Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani on Sunday vehemently defended his candidate after Saturday's revelation from The New York Times that Donald Trump may have avoided paying personal income tax for as long as 18 years following a $916 million loss reported on his tax returns in 1995. Speaking to Jake Tapper on CNN, Giuliani emphasized the fact — also noted in the Times report — that there is nothing illegal about Trump's actions.
"Most Americans take advantage of every deduction and every legal opportunity there is to save some taxes," Giuliani argued, "so that they don't have to pay as much as they are paying to the government," and Trump only did the same thing on a larger scale. Tapper pushed back by noting Trump has tweeted a complaint that "half of Americans don't pay income tax despite crippling government debt," pointing out that Trump is in that half if the Times report is correct.
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