Biden campaign tees up Trump tax issue on eve of first debate

[webfact]

Biden campaign tees up Trump tax issue on eve of first debate

By Susan Cornwell and Trevor Hunnicutt

 

Students stand in for U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic U.S. presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden as technicians prepare the stage for their first presidential debate on the campus of the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. September 28, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

 

WASHINGTON/WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) - Joe Biden's campaign seized on a fresh line of attack on the eve of the Democratic presidential nominee's first debate with President Donald Trump, accusing the Republican incumbent of gaming the system to avoid paying his fair share of taxes.

 

Trump, a self-proclaimed billionaire who is seeking reelection in the Nov. 3 vote, paid only $750 in federal income taxes in both 2016 and 2017, after years of reporting heavy losses from his businesses to offset hundreds of millions of dollars in income, the New York Times reported on Sunday, citing tax-return data.

 

The Times also reported that Trump paid no federal income tax in 10 of the previous 15 years through 2017, despite receiving $427.4 million through 2018 from his reality television program and other endorsement and licensing deals.

 

Jared Bernstein, one of Biden's top economic advisers, said the report highlighted the need to simplify the tax code and make people like Trump pay their fair share.

 

"The vast majority of us pay taxes and get on with life. But the richer you are, the more tax lawyers you employ, the more complex you can make your holdings - all of this can, as the piece shows reduce your tax liability to zero," Bernstein said on Twitter.

 

Within hours of the report, Biden's campaign had released a video listing the thousands of dollars in income tax typically paid by an elementary school teacher, firefighter, construction manager and registered nurse, before contrasting Trump’s reported $750 bill in 2017. The campaign also started selling stickers that say, "I Paid More In Taxes Than Donald Trump."

 

Trump has dismissed the report as "fake news." On Monday, he tweeted that he had paid "many millions of dollars in taxes" but was entitled to depreciation and tax credits and was "extremely under-leveraged" in terms of his debt and assets.

 

White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany described the report as a hit job that was straight out of the Democratic playbook. "We've seen this play out before ... purported tax information dropping the eve of a debate. They tried this in 2016 - it didn't work," she told Fox Business Network.

 

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, told MSNBC the president's reported debts raised questions of national security.

 

Democrats seized on a fresh line of attack on the eve of the first U.S. presidential election debate, accusing President Donald Trump of gaming the system after a report showed he paid paltry amounts of federal tax in recent years. This report produced by Jonah Green.

 

FIRST DEBATE

Trump and Biden will square off in their first debate in Cleveland, Ohio, on Tuesday, five weeks before the election. Polls show Biden leading Trump nationally and in a number of key battleground states.

 

"I am looking very forward to the debate," Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday.

 

The 90-minute televised debate is likely to focus in part on Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 200,000 Americans, and his push to fill the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat on the high court.

 

The re-emergence of Trump's tax history as an election issue - in 2016 he broke a decades-old tradition of presidential nominees releasing their tax returns when seeking the White House - offers Biden another avenue of attack Tuesday evening.

 

The former vice president is trying to turn the tables on Trump, who ran successfully as an economic populist four years ago and is regarded by some observers as having an edge among voters on the issue of who would best manage the economy.

 

In recent days, Biden has characterized the race as a clash between Scranton, the working-class Pennsylvania city where he spent part of his childhood, and Park Avenue. Trump Tower, which serves as headquarters for the Trump Organization, is located near that tony boulevard in Manhattan.

 

Trump has painted his economic record in glowing terms, saying his policies were responsible for boosting growth and reducing U.S. unemployment to near 50-year lows prior to the outbreak of the pandemic.

 

His message, however, has been badly dented by the virus-triggered recession, which has put millions of Americans out of work. Democrats say Trump has mishandled the U.S. response and embraced policies that favored corporations and the rich.

 

Biden is proposing to hike the corporate income tax and raise taxes on people making more than $400,000 if elected.

