paying taxes, Trump replied, “Of course I do.”
Asked how long he has avoided paying taxes, Trump declined specifics. “But,” he added, “I pay tax, and I pay federal tax too. But I have a write-off. A lot of it is depreciation, which is a wonderful charge. I love depreciation.”
Trump’s comments came just seconds after he had asserted that he did pay taxes — while also defending deductions that wealthy people take.
“I pay hundred of millions of dollars in taxes. Many of her friends took bigger deductions: Warren Buffett took a massive deduction, Soros is a friend of hers, took a massive deduction,” the GOP nominee declared.
He also said that he could not release his tax returns because they are currently under audit. “I pay hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes,” he repeated. “As soon as my routine audit is finished, I’ll release my returns. I’ll be very proud to. They’re actually quite good.”
