Maine’s two U.S. senators say President Donald Trump should release his tax returns in the wake of a New York Times report that he only paid $750 in federal income taxes in each of the last two years.
Independent Sen. Angus King says while the president may have been using legitimate tax breaks to nearly wipe out his tax burden, those breaks are not fair to other taxpayers, and he says Congress should fix the federal tax code.
King says he is more concerned about the possible repercussions of Trump’s reported debts.
“The President personally owes over $400 million, and we don’t know who it’s to, and that level of debt raises national security concerns,” he says. “We need to be sure that people are paying their fair share. If a worker in Maine is paying theirs’ and somebody else isn’t, then that burden falls on the rest of us.”
“I don’t think that we should conclude that the amount of debt he has is a national security risk but I think it is something the American people has the right to know,” says Republican Sen. Susan Collins. “The president should be required, by law, to disclose his tax returns each and every year. Now prior to President Trump, that was the practice.”
Collins says she agrees that the president should release his returns, and that Congress should change the laws to ensure that tax credits, deductions and loopholes can’t be used to eliminate all tax liability.
