Wyden Statement on Tax Avoidance Strategies Reportedly Used by Donald Trump

Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today issued the following statement after reports that Donald Trump used legally-dubious strategies to dodge taxes in the early 1990s:

“Every story that comes out about Donald Trump’s reported tax dodging and ties to Russia is a fresh reminder of the outrageous fact that he is refusing to release his tax returns to the public. There is a week to go before election day and millions of votes have already been cast, but Mr. Trump is still falling back on baseless excuses to hide his taxes. For months I pushed for the Congress to adopt my proposal, the Presidential Tax Transparency Act, that would make disclosing tax returns a legal requirement. That’s because a candidate’s tax return says a lot about who they are, whether they pay what they owe and where their money comes from. I’ll keep fighting after the election ends to make disclosure a legal requirement because we cannot in good conscience allow Mr. Trump to be responsible for the death of this post-Watergate, bipartisan tradition.

“Congress closed the egregious loophole Donald Trump used to avoid paying what he owed when his businesses failed, but the tax code today remains a tale of two systems, one set of rules for typical Americans and another special set for the wealthy. I believe the Congress has a responsibility to address the unfairness in our tax code that allows wealthy individuals like Mr. Trump to decide how much tax to pay and when to pay it. It’s time for the games to end.”

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