Warren Buffett Issues Statement On Donald Trump And Taxes

Updated on

Some Tax Facts for Donald Trump by Warren Buffett

Editor’s note: This move is highly unusual for Buffett who likes to avoid public spats and is not overtly political like many other wealthy individuals – although he has openly endorsed Hillary Clinton, Buffett is not one to go out there and shove his views down your throat. But this is anything from a normal presidential campaign and Trump has publicly attacked Buffett so it is not surprising that the Oracle Of Omaha has released a statement questioning Trump.

Read the full note below.

H/T Carl Quintanilla

Get The Full Warren Buffett Series in PDF

Get the entire 10-part series on Warren Buffett in PDF. Save it to your desktop, read it on your tablet, or email to your colleagues

[drizzle]

Answering a question last night about his $916 million income tax loss carry forward in 1995, Donald Trump stated that "Warren Buffett took a massive deduction." Mr. Trump says he knows more about taxes than any other human. He has not seen my income tax returns. But I am happy to give him the facts.

Donald Trump by Gage Skidmore on 2011-02-10 12:47:12

My 2015 return shows adjusted gross income of $11,563,931. My deductions totaled $5,477,694, of which allowable charitable contributions were $3,469,179. All but $36,037 of the remainder was for state income taxes.

The total charitable contributions I made during the year were $2,858,057,970, of which more than $2.85 billion were not taken as deductions and never will be. Tax law properly limits charitable deductions.

My federal income tax for the year was $1,845,557. Returns for previous years are of a similar nature in respect to contributions, deductions and tax rates.

I have paid federal income tax every year since 1944, when I was 13. (Though, being a slow starter, I owed only $7 in tax that year.) I have copies of all 72 of my returns and none uses a carryforward.

Finally, I have been audited by the IRS multiple times and am currently being audited. I have no problem in releasing my tax information while under audit. Neither would Mr. Trump —at least he would have no legal problem.

(function(d, s, id) {
if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
var js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = '//cdn4.wibbitz.com/static.js';
d.getElementsByTagName('body')[0].appendChild(js);
}(document, 'script', 'wibbitz-static-embed'));

[/drizzle]

Leave a Comment