Vice President Joe Biden hit the airwaves Tuesday in his Democratic Party role of middle-class champion, boiling down Republican Donald Trump’s income tax issue the way he hopes voters will see it.
Biden blasted Trump for working the system to avoid paying federal income taxes — and especially for bragging about it.
“Since when does somebody who lives at the top in the world, in a penthouse overlooking the world, be in a position that he doesn't feel any obligation at all to pay any federal income tax to support the military, to support education, to support our foreign policy?” Biden asked. “Can you imagine any other president, any other president, just ever say that and be proud of that? I can't fathom it.”
The remarks, in an interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo, reflect the frustration Democrats are feeing with the reception of a New York Times report that Trump declared a $916-million loss on his 1995 income tax returns. Though Trump has not made his yearly income tax filings public, documents obtained by the Times show he declared losses qualifying him to avoid paying possibly any federal income taxes for nearly two decades after that.
Many voters seem to embrace Trump’s defense of his practices, though. He’s in the best position to fix the tax system because of his experience gaming it, he says. What’s more, supporters add, the records reflect that he’s a “genius” of a businessman.
But rival Hillary Clinton says the report is evidence that Trump, running for office on the strength of his career in business, falls short of what he claims.
“What kind of genius loses a billion dollars in the first place?” she said in the wake of the Times report.
Biden is taking a different tack. Just because you can avoid paying taxes, he suggested Tuesday, doesn’t mean it’s excusable.
“Since when is that a patriotic thing to do?” Biden asked.