 

Trump, who signed a $1.5 trillion Republican-sponsored package of tax cuts in late 2017, accuses his opponent of pushing a far-left agenda that will destroy the economy.

 

Trump has said since the 2016 campaign that his refusal to release his federal income tax returns is because he is under audit by the Internal Revenue Service, but the agency has said there is no reason he cannot release his taxes while under audit.

 

Senator Chuck Grassley told reporters on Capitol Hill that it suggested the tax audits were taking too long. "I want to wait until the IRS gets done, so I know how much he (Trump) owes," said Grassley, an Iowa Republican who chairs the Senate Finance Committee.

 

(Reporting by Susan Heavey, Andrea Shalal, Susan Cornwell, Doina Chiacu, Trevor Hunnicutt and David Morgan; Writing by Paul Simao; Editing by Alistair Bell)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-09-29

 

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[Tug]

Get her done joe!!there is so much wrong with the orange parasite ripe pickings lol get after it lol!!

[Somtamnication]

Biden is not the great orator that Obama is, but I hope he goes for the jugular with Trump and tears into him.

[J Town]

23 minutes ago, Somtamnication said:

Biden is not the great orator that Obama is, but I hope he goes for the jugular with Trump and tears into him.

This debate will tell all. If Joe hits it out of the park, he'll be 46.

[Tippaporn]

How coincidental that the illegal leak of Trump's tax information is released just days before the 1st presidential debate.  Almost as if they had nothing going into the debate and sorely needed something . . . anything.

 

Another "we got him now" moment for the left to seize on and pin their slivers of hope.

[J Town]

4 minutes ago, Tippaporn said:

How coincidental that the illegal leak of Trump's tax information is released just days before the 1st presidential debate.  Almost as if they had nothing going into the debate and sorely needed something . . . anything.

 

Another "we got him now" moment for the left to seize on and pin their slivers of hope.

Yes, the timing is coincidental. However the facts are real, and this is politics. And are you claiming the Republicans play fair?

[Chomper Higgot]

“Trump, a self-proclaimed billionaire“

 

I’ve said all along, the only evidence of Trump being a Billionaire is his own claim to be a Billionaire.

 

He’s broke.

 

And his campaign is broke too, cancelling TV ads in swing states in run up to the election.

[dimitriv]

29 minutes ago, Tippaporn said:

How coincidental that the illegal leak of Trump's tax information is released just days before the 1st presidential debate.  Almost as if they had nothing going into the debate and sorely needed something . . . anything.

 

Something? Anything?  It seems Trump supporters just don't want to see the truth.

 

Trump is a scammer, a liar. Where is the successful businessman?  

 

[PatOngo]

Go for the jugular vein Joe, show no mercy on the lying, cheating buffoon! Make America Something Again!

 

 

Edited September 29, 2020 by PatOngo

[Tippaporn]

30 minutes ago, J Town said:

37 minutes ago, Tippaporn said:

How coincidental that the illegal leak of Trump's tax information is released just days before the 1st presidential debate.  Almost as if they had nothing going into the debate and sorely needed something . . . anything.

 

Another "we got him now" moment for the left to seize on and pin their slivers of hope.

Yes, the timing is coincidental. However the facts are real, and this is politics. And are you claiming the Republicans play fair?

And what facts might those be?  Nothing illegal about Trump's taxes have been proven to date.  So you have facts but proof of nothing.  Go ahead and pin your hopes on it.  Another "gotcha" moment.  How many of those have we had now?  Someone should be counting.

[stevenl]

40 minutes ago, Tippaporn said:

How coincidental that the illegal leak of Trump's tax information is released just days before the 1st presidential debate.  Almost as if they had nothing going into the debate and sorely needed something . . . anything.

 

Another "we got him now" moment for the left to seize on and pin their slivers of hope.

Illegal?

Media don't sit on news, always afraid someone else will run away with a scoop.

[PatOngo]

6 minutes ago, Tippaporn said:

Someone should be counting.

At least someone is counting Trumps lies! Is this not a mark of how duped the people who follow him are?

