Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, during the second presidential debate, took some stabs at wealthy Clinton supporters like Warren Buffett, saying:
«Now, the taxes are a very simple thing. As soon as I have — first of all, I pay hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes. Many of her [Clinton’s] friends took bigger deductions. Warren Buffett took a massive deduction.»
The Oracle of Omaha answered with a letter clarifying his position on taxes. The letter, published on BusinessWire read:
«Answering a question last night about his $916 million income tax loss carryforward in 1995, Donald Trump stated that “Warren Buffett took a massive deduction.” Mr. Trump says he knows more about taxes than any other human. He has not seen my income tax returns. But I am happy to give him the facts.
My 2015 return shows adjusted gross income of $11,563,931. My deductions totaled $5,477,694, of which allowable charitable contributions were $3,469,179. All but $36,037 of the remainder was for state income taxes.
The total charitable contributions I made during the year were $2,858,057,970, of which more than $2.85 billion were not taken as deductions and never will be. Tax law properly limits charitable deductions.
My federal income tax for the year was $1,845,557. Returns for previous years are of a similar nature in respect to contributions, deductions and tax rates.
I have paid federal income tax every year since 1944, when I was 13. (Though, being a slow starter, I owed only $7 in tax that year.) I have copies of all 72 of my returns and none uses a carryforward.
Finally, I have been audited by the IRS multiple times and am currently being audited. I have no problem in releasing my tax information while under audit. Neither would Mr. Trump – at least he would have no legal problem.»
Forbes ranks Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, at #3 on the Forbes 400, just behind Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, with an estimated net worth of $65.3 billion. In September, Forbes pegged Trump’s worth at $3.7 billion.