It’s hard to tell what surprised voters more: that Donald Trump may have gone nearly two decades without paying federal income taxes or that it may have been legal. But Senator Bernie Sanders hopes to put an end to that by introducing new legislation.
Sanders may no longer be running for president, but that won’t stop him from trying to crack down on tax breaks for the wealthy. On Tuesday, the independent Vermont senator announced plans to introduce legislation that targets "special tax breaks and loopholes in a corrupt tax code” in the next Congress, he said in a statement.
These breaks allow “billionaires and powerful corporations to avoid paying their fair share of taxes while sticking the burden on the middle class,” he said.
"It's time to create a tax system which is fair and which asks the wealthy and powerful to start paying their fair share of taxes,” Sanders said.
There are four specific provisions that Sanders has in his crosshairs, according to a fact sheet on his website: an exemption for real estate from passive loss rules, an exemption for real estate from at-risk rules, like-kind exchanges and debt and depreciation.
Sanders explained what these loopholes mean by using Trump as an example. For the exemption for real estate from passive loss rules, he explained: “An exception was made for real estate, meaning Trump can use his real estate losses to offset any other income, whether it is book royalties or compensation for starring on the Apprentice.”
The next Congress is not set to convene until January, giving Sanders and Trump plenty of time to argue about it on Twitte