During the 2016 presidential debates between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the former secretary of state claimed that Trump, despite his alleged fortune, had reportedly not paid any income tax. In response, Trump smugly quipped, “That makes me smart.” Enough people apparently agreed that vastly wealthy people are entitled to keep every last penny for themselves — rather than pay their fair share into the system that made their wealth possible — because Trump was elected president just a few weeks later.
Even then, it was clear that Trump’s reputation as a brilliant businessman was largely manufactured by his own relentless self-promotion, along with a talented reality show producer who put him on television. But it was and remains true: Most wealthy people and many corporations pay little or no income tax by manipulating the system in perfectly legal ways. Trump was one of them.
