Trump's Tax Ploy: How Rich Will Win If He Does

The revelation that Donald Trump’s business losses in the mid-nineties may have enabled him to avoid paying federal income tax for nearly two decades may be the biggest “October surprise” of any recent Presidential campaign. But the substance of it was no surprise at all. When, in the first debate, Hillary Clinton challenged him about years in which he may not have paid federal taxes, he boasted, “That makes me smart.” And his real-estate empire, such as it is, was built on exploiting just about every government tax abatement, credit, and subsidy available.