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Mike Pence had no real answers about Donald Trump avoiding taxes

“He used the tax code just the way it’s supposed to be used, and he did it brilliantly.”

Republican vice-presidential nominee Gov. Mike Pence, right, and Democratic vice-presidential nominee Sen. Tim Kaine discuss a question during the vice-presidential debate at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia. CREDIT: AP Photo/David Goldman
Republican vice-presidential nominee Gov. Mike Pence, right, and Democratic vice-presidential nominee Sen. Tim Kaine discuss a question during the vice-presidential debate at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia. CREDIT: AP Photo/David Goldman

At the vice presidential debate on Tuesday night, Gov. Mike Pence (R-IN) got a question that has dominated headlines over the last few days. Is it fair that GOP nominee Donald Trump, in his own words, “brilliantly” used the tax code to pay as little tax as possible?

Pence dodged, and then moderator Elaine Quijano followed up again.

“The Governor, with all due respect, the question was about whether it seems fair to you that Mr. Trump said he brilliantly used the laws to pay as little tax as legally possible?” she asked.

The New York Times obtained a copy of Trump’s tax returns in 1995 which showed Trump claimed a $915 million loss, suggesting he could have avoided taxes for most of the following two decades.

Pence said “Donald Trump is a businessman, not a career politician,” then said that the tax returns showed “he faced pretty tough times 20 years ago but like virtually every other business, including the New York Times not too long ago, he used what’s called net operating loss.”

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“His tax return showed he went through a very difficult time but he used the tax code just the way it’s supposed to be used, and he did it brilliantly,” he added.

Kaine pushed back: “How do you know that? You haven’t seen his tax return.”

Pence pointed to Trump’s wealth: “because he’s created a business worth billions of dollars.”

Kaine again cut in: “How do you know that?”

Trump’s actual value could in fact be much lower than he says it is.

Pence pivoted away from income taxes. “With regard to paying taxes, this whole riff about not paying taxes and people saying he didn’t pay taxes taxes for years, Donald Trump has created tens of thousands of jobs, and he’s paid payroll taxes, sales taxes, property taxes,” Pence said.

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Kaine pushed back again, saying that when he started his campaign for president, he would release his taxes and broke that promise.

Pence cut in to say that “he will, he hasn’t broken his promise.”

Kaine pointed out that at last week’s debate, Trump said not paying taxes “makes me smart.”

“So it’s smart not to pay for our military,” Kaine said, channeling Trump. “It’s smart not to pay for our veterans. It’s smart not to pay for teachers and I guess those of us who pay for those, I guess we’re stupid.”

Pence tried to cut in to ask if Kaine took all the deductions he was entitled to.

Kaine replied that when Trump was considering Pence to be his running mate, he handed over years of tax returns, underscoring that he knows the importance of the information they contain. Pence pivoted again to the personal financial disclosure forms Trump had released, which is true but does not contain the type of information that tax returns do.

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Pence’s only reply was that Trump would release his returns after the federal audit was complete — ignoring that an audit should make it easier for Trump to return his tax returns.