CWA President Chris Shelton: Attention, Donald Trump, Avoiding Taxes Doesn’t Make You Smart

In an opinion piece in the Saint Louis Dispatch, CWA President Chris Shelton criticized Donald Trump for bragging about not paying taxes:

Donald Trump only cares about guys like Donald Trump. On the cusp of the second presidential debate, it's pretty clear that the GOP nominee mainly wants to game the system for people like himself.

Working people pay taxes, every single payday, in every single paycheck. We might not like it, but we know that paying taxes is how our country pays for first responders, health care, transportation systems, inspection of food and medicines, and so much more. Public services are critical to our lives, no matter who we are or where we live, and it's our tax dollars that support them.

Donald Trump pretends to connect with ordinary working people. But sometimes we get a look at the real Trump, and it’s not pretty.

Though he's refused to release his tax returns to the public, newly disclosed documents show that Trump could have avoided paying any federal income taxes for up to 18 years, following a $916 million loss he declared on his 1995 return.

When Hillary Clinton said that Trump hasn't released his tax returns because they would prove he didn't pay any federal income taxes, Trump’s response was, "That makes me smart." Then he took it a step further, declaring that any taxes he paid "would be squandered."

Sorry, Donald Trump, avoiding taxes doesn't make you smart. In fact, it makes you phony and irresponsible. It shows that you're unwilling to support the public services that hundreds of millions of Americans at every income level depend on. Does anyone believe that tax dollars are "squandered" when used to keep our country safe from terrorism? Or by providing health care or hot meals to low-income children?

Read the full piece here.