Tlaib Statement on Trump Tax Revelations

WASHINGTON—Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (MI-13) released the following statement on the staggering revelations that President Donald Trump paid no federal income taxes in 11 of the 18 years The New York Times examined and a mere $750 dollars in 2017 after taking office, in part by taking questionable measures to reduce his tax bills that are now under IRS investigation and reporting huge business losses:

“We finally know why the forever impeached President and his sycophantic defenders have resisted releasing his tax returns for so many years: they reveal a failed businessman using unscrupulous—and potentially illegal—tactics to avoid paying the fair share that the rest of us pay into our society. That he has paid less in taxes than all essential workers—teachers, nurses, firefighters, grocery store workers, and others whose lives he has recklessly endangered by refusing to take meaningful action throughout the COVID-19 pandemic—is an afront to us all.

“The New York Times report details an impeached President with a historic, disqualifying disdain for the working people of this country. We know our tax system is deeply broken, allowing the rich to escape their responsibility to the rest of us, but Trump has gone even further, reportedly paying $400 million less in combined federal income taxes over the last two decades than the average ultra-wealthy person. He uses his businesses as personal piggy banks to raid for personal expenses like haircuts, though perhaps on that front he could stand to spend even more. He claims to be a billionaire, but the facts show he’s more than a billion dollars in debt—and that hundreds of millions are set to come due within the next four years. We also know that our right as a co-equal branch of government to hold Trump accountable has been impeded by his administration to a gross degree such that a newspaper outlet received this pertinent information before our House Ways and Means Committee, which has sued to get it. This is unacceptable and no way for a democracy to function.

“This impeached President has been unfit to serve from the outset, and that obviously suits him, as he would rather be on the golf course than in the White House. It is deeply offensive that taxpayers, tens of millions of whom are struggling to make ends meet, have shelled out over 85,000 times more than his $750 tax bill to finance his frequent getaways to his Mar-a-Lago resort. He clearly does not want to bear the burden of serving as President, to work with me and my colleagues in Congress to do the job we have all been entrusted by the American people to perform. A deadly pandemic continues to ravage our nation and the impeached President is too busy scamming the American people to pay his debts. Our country deserves so much better.”