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Buffet is a patriot, but Trump is just a fraud

To the editor:

In (the second) debate, Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump insinuated that he has not done anything differently with his federal income taxes than billionaire Warren Buffett, a supporter of   Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.  Previously he claimed that Buffett had declared $873 million in losses.  Like a lot of what Donald  says, that isn’t true.  Warren Buffett also never took advantage of the “carry forward” provision of the federal tax law to avoid paying taxes in previous or subsequent years.

Unlike Mr. Trump, Warren Buffett, under audit, has released his 2015 tax returns and we have an opportunity to examine his record. It shows that his gross income was a hefty $11,563,931 and his federal income taxes were $1,845,557. His deductions were $5,477,694 of which two thirds were from charitable contributions. He actually gave away in $2.85 billion in 2015, which by law only a limited amount can be deducted on his federal income taxes.  At age 86, he has pledged to give away most of his $65 billion fortune.

We also know that Warren Buffett has paid income taxes every year since 1944. This means unlike Donald Trump, over the past two decades he has actually contributed taxes to help pay for veteran’s benefits, defense, protecting the environment, children’s education, assistance to farmers, infrastructure, etc.

If Warren Buffett, under audit, can release his tax returns, then it is obvious that there is no legal reason preventing Mr. Trump from releasing his returns. Could there be other reasons why Donald doesn’t want us to see his tax information? Is he not as wealthy as he likes to brag about? Maybe he doesn’t want people to see that he is not very charitable? Or maybe he owes money to foreign banks, foreign governments, or billionaire oligarchs in Russia? He could put our minds to rest by simply releasing his federal income tax returns. But we all know that he will never do it.

Warren Buffett is a patriot. Donald Trump is a fraud.

Gary Gill

Lewistown

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