Presidential Debate Highlights — Trump, Clinton Defend Tax Plans

[0:00] And I want to talk about taxes, the fundamental difference between the two of you concerns the [0:04] wealthy. Secretary Clinton, you're calling for a tax increase in the wealthiest Americans. I'd like [0:09] you to further defend that. And Mr. Trump, you're calling for tax cuts for the wealthy. I'd like you [0:13] to defend that. And this next two-minute answer goes to you, Mr. Trump. Well, I'm really calling [0:18] for major jobs because the wealthy are going to create tremendous jobs. They're going to expand [0:23] their companies. They're going to do a tremendous job. I'm getting rid of the carried interest [0:27] provision. And if you really look, it's not a tax, it's really not a great thing for the wealthy. [0:32] It's a great thing for the middle class. It's a great thing for companies to expand. And when [0:37] these people are going to put billions and billions of dollars into companies, and when they're going [0:42] to bring two and a half trillion dollars back from overseas where they can't bring the money back [0:46] because politicians like Secretary Clinton won't allow them to bring the money back because the [0:52] taxes are so onerous and the bureaucratic red tape is so bad. So what they're doing [0:57] is they're leaving our country and they're, believe it or not, leaving because taxes are too high [1:02] and because some of them have lots of money outside of our country. And instead of bringing it back and [1:08] putting the money to work because they can't work out a deal to, and everybody agrees it should be [1:12] brought back, instead of that, they're leaving our country to get their money because they can't bring [1:18] their money back into our country because of bureaucratic red tape, because they can't get together. [1:23] Because we have a president that can't sit them around the table and get them to approve something. [1:29] And here's the thing. Republicans and Democrats agree that this should be done. Two and a half trillion. [1:35] I happen to think it's double that. It's probably five trillion dollars that we can't bring into our country, [1:41] Lester. And with a little leadership, you'd get it in here very quickly, and it could be put to use on the [1:47] inner cities and lots of other things, and it would be beautiful. But we have no leadership. [1:52] And honestly, that starts with Secretary Clinton. [1:55] All right. You have two minutes on the same question to defend tax increases on the wealthiest [2:00] Americans, Secretary Clinton. I have a feeling that by the end of this evening, I'm going to be blamed [2:03] for everything that's ever happened. Why not? Why not? Yeah. Why not? [2:08] You know, just join the debate by saying more crazy things. Now, let me say this. [2:16] There's nothing crazy about not letting our companies bring their money back into their country. [2:21] This is Secretary Clinton's two minutes, please. [2:24] Yeah, well, let's start the clock again, Lester. We've looked at your tax proposals. [2:30] I don't see changes in the corporate tax rates or the kinds of proposals you're referring to that would [2:38] cause the repatriation, bringing back of money that's stranded overseas. I happen to support that. [2:45] I happen to support that in a way that will actually work to our benefit. But when I look at what you [2:51] have proposed, you have what is called now the Trump loophole because it would so advantage you and the [3:00] business you do. You've proposed an approach that has a $4 billion tax benefit for your family. [3:10] And when you look at what you are proposing, it is, as I said, trumped up, trickle down. [3:17] Trickle down did not work. It got us into the mess we were in in 2008 and 9. Slashing taxes on the [3:26] wealthy hasn't worked. And a lot of really smart, wealthy people know that. And they are saying, hey, we need to do [3:34] more to make the contributions we should be making to rebuild the middle class. I don't think top down works in [3:40] America. I think building the middle class, investing in the middle class, making college debt free so more young people can get [3:48] their education, helping people refinance their tax, their debt from college at a lower rate. Those are the kinds of [3:56] things that will really boost the economy. Broad-based, inclusive growth is what we need in America, not more [4:03] advantages for people at the very top. Mr. Trump, we're talking- [4:08] Typical politician. All talk. No action. Sounds good. Doesn't work. Never going to happen. Our country is suffering because [4:18] people like Secretary Clinton have made such bad decisions in terms of our jobs and in terms of [4:25] what's going on. Now, look, we have the worst revival of an economy since the Great Depression. And [4:33] believe me, we're in a bubble right now. And the only thing that looks good is the stock market. But if you raise [4:38] interest rates even a little bit, that's going to come crashing down. We are in a big, fat, ugly bubble. And we [4:45] better be awfully careful. And we have a Fed that's doing political things. This Janet Yellen of the Fed. [4:52] The Fed is doing political by keeping the interest rates at this level. And believe me, the day Obama [4:58] goes off and he leaves and he goes out to the golf course for the rest of his life to play golf, [5:02] when they raise interest rates, you're going to see some very bad things happen because the Fed is not [5:07] doing their job. The Fed is being more political than Secretary Clinton. Mr. Trump, we're talking [5:14] about the burden that Americans have to pay. Yet you have not released your tax returns. And the reason [5:19] nominees have released their returns for decades is that voters will know if their potential president [5:26] owes money to, who owes it to, and any business conflicts. Don't Americans have a right to know if [5:32] there are any conflicts of interest. I don't mind releasing. I'm under