Democrats blast Trump after report reveals he avoided income taxes for 10 years: ‘Disgusting’

Democrats sounded off against President Trump on Sunday evening after The New York Times dropped a bombshell report detailing 20 years of his tax history, including that he avoided income taxes for 10 of those years.

According to The New York Times, Trump paid no income taxes for 10 of the 15 years before he was elected president, and his income tax payments in 2016 and 2017 amounted to just $750 both years.

Democratic lawmakers took to Twitter to rip the findings in the report, with Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) asking people to raise their hands if they paid more than Trump. 

Fellow Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell (N.J.), called the revelations “disgusting” and said that “the emperor has no clothes.”

Others pointedly called for donations of $750 to Democrats after the report.

‍♂️ if you paid more in federal income tax than President Trump. https://t.co/4Q1nQmHSWa

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) September 27, 2020

Donald Trump paid just $750 in income taxes in 2016 and 2017. He knows better than anyone that there’s one set of rules for the wealthy and giant corporations and another for hardworking Americans—and instead of using his power to fix it, he’s taken advantage of it at every turn. https://t.co/b8EsstEf5T

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) September 27, 2020

“Donald J. Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes the year he won the presidency. In his first year in the White House, he paid another $750.

He had paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years”

Incredible. And disgusting.

— Bill Pascrell, Jr. (@BillPascrell) September 27, 2020

“Ultimately, Mr. Trump has been more successful playing a business mogul than being one in real life.”

The emperor has no clothes.

— Bill Pascrell, Jr. (@BillPascrell) September 27, 2020

Anyone wanna give, I don’t know, say, $750? https://t.co/N47NwsCAH8

— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) September 27, 2020

“He knows better than anyone that there’s one set of rules for the wealthy and giant corporations and another for hardworking Americans—and instead of using his power to fix it, he’s taken advantage of it at every turn,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said in a tweet after the news.

House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal (D-Mass.), whose panel has been fighting to obtain the president’s tax returns, said in a statement that Trump “gamed the tax code to his advantage and used legal fights to delay or avoid paying what he owes.”

“Today’s report underscores the importance of the Ways and Means Committee’s ongoing lawsuit to access Mr. Trump’s tax returns and ensure the presidential audit program is functioning effectively, without improper influence,” he said.

Pascrell, the chair of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight, said in his own statement that the Times’ findings “reveal absolutely staggering theft by Trump before and while he has been in office,” and that “Trump must release his tax returns as is longstanding practice and is required by law to Congress instead of grandstanding and attacking the media.” 

Lawyers from the Trump Organization as well as Trump himself have denied the report. 

In a statement to the Times, Trump Organization lawyer Alan Garten said that “most, if not all, of the facts appear to be inaccurate” and reportedly took issue with the amount of taxes the Times reported  Trump has paid.

Trump, at a press conference Sunday evening, called the report “totally fake news.”

“The IRS does not treat me well. They treat me like the Tea Party,” Trump said at a press briefing on Sunday, referring to claims from GOP figures that the IRS targeted GOP-leaning groups during the Obama administration.