Donald Trump’s 1995 tax return has been released, and it’s a doozy
By Josh Hill
The New York Times has released Donald Trump’s 1995 tax return, which reveals why he hasn’t paid income tax for the last twenty years.
When Donald Trump went toe-to-toe with Hillary Clinton at the debate this past week, there were more than few takeaways. One of those takeaways was a supposed ‘gotcha’ moment where it sounded like Trump admitted to not having paid income tax for most of his late adult life.
Instead of this being some Freudian slip, it was perhaps the most honest thing that Trump has said his entire campaign. The New York Times obtained Trump’s tax return from 1995, which seems to be a giant piece in the puzzle of why he admitted to not having paid taxes.
Back in 1995, Trump reported a business loss of $916 million, which seems really bad on paper. It is really bad on paper, but it’s really good for Trump when it comes to exploiting tax loopholes.
The Times reports that the $916 million loss that Trump reported back in 1995 has basically covered him on his income tax in the years since.
"Although Mr. Trump’s taxable income in subsequent years is as yet unknown, a $916 million loss in 1995 would have been large enough to wipe out more than $50 million a year in taxable income over 18 years."
I’m not a tax expert and won’t pretend to be. To be honest, I had to read this over a couple of times to really get the gist of it, but it’s a doozy. It doesn’t take a tax expert to realize that Trump exploited loopholes in the tax code that turned his horrible business losses into what amounts to tax credit. Basically, because Trump took a $916 million loss in 1995, he poked through a loophole that somehow allowed him to be virtually tax exempt in the years since.
So what this means is that because Trump ran his numerous business ventures into the ground — probably including the USFL — he has been given a tax break ever since. It’s a nasty loophole but one that you can see someone like Trump exposing and exploiting.
It’s easy for Trump to spin this into a good thing. He beat the system, there’s no way around that. He simply had to run various business ventures into the darkest depths of hell and ruin lives to catch a break for himself.