Don Jr. says his dad didn't pay taxes because of 'historical tax credits'

Donald Trump Jr. on Monday defended his father against reports that he only paid $750 in income taxes, claiming “historical tax credits” explained the unusually low sum.

On Sunday, the New York Times reported that Donald Trump paid only $750 in federal income taxes the year he ran for office and his first year in the White House. Additionally, the paper reported that Trump paid no federal income taxes in 10 of the past 15 years.

“He does things in certain years where you get depreciation, where you get write off, where you get historical tax credits,” Trump’s eldest son told the hosts of “Fox & Friends.”

“People don’t understand what goes into a business,” he added.

From the Sept. 28 edition of Fox News’ “Fox & Friends”:

BRIAN KILMEADE, Fox News: It goes on and on for days, but you guys’ organization have $300 million in loans due in the next three years. What could you tell us about that story?

 

DONALD TRUMP JR.: Listen, it’s ridiculous. My father’s paid tens of millions of taxes. If he does things in certain years where you get depreciation, where you get write off, where you get historical tax credits, like we did when we took on the risk of building the Old Post Office in D.C., it’s the perfect example.

 

That was literally a government contract. We bid against every hotel company in the world. Historical tax credits that you use to offset tax payments for taking the risk to build that. That was done under the Obama administration. It literally took an act of Congress to get it done.

 

So with that comes historical tax credits. That’s the reality. People don’t understand what goes into a business. It doesn’t include property taxes, it doesn’t include payroll taxes, it doesn’t include real estate taxes, it doesn’t include so many of the things that he has been paying taxes on forever as he’s also putting thousands and thousands of people to work on an annual basis.

 

But of course the New York Times does this. They put out a selective, you know, picture of all of these things the day before a debate to try to give someone like Joe Biden, you know, an attack line. They come up with one or two catchy sound bites, and that’s the game.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.