Does Donald Trump pay any income taxes at all? we'll find out!
James Stewart wrote about Trump’s taxes, and compared him with Mitt Romney, who was criticized in 2012 for paying just $4.9 million in federal income tax. “No one should be surprised, though, if Donald J. Trump has paid far less—perhaps even zero federal income tax in some years,” Stewart wrote. “Indeed, that’s the expectation of numerous real estate and tax professionals I’ve interviewed in recent weeks.” These experts explained to Stewart that the federal tax code is so generous to real-estate developers—so stuffed with deductions, credits, and loopholes they can exploit—that it may well have allowed Trump to bring his taxable income down to nothing, or next to nothing. Which might help explain why he is so reluctant to release his tax returns.
We know for sure that Trump does everything he can to avoid sending money to the I.R.S. In May,
he told ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos, “I fight very hard to pay as little tax as possible.”