Trump Tax History in Spotlight Once Again

Trump¹ Tax History in Spotlight² Once Again

The campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump traded fierce accusations³ after The New York Times newspaper published what appears to be a portion of the Republican nominee⁴’s 1995 federal tax returns.

Sent anonymously⁵ to The Times, the documents show Trump declared a $916 million loss in 1995, allowing the real estate mogul to pay no tax on income in subsequent years totaling the same amount.

The revelation came days after Clinton, a Democrat⁶, repeatedly assailed⁷ Trump’s financial dealings and his refusal to release his tax returns at Monday’s presidential debate.

“In one year, Donald Trump lost nearly a billion dollars. A billion,” Clinton’s campaign said in a statement late Saturday. “He apparently⁸ got to avoid paying taxes for nearly two decades – while tens of millions of working families paid theirs.”

"The only news here is that the more than 20-year-old alleged⁹ tax document was illegally obtained, a further demonstration¹⁰ that the New York Times, like establishment media in general, is an extension of the Clinton Campaign,” the Trump campaign said in a statement.

"Mr. Trump is a highly-skilled businessman who has a fiduciary¹¹ responsibility to his business, his family and his employees to pay no more tax than legally required. That being said, Mr. Trump has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in property taxes, sales and excise¹² taxes, real estate taxes, city taxes, state taxes, employee taxes and federal taxes,” the statement added.

Trump surrogates took to the airwaves Sunday to defend the nominee.

“This man, 26 years ago, had some failures and then he built an empire,” said former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani on ABC’s This Week program. “He was a genius in being able to do that. America needs a turnaround right now, and Donald Trump is a turnaround artist.”

“If everybody in this country was a genius, like Mr. Trump is and not pay any taxes, we would not have a country,” said Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who challenged Clinton for the Democratic nomination¹³, also on ABC. “Secretary Clinton and I believe that the wealthiest people in this country should start paying their fair share [of taxes].”

The Times said the Trump tax records expose "the extraordinary tax benefits" he acquired from "the financial wreckage¹⁴ he left behind in the early 1990s through mismanagement of three Atlantic City casinos, his ill-fated foray into the airline business and his ill-timed purchase of the Plaza¹⁵ Hotel in Manhattan." The Times says the documents were mailed to a reporter at the newspaper from a New York address, and consisted of three pages.

Nothing in the documents sent to The Times shows illegal behavior by Trump. All Americans can offset¹⁶ taxable gains with financial losses. But in a political cycle where income inequality and transparency have been major issues, Trump’s tax history – what is known and unknown – is giving Democrats¹⁷ ample ammunition¹⁸ as the election draws closer.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

3 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

4 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

5 anonymously   

ad.用匿名的方式

参考例句：

• The manuscripts were submitted anonymously. 原稿是匿名送交的。
• Methods A self-administered questionnaire was used to survey 536 teachers anonymously. 方法采用自编“中小学教师职业压力问卷”对536名中小学教师进行无记名调查。

6 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

7 assailed   

v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对

参考例句：

• He was assailed with fierce blows to the head. 他的头遭到猛烈殴打。
• He has been assailed by bad breaks all these years. 这些年来他接二连三地倒霉。 来自《用法词典》

8 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

9 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

10 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

11 fiduciary   

adj.受托的，信托的

参考例句：

• A company director owes a fiduciary duty to the company.公司董事应对公司负责受托人责任。
• He was acting in a fiduciary capacity.他以受托人身份行为。

12 excise   

n.(国产)货物税；vt.切除，删去

参考例句：

• I'll excise the patient's burnt areas.我去切除病人烧坏的部分。
• Jordan's free trade zone free of import duty,excise tax and all other taxes.约旦的自由贸易区免收进口税、国内货物税及其它一切税收。

13 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

14 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

15 plaza   

n.广场，市场

参考例句：

• They designated the new shopping centre York Plaza.他们给这个新购物中心定名为约克购物中心。
• The plaza is teeming with undercover policemen.这个广场上布满了便衣警察。

16 offset   

n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿

参考例句：

• Their wage increases would be offset by higher prices.他们增加的工资会被物价上涨所抵消。
• He put up his prices to offset the increased cost of materials.他提高了售价以补偿材料成本的增加。

17 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。