Throughout the past few years, the subject of the president's tax returns, namely his refusal to release them for the public to scrutinize, has been brought up time and time again. For those who don't have to pay federal income tax, tax returns are forms filed with the IRS that include information used to calculate how much that person or company gets taxed. These forms usually consist of the income and tax deductions, along with other information of the entity being taxed.
A recent investigation undertaken by the New York Times revealed that Trump has paid zero income tax in 10 of the last 15 years, and paid only $750 each in 2016 and 2017. This revelation comes from the Times investigation gaining access to his tax return data, the same data that he has avoided releasing for years. The Times also reported that Trump has written off many business expenses that should have been taxed, and that he will need to pay back hundreds of millions of dollars in loans in the next few years. Trump has denied the validity of the investigation's results, with a lawyer for the Trump Organization saying: "Most, if not all, of the facts seem to be inaccurate."
Regardless of whether the Times investigation is completely accurate or not, Trump could soon be in deep trouble due to the loans he has yet to pay off, his ongoing battle against the IRS regarding a $72.9 million tax refund, and the fact that many of his ventures are bleeding money, such as his golf courses and hotels. Additionally, the exposure of his tax-avoiding ways could further damage his public image and trustworthiness, especially among those who are on the fence about supporting him during the coming election. With this in mind, the investigation could be seen as one of the factors that led to Trump potentially losing the presidency, depending on the election's results.
Source 1: The New York Times
Source 2: NPR
Source 3: Reuters
2 comments:
These revelations are definitely very devastating for Trump's public image. People who had originally trusted Trump might be a bit more skeptical now and he might lose much needed support. Since he's behind in the polls right now, he definitely needs everything to go smoothly for him if he wants to consider another term. Especially since the debates did not really do much to bolster Trump's support and image, it seems like Biden is taking the lead in this election. Although Trump can keep denying these tax accusations and evidence released by the New York Times, his efforts seem to be fruitless. There is a lot of solid evidence pointing to Trump avoiding paying taxes, and even if you give him the benefit of the doubt and it is false, in today's media climate, once a rumor or accusation is released, it is extremely hard to dispel. If Trump wants a serious shot at another term, he will definitely need to impress the American public in the next two presidential debates.
To be completely honest, I do not think this hurts Trump's public image (at least to his supporters). You can see this in Fox News's coverage of the story. As a republican news source, Fox is constantly doing gymnastics to twist this revelation into Trump's favor, whether through bashing NYT's credibility or somehow portraying Trump as a smart business man for being able to evade his taxes for so long. I feel like Fox's actions is an example of what his supporters may be doing as well. They are going to try to reframe this as a good thing, meaning his supporters will keep supporting him. Trump's image is likely only ruined for people who don't already support him, which doesn't seem to change anything because they didn't like him in the first place. Also, the fact that Trump contracted COVID took this story out of the spotlight, so a lot of people have probably already forgotten about this.
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