a routine audit and it'll be [5:37] released. And as soon as the audit's finished, it'll be released. But you will learn more about Donald [5:42] Trump by going down to the federal elections where I filed a 104-page essentially financial statement of [5:50] sorts, the forms that they have. It shows income. In fact, the income, I just looked today, [5:56] the income is filed at $694 million for this past year. $694 million. If you would have told me I was [6:04] going to make that 15 or 20 years ago, I would have been very surprised. But that's the kind of [6:08] thinking that our country needs. When we have a country that's doing so badly, that's being ripped [6:14] off by every single country in the world, it's the kind of thinking that our country needs. Because [6:21] everybody, Lester, we have a trade deficit with all of the countries that we do business with, of [6:28] almost $800 billion a year. You know what that is? That means who's negotiating these trade deals? We have [6:35] people that are political hacks negotiating our trade deals. The IRS has an audit of your taxes. [6:42] You're perfectly free to release your taxes during an audit. And so the question, does the public's [6:47] right to know outweigh your personal? Well, I told you, I will release them as soon as the audit. [6:52] Look, I've been under audit almost for 15 years. I know a lot of wealthy people that have never been [6:58] audited. I said, do you get audited? I get audited almost every year. And in a way, I should be [7:03] complaining. I'm not even complaining. I don't mind it. It's almost become a way of life. I get audited by [7:07] the IRS. But other people don't. I will say this. We have a situation in this country that has to be taken [7:15] care of. I will release my tax returns against my lawyer's wishes when she releases her 33,000 emails [7:25] that have been deleted. As soon as she releases them, I will release, I will release my tax returns. [7:32] And that's against my lawyers. They say, don't do it. I will tell you this. No, in fact, watching shows, [7:39] reading the papers, almost every lawyer says, you don't release your returns until the audit's complete. [7:45] When the audit's complete, I'll do it. But I would go against them if she releases her email. [7:50] So it's negotiable? It's not negotiable. No, let her release the email. Why did she delete 33,000? [7:55] Well, I'll let her ask that. But let me just admonish the audience one more time. There was an [7:59] agreement. We did ask you to be silent. So it would be helpful for us. Secretary Clinton. [8:04] Well, I think you've just seen another example of bait and switch here. For 40 years, everyone running [8:11] for president has released their tax returns. You can go and see nearly, I think, 39, 40 years of our [8:17] tax returns. But everyone has done it. We know the IRS has made clear there is no prohibition on [8:23] releasing it when you're under audit. So you've got to ask yourself, why won't he release his tax returns? [8:30] And I think there may be a couple of reasons. First, maybe he's not as rich as he says he is. Second, [8:37] maybe he's not as charitable as he claims to be. Third, we don't know all of his business dealings. [8:44] But we have been told through investigative reporting that he owes about $650 million to Wall [8:52] Street and foreign banks. Or maybe he doesn't want the American people, all of you watching tonight, [8:58] to know that he's paid nothing in federal taxes. Because the only years that anybody's ever seen [9:05] were a couple of years when he had to turn them over to state authorities when he was trying to get a casino [9:10] license. And they showed he didn't pay any federal income tax. So if he's paid zero, that means zero for [9:18] troops, zero for vets, zero for schools or health. And I think probably he's not all that enthusiastic about [9:28] having the rest of our country see what the real reasons are. Because it must be something really [9:35] important, even terrible, that he's trying to hide. And the financial disclosure statement, they don't [9:41] give you the tax rate. They don't give you all the details that tax returns would. And it just seems to me [9:48] that this is something that the American people deserve to see. And I have no reason to believe that [9:54] he's ever going to release his tax returns. Because there's something he's hiding. And we'll guess. [10:01] We'll keep guessing at what it might be that he's hiding. But I think the question is, were he ever [10:07] to get near the White House, what would be those conflicts? Who does he owe money to? Well, he owes you [10:16] the answers to that. And he should provide them. [10:18] He also raised the issue of your emails. Do you want to respond to that? [10:22] I do. You know, I made a mistake using a private email. [10:26] That's for sure. And if I had to do it over again, I would obviously do it differently. [10:32] But I'm not going to make any excuses. It was a mistake. And I take responsibility for that. [10:38] Mr. Trump? That was more than a mistake. That was done purposely. Okay? That was not a mistake. [10:44] That was not a mistake. That was done purposely. When you have your staff taking the fifth amendment, [10:50] taking the fifth so they're not prosecuted. When you have the man that set up the illegal server [10:56] taking the fifth, I think it's disgraceful. And believe me, this country thinks it's disgrace, [11:02] it really thinks it's disgraceful also. As far as my tax returns, you don't learn that much from tax [11:08] returns. That I can tell you. You learn a lot from financial disclosure. And you should go down and take a look at [11:14] that. The other thing, I'm extremely underleveraged. The report that said 650, which, by the way, a lot of [11:21] friends of mine that know my business said, boy, that's really not a lot of money. It's not a lot of money [11:25] relative to what I had. The buildings that were in question, they said in the