Christie, Giuliani: If Trump didn’t pay taxes, he’s ‘genius’

“A lot of the people that are poor take advantage of loopholes and pay no taxes”, said Giuliani.

The Trump campaign in a statement after the report was published said the tax document was “illegally obtained”.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is serving as an advisor to the Republican nominee, said that if Trump has not been paying taxes that made him a “genius“.

He repeatedly has refused to make his tax filings public – the first major party presidential contender to fail to do so since Richard Nixon in the 1970s.

Trump claimed more than $900 million in losses in 1995, enough to legally reduce his tax bill to zero for as many as 18 years, the New York Times reported on Sunday after receiving three pages of what appeared to be Trump’s tax returns filed in three states that year.

Trump tweeted in response claiming he knows the tax code better than anyone who has ever run for president, and he is the only one who knows how to fix it. After two previous tries, he provided more details on his tax plans in a speech in NY last week – although he left one key component unclear.

Trump has declined to release his tax returns, an issue which was raised by his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton at the September 26 presidential debate.

To be clear, Trump may have done nothing untoward with his 1995 tax return and it may be entirely proper for him to have paid no taxes, even over so long a period.

“Even their own tax expert, after a big splashy headline, said there was nothing in there that was outside the law or outside the ordinary”, Christie said.

Bob McIntyre, director of the liberal group Citizens for Tax Justice, said the depreciation allowance allowed Trump to “take losses that really weren’t losses”, which could enable him to pay no income taxes.

In an interview with ABC News’ This Week programme, Giuliani defended Trump’s actions as “perfectly legal”. Trump would only tax repatriated corporate money at 10 percent to incentivize businesses to bring it back into the country.

Donald TrumpDonald TrumpClinton resets campaign schedule with Sanders Clinton could win over important voters in the second debate Trump: Sanders should pull Clinton endorsement MORE is unfit for the White House, whether or not he has paid taxes, said the conservative editor of the Weekly Standard on Sunday.

Airtalk will speak with experts on how the report could affect Trump’s chances for the presidency at 11 a.m.

“The documents were the first page of a NY state resident income tax return, the first page of a New Jersey nonresident tax return and the first page of a CT nonresident tax return“.

One example comes from the real estate industry rules that Trump may have used to lower his tax burden.

Trump reported paying no federal income taxes in 1978, 1979, 1984 and likely at least two other years in the early 1990s, according to documents unearthed by The Daily Beast, Politico and The Washington Post. If one accepts that a presidential candidate’s income tax returns under audit should not be released despite no legal impediment, Trump’s returns from 2002 to 2008 could be released.

“I walked to my mailbox and spotted a manila envelope, postmarked New York, NY, with a return address of The Trump Organization”.

In the latest poll showing a boost for a newly energized Clinton this week, an ABC News/Washington Post survey released on Sunday said 53 percent of Americans saw Clinton as the victor, compared to 18 percent for Trump. To account for this, tax law allows you to carry the loss forward and use it to offset future gains, aligning your tax results with your economic reality.