 

It took President Trump 827 days to top 10,000 false and misleading claims in The Fact Checker’s database, an average of 12 claims a day.

But on July 9, just 440 days later, the president crossed the 20,000 mark — an average of 23 claims a day over a 14-month period, 

 

 

Edited September 29, 2020 by PatOngo

[Chomper Higgot]

7 minutes ago, Tippaporn said:

And what facts might those be?  Nothing illegal about Trump's taxes have been proven to date.  So you have facts but proof of nothing.  Go ahead and pin your hopes on it.  Another "gotcha" moment.  How many of those have we had now?  Someone should be counting.

It takes a little time to analyze the tax returns and identify ‘suspect activity’.

 

Please have a little patience.

[J Town]

Just now, Tippaporn said:

And what facts might those be?  Nothing illegal about Trump's taxes have been proven to date.  So you have facts but proof of nothing.  Go ahead and pin your hopes on it.  Another "gotcha" moment.  How many of those have we had now?  Someone should be counting.

Nothing illegal? You haven't been paying attention. The only reason he's not in jail is because he's protected by a questionable legal decision that a sitting president can't be indicted. Does Individual-1 ring a bell? He has lied about the values of his properties to suit his needs. This WILL come out and I hope they have an orange jumpsuit that will match his tan.

[Fat is a type of crazy]

6 minutes ago, Tippaporn said:

And what facts might those be?  Nothing illegal about Trump's taxes have been proven to date.  So you have facts but proof of nothing.  Go ahead and pin your hopes on it.  Another "gotcha" moment.  How many of those have we had now?  Someone should be counting.

It may not prove illegality but it at least builds a strong case that he has significant debt, is not the successful businessman he claims to be, and the few swing voters left might not think much of paying more tax than this so called billionaire.

Though not a criminal offence there is a fairly strong inference too that some of his deductions are shonky, are being investigated,  and he's likely to get a tax debt and penalty that could be huge. 

[stevenl]

9 minutes ago, Tippaporn said:

And what facts might those be?  Nothing illegal about Trump's taxes have been proven to date.  So you have facts but proof of nothing.  Go ahead and pin your hopes on it.  Another "gotcha" moment.  How many of those have we had now?  Someone should be counting.

Glad to see you're moving on. From 'fake' to 'illegally obtained' to 'facts but proof of nothing'. After a few more tweets the story will change again.

[Chomper Higgot]

The ‘illegal leak’ defense is sounding a little faked when it comes from people who had no problem with Trump being sure Russia would be rewarded for releasing  ‘stolen emails’.

 

 

[Puchaiyank]

According to unnamed sources, Biden will be declared the winner by the majority of news outlets...his multiple gaffes will largely be ignored and inability to articulate a complete sentence will be explained as multitasking...

Edited September 29, 2020 by Puchaiyank

[welovesundaysatspace]

11 minutes ago, Puchaiyank said:

According to unnamed sources, Biden will be declared the winner by the majority of news outlets...his multiple gaffes will largely be ignored and inability to articulate a complete sentence will be explained as multitasking...

Man, Woman, Camera, TV, Yosemite, errr...

 

 

 

Edited September 29, 2020 by welovesundaysatspace

[J Town]

4 minutes ago, Puchaiyank said:

According to unnamed sources, Biden will be declared the winner by the majority of news outlets...his multiple gaffes will largely be ignored and inability to articulate a complete sentence will be explained as multitasking...

Would that be a surprise? You know MSNBC, CNN, etc will all claim "Joe won," Fox will claim "45," and the fact checkers will have a blast. Joe is also a liar, but nowhere near the insane level of 45. Remember when 45's counsel told him NOT to do an interview with Mueller cuz he couldn't tell the truth? I have my popcorn ready for this debate.

[scaldedfummy]

2 hours ago, Tug said:

Get her done joe!!there is so much wrong with the orange parasite ripe pickings lol get after it lol!!

