Throughout this year’s election Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has attempted and in some cases has been successful in selling himself to the American people. One of the biggest pushes of his campaign thus far has been the narrative of Trump presenting himself as being a great business man and because of this “ability” he has attempted to paint the picture that he will make a good president. However, after a long awaited time, on October 1, 2016, The New York Times leaked Trump’s 1995 tax record that revealed that “America’s business man” may have been able to legally avoid paying taxes for almost two decades. Tax experts were hired by The New York Times to investigate the tax return that was retrieved from financial records that he left behind in the 1990’s. They found that certain tax rules that mainly serve as an advantage to the wealthy may have allowed him to use a $916 million loss to cancel out an equal amount of tax income over that 18-year period. To further agitate this issue Politico reported that Mr. Trump also did not pay taxes back in 1991 and 1993. Surprisingly, this discovery does not exactly match up with his act to be the business savvy savior that he claims to be.
The reason Trump has not been paying taxes is a direct effect of the business mistakes that he has made in the past and also not to mention the six times that he has filled bankruptcy. He fortunately was able to get out many of his financial debacles mainly not because of his wonderful business techniques but because he has a very rich resource. His wealthy father. In an attempt to fight back these allegations his supporters have come to his defense by stating that he has been open with his business failures and bankruptcies throughout his campaign. However, records have shown that he was not paying taxes well before many of the failed businesses.
It will be interesting in the next coming weeks to see how much Trump’s leaked records affect him in the polls if any since most of his supporters have been solidified. It will be difficult for Trump to continue with his “great businessman” narrative because Hillary Clinton and the rest of the Democratic party will continue to run this issue until its dry especially during the next Presidential debate.
I agree with the point you made near the end. Trump’s following is pretty much a solid effort as of now, and it’s going to take a lot more than some tax returns from many years past to sway them away from him. But it will be interesteing to see how the Clinton campaign continues to play this up in order to sway the many independent voters in the middle towards her side. There has been much discussion during this general election on what the American public can expect with regards to taxes; this blunder by Trump will only fuel the fire under those who are already upset by Trump’s “better than thou” business man approach. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the town hall format debate this Sunday.
I agree with your points, and with the comment above. Trump already has his following, and those who love Trump do not care about his tax returns. Trump might not be able to “get away with murder” but he can certainly get away with these tax returns. The questions of being able to continue the good businessmen rhetoric is a good one however, but I wonder if all this will do is force him to shift a little bit. Trump can still continue with the rhetoric that he is an outsider, and not a politician, and someone who has made his profession in another area and therefore has not spent his whole life building up and striving to be president. That rhetoric still resinates with his fan base and voters, regardless of his actual tangible success as a businessmen.