same report, which was [11:31] actually wasn't even a bad story, to be honest with you. But the buildings are worth $3.9 billion. [11:36] And the 650 isn't even on that. But it's not 650. It's much less than that. But I could give you a list of banks. [11:43] I would, if that would help you, I would give you a list of banks. These are very fine institutions, very fine [11:48] banks. I could do that very quickly. I am very underleveraged. I have a great company. I have a tremendous [11:53] income. And the reason I say that is not in a braggadocious way. It's because it's about time that this [12:00] country had somebody running it that has an idea about money. When we have $20 trillion in debt and our [12:08] country is a mess. You know, it's one thing to have $20 trillion in debt and our roads are good and our [12:12] bridges are good and everything is in great shape. Our airports, our airports are like from a third [12:18] world country. You land at LaGuardia. You land at Kennedy. You land at LAX. You land at Newark. [12:24] And you come in from Dubai and Qatar. And you see these incredible, you come in from China. You see these [12:29] incredible airports. And you land, we've become a third world country. So the worst of all things has [12:36] happened. We owe $20 trillion and we're a mess. We haven't even started. And we've spent $6 trillion [12:44] in the Middle East, according to a report that I just saw. Whether it's six or five, but it looks like [12:50] it's six. Six trillion dollars in the Middle East. We could have rebuilt our country twice. And it's [12:56] really a shame. And it's politicians like Secretary Clinton that have caused this problem. Our country [13:02] has tremendous problems. We're a debtor nation. We're a serious debtor nation. And we have a country [13:08] that needs new roads, new tunnels, new bridges, new airports, new schools, new hospitals. And we don't have [13:14] the money because it's been squandered on so many of your ideas. And maybe because you haven't paid any [13:21] federal income tax for a lot of years. And the other thing I think is important. It would be squandered [13:27] too, believe me. If your main claim to be president of the United States is your business, then I think [13:34] we should talk about that. You know, your campaign manager said that you built a lot of businesses on [13:42] the backs of little guys. And indeed, I have met a lot of the people who were stiffed by you and your [13:49] businesses, Donald. I've met dishwashers, painters, architects, glass installers, marble installers, [13:58] drapery installers like my dad was, who you refused to pay when they finished the work that you asked them [14:08] to do. We have an architect in the audience who designed one of your clubhouses at one of your golf [14:13] courses. It's a beautiful facility. It immediately was put to use and you wouldn't pay what the man [14:23] needed to be paid, what he was charging you to do. Maybe he didn't do a good job and I was unsatisfied [14:28] with his work, which our country should do too. Do the thousands of people that you have stiffed over the [14:34] course of your business not deserve some kind of apology from someone who has taken their labor, [14:43] taken the goods that they produced, and then refused to pay them? I can only say that I'm [14:48] certainly relieved that my late father never did business with you. He provided a good middle-class [14:54] life for us, but the people he worked for, he expected the bargain to be kept on both sides. [15:00] And when we talk about your business, you've taken business bankruptcy six times. There are a lot of [15:09] great business people that have never taken bankruptcy once. You call yourself the king of debt. You talk [15:16] about leverage. You even at one time suggested that you would try to negotiate down the national debt of [15:24] the United States. Well, sometimes there's not a direct transfer of skills from business to government, [15:32] but sometimes what happened in business would be really bad for government. And we need to be very [15:39] clear about that. Look, it's all words. It's all sound bites. I built an unbelievable company. Some of the [15:46] greatest assets anywhere in the world, real estate assets anywhere in the world beyond the United States [15:51] in Europe, lots of different places. It's an unbelievable company. But on occasion, four times, [15:59] we used certain laws that are there. And when Secretary Clinton talks about people that [16:07] didn't get paid, first of all, they did get paid a lot, but taking advantage of the laws of the nation. [16:14] Now, if you want to change the laws, you've been there a long time, change the laws. But I take advantage [16:18] of the laws of the nation because I'm running a company. My obligation right now is to do well for [16:25] myself, my family, my employees, for my companies. And that's what I do. But what she doesn't say is [16:31] the tens of thousands of people that are unbelievably happy and that love me. I'll give you an example. [16:38] We're just opening up on Pennsylvania Avenue right next to the White House. So if I don't get there one way, [16:46] I'm going to get to Pennsylvania Avenue another. But we're opening the old post office. Under budget, [16:53] ahead of schedule, saved tremendous money. I'm a year ahead of schedule. And that's what this country [17:00] should be doing. We build roads and they cost two and three and four times what they're supposed to cost. [17:05] We buy products for our military and they come at costs that are so far above what they were supposed [17:11] to be because we don't have people that know what they're doing. When we look at the budget, [17:15] the budget is bad to a large extent because we have people that have no idea as to what to do and how [17:22] to buy. The Trump international is way under budget and way ahead of schedule. And we should be able [17:30] to do that for our country. Well, we're well behind schedule.