On Sunday’s This Week, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos repeatedly hit GOP presidential frontrunner from the left over his tax plan, chastising Trump for his plan which Stephanopoulos claimed would mainly benefit the rich.
Stephanopoulos demanded the Republican candidate explain why taxes should be cut at all and zeroed in on how the plan would personally benefit Trump: “Bottom line, you do accept that you're going to make out well under your tax plan?”
The ABC host eagerly questioned Trump from the left over his support for lowering taxes for all Americans, which Stephanopoulos argued would help the Republican achieve “tens of millions of savings.”
For his part, Trump pointed out that “[e]verybody's going to save according to my plan” but Stephanopoulos complained “[y]ou’re not going to be paying more taxes.” Once again, Trump explained “that money is going back into other things” throughout the economy rather than merely going towards unnecessary federal spending.
Not to be outdone, Stephanopoulos went on to criticize Trump’s support for the elimination of the death tax which was “where your family would make potentially hundreds of millions of dollars.” Despite the ABC host’s best efforts to lecture Trump on how he supposedly would benefit tremendously from repeal of the estate tax, the GOP frontrunner stood firm in condemning the “horrible weapon” used against taxpayer:
The estate tax is a very, very horrible weapon that has destroyed many families, in particular farms and things where they make an income and they have a certain value and they have to go out and borrow money and then they put mortgage on their farms...George, if you have a business, and let's say it's a business that's not very liquid, and people have to go out and borrow against the business, you're having travesty. And the other thing is, it's a double-taxation. The tax has already been paid. I mean, you been hearing this argument for many years.
See relevant transcript below.
ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos
October 4, 2015
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's talk about your tax plan-
DONALD TRUMP: Yes.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Everyone gets a tax cut.
TRUMP: Right.
STEPHANOPOULOS: More and more Americans will pay nothing at all. But the conservative Tax Foundation says it will increase the deficit by about $10 trillion over 10 years.
TRUMP: What do they know? George, what do they know?
STEPHANOPOULOS: They run the numbers.
TRUMP: They have been doing this stuff for years. And I’ll tell you what, they’ve been doing this stuff for years. They're so off. You look at their past projections, they're so far off. People, this is a very dynamic plan.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So, it's not going to increase the deficit?
TRUMP: Well, if it works the way I want it to work, it's not, because we’re going to bring back jobs. I'm going to bring back so many jobs. One of the things that we're coming out with in the next three, four weeks is cutting and cutting is a big part of my plan.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So you’re going to come up with cuts that will close that hole?
TRUMP: We're going to come up with very substantial cuts.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Give me one.
TRUMP: The Department of Education. We’re going to do cutting. And the economy is going to grow exponentially.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You also said that this tax plan is going to cost you a fortune-
TRUMP: It will cost me a lot of money.
STEPHANOPOULOS: How do you get there?
TRUMP: Well, I’ll tell you what, I have carried interest like a lot of other people do, and carried interest is a wonderful thing but it's unfair. And rich people --
STEPHANOPOULOS: That's $20 billion over 10 years for everyone who has it.
TRUMP: But that's psychologically so important. If the economy grows, we all make it up. And frankly the job producers make it up. The economy has to grow. By the way, we have to bring back jobs, also part of my plan.
STEPHANOPOULOS: According to your financial disclosure, you made $250 million in the last year.
TRUMP: $605 million.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Okay, 605. The top rate goes from 40% to about 25%. Capital gains comes down from 23 to 20. That's a huge -- that's tens of millions of savings.
TRUMP: Everybody's going to save according to my plan.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You’re not going to be paying more taxes.
TRUMP: George, that money is going back into other things.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But you're going to get a tax cut?
TRUMP: I don't know, because I have very big deductions. Frankly, some are ridiculous. You're entitled to deductions. So I don't know that I am.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But not $600 million worth.
TRUMP: I think probably I'll end up paying more under this to be honest. I don’t think im going to. If you look at all of the kinds of deductions that people are allowed to take that you're not going to be taking anymore, including carried interest, that's just one of them, I think I probably don't do as well.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But where your family would make potentially hundreds of millions of dollars, eliminating the estate tax?
TRUMP: Well, the estate tax is a different thing. The estate tax is a very, very horrible weapon that has destroyed many families, in particular farms and things where they make an income and they have a certain value and they have to go out and borrow money and then they put mortgage on their farms.
STEPHANOPOULOS: It’s 20 farms in the last year.
TRUMP: George, if you have a business, and let's say it's a business that's not very liquid, and people have to go out and borrow against the business, you're having travesty. And the other thing is, it's a double-taxation. The tax has already been paid. I mean, you been hearing this argument for many years.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So you’re family would benefit but you’re saying it's just wrong?
TRUMP: No, no, I say it's a double-taxation. The death tax is an unfair tax because the tax has already been paid.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Bottom line, you do accept that you're going to make out well under your tax plan?
TRUMP: I don't know. I mean, if the economy is good, if the economy is great, everybody makes out well.
