US: Trump defends tax practices amid report fallout

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump defended on Sunday his tax practices after a report suggested he may have avoided paying income taxes for the past two decades.

The New York Times reported that Trump declared a $916 million loss on his 1995 income tax returns, which could have allowed the real estate mogul to avoid paying taxes for up to 18 years.

Trump appeared not only unphased, but emboldened by the bombshell report.

"I know our complex tax laws better than anyone who has ever run for president and am the only one who can fix them. #failing@nytimes," Trump tweeted early Sunday morning.

Trump has made a point of declining to release any of his tax records, breaking with decades of common practice in American presidential elections.

While not required by law, presidential candidates have made their tax records public since at least 1972.

During last week's presidential debate with Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton, Trump said that if he has not been paying taxes that would make him "smart".

The Clinton campaign lambasted him, saying in a statement that Trump "got to avoid paying taxes for nearly two decades -- while tens of millions of working families paid theirs."

In blistering public remarks last week, Vice President Joe Biden condemned the Republican nominee for president, saying: Trump's comments "angers me".

"I've been there for eight presidents, Democrat and Republican," the vice president said, noticeably irritated. "I've agreed and I've disagreed. But every president I have served with, including the Republicans, has had a moral center about what it was to be an American, about what we are supposed to do, about what basic fundamental rights are."

Still, some Trump supporters remained phalanx around their nominee.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is serving as an advisor to the Republican nominee, said that if Trump has not been paying taxes that made him a "genius".

“He would have been a fool not to take advantage,” Giuliani told ABC News, saying what he did is "perfectly legal".

And New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told Fox News that the story is actually "very, very good" for Trump.