VP candidates tangle over Donald Trump’s taxes
Not surprisingly, the subject that has dominated the past few days of the campaign — GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s tax returns — came up fairly early in the vice presidential debate.
Both Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, and his Democratic opponent, Tim Kaine, were apparently ready for it, talking over each other in their seeming eagerness to make their points.
“Donald Trump is a businessman, not a career politician. He actually built a business,” Pence began. “Those tax returns … showed that he faced some pretty tough times 20 years ago, but like virtually every other business — including the New York Times not too long ago — he used what’s called net operating loss.”
“But why won’t he release his tax returns?” Kaine interrupted, as allowed by the rules of debate during the prescribed “discussion period.”
“His tax returns showed he went through a very difficult time, but he used the tax code just the way it’s supposed to be used. And he did it brilliantly,” replied Pence.
“How do you know that?” Kaine interjected again. “If we haven’t seen his tax returns?”
“Because he’s created a business that’s worth billions of dollars today…”
“How do you know that?” Kaine asked.
“And with regard to paying taxes,” Pence continued without pausing, “Donald Trump has created tens of thousands of jobs, and he’s paid payroll taxes, property taxes…”
Given the floor by moderator Elaine Quijano of CBS News, Kaine began talking before Pence had finished. “Before Donald Trump started his campaign back in 2014, he said ‘If I run for president, I will absolutely release my taxes.’ He’s broken his first promise,” Kaine said, as Pence spoke over him, asserting: “And he will.”
“They he stood on this stage last week, and when Hillary said he wasn’t paying taxes, he said, ‘That makes me smart,'” Kaine continued. “So it’s smart not to pay for our military, it’s smart not to pay for veterans, it’s smart not to pay for our teachers, and so I guess all of us who do pay for those things are stupid…”
“Senator, do you take all the deductions you’re entitled to? I do,” Pence said over Kaine’s final sentence.
“Gov. Pence had to give Donald Trump his tax returns, to show he was qualified to be vice president,” Kaine said while Pence was still talking. “Donald Trump must give the American public his tax returns to show that he’s qualified to be president.”
As Quijano tried to move the discussion on to Social Security, the two continued to speak.
“[Trump]’s going to release [his taxes] when the audit is over,” Pence said.
“Richard Nixon released taxes when he was under audit,” Kaine pointed out, while Pence continued to add that the Clinton/Kaine ticket would raise taxes.
“If you can’t meet the Nixon standard, people ought to have some…” Kaine said, as Quijano interrupted.
“Gentlemen, gentlemen, the people cannot understand either one of you when you speak over each other,” she said, at which point both men smiled and stopped talking.
