Billionaire CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Warren Buffett issued a statement Monday in response to Donald Trump’s remarks about his tax deductions during the second presidential debate Sunday night.
“Mr. Trump says he knows more about taxes than any other human,” Buffett said in his statement. “He has not seen my income tax returns. But I am happy to give him the facts.”
Donald Trump defended his own personal tax practices during the debate Sunday night, before mentioning Buffett, a big supporter of his opponent Hillary Clinton. (RELATED: Trump Campaign: New York Times Illegally Obtained Tax Records)
Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks during his presidential town hall debate against Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (not shown) at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S., October 9, 2016. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein
“I pay hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes,” Trump said in response to a question regarding his tax information made public by The New York Times. “Many of her [Clinton’s] friends took bigger deductions. Warren Buffett took a massive deduction,” the Republican nominee added.
Buffett issued this statement Monday in response to the Republican nominee’s comments Sunday:
Answering a question last night about his $916 million income tax loss carryforward 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.
My 2015 return shows adjusted gross income of $11,563,931. M 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.
Trump acknowledged Sunday that he has used loopholes to avoid paying federal income taxes, but has insisted that this has all been done within the laws of the United States government.