 

All wrong, this must stop he should stop 

[PatOngo]

35 minutes ago, scaldedfummy said:

 

All wrong, this must stop he should stop 

Are you intellectually challenged?

[Tippaporn]

1 hour ago, stevenl said:

1 hour ago, Tippaporn said:

And what facts might those be?  Nothing illegal about Trump's taxes have been proven to date.  So you have facts but proof of nothing.  Go ahead and pin your hopes on it.  Another "gotcha" moment.  How many of those have we had now?  Someone should be counting.

Glad to see you're moving on. From 'fake' to 'illegally obtained' to 'facts but proof of nothing'. After a few more tweets the story will change again.

I'm a bit stunned, and flattered, that my post elicited so many responses.  Rather than spend my morning replying to them all I'll just put out a general reply to all.

 

The only fact worth mentioning is the fact that no illegalities has been proven to date.  You all can speculate until the cows come home and run this thread up to 100 pages with meaningless commentary if it pleases you.  So before I "move on" I'll give my analysis, which you can take or leave.

 

None of the information published by the New York Times article contains a smoking gun of criminality.  In short, no proof of any illegality.  You can be rest assured that even if there were illegalities none of them will be proven before the election.  So the articles sole purpose was meant to harm Trump in the upcoming election and provide Biden with some debate fodder.  Maybe it does harm Trump and maybe it doesn't.  My opinion is that it won't affect him an iota.

 

So type away in speculation, y'all, to your heart's content.

[OneMoreFarang]

2 hours ago, dimitriv said:

 

Something? Anything?  It seems Trump supporters just don't want to see the truth.

 

Trump is a scammer, a liar. Where is the successful businessman?  

 

I think they all want to be scammers. Some of them tried hard work already - unsuccessfully.

[J Town]

6 minutes ago, Tippaporn said:

My opinion is that it won't affect him an iota.

His supporters are not at all interested in truth. I've seen multiple interviews of supporters and they've said exactly that - it doesn't matter what he says or does, they're behind him. The vast majority I've seen are old, white, and sporting confederate flags.

[OneMoreFarang]

3 minutes ago, J Town said:

His supporters are not at all interested in truth. I've seen multiple interviews of supporters and they've said exactly that - it doesn't matter what he says or does, they're behind him. The vast majority I've seen are old, white, and sporting confederate flags.

But maybe, just maybe there will be a percent or two who don't like the idea that they pay taxes and the supposed to be billionaire Trump does not or only little. I have not much hope that they will vote for the DEMs but if they don't vote at all that would help already a little to get rid of the scammer.

[stevenl]

5 minutes ago, J Town said:

His supporters are not at all interested in truth. I've seen multiple interviews of supporters and they've said exactly that - it doesn't matter what he says or does, they're behind him. The vast majority I've seen are old, white, and sporting confederate flags.

Which is why fact checking is useless, we're way beyond that point.

[Tippaporn]

6 minutes ago, J Town said:

16 minutes ago, Tippaporn said:

My opinion is that it won't affect him an iota.

His supporters are not at all interested in truth. I've seen multiple interviews of supporters and they've said exactly that - it doesn't matter what he says or does, they're behind him. The vast majority I've seen are old, white, and sporting confederate flags.

But I am interested in truth.  The truth is there's no illegality proven at this time.  I'm not interested in turning speculation into truth.

[Opl]

3 hours ago, Tippaporn said:

How coincidental that the illegal leak of Trump's tax information is released just days before the 1st presidential debate.  Almost as if they had nothing going into the debate and sorely needed something . . . anything.

 

Another "we got him now" moment for the left to seize on and pin their slivers of hope.

"WikiLeaks, I love Wikileaks"

Edited September 29, 2020 by Opl

[J Town]

Just now, Tippaporn said:

But I am interested in truth.  The truth is there's no illegality proven at this time.  I'm not interested in turning speculation into truth.

If you're honestly interested in truth then you can't be a 45 supporter. The Bob Woodward interviews regarding the Corona virus alone would turn any thinking human away. 45 has blood on his hands.