Hillary Clinton taunts Donald Trump over 'New York Times' tax expose

Impact

The recent New York Times expose on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has provided his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton with a renewed line of attack.

On Saturday, the Times released leaked tax records from 1995 showing the real-estate mogul claimed a $916 million loss that year amid the collapse of his casino ventures and other businesses, which when carried forward, would be enough to cancel out up to 18 years' worth of taxable income in the same amount.

On Monday, Clinton spoke to an audience in Toledo, Ohio, with a sharp rebuke of Trump surrogates — like former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani — arguing the tax avoidance was a work of "economic genius."

"What kind of genius loses a billion dollars in a single year?" Clinton shot back, according to ABC News. "This is Trump to a tee. He's taken corporate excess and made a business model out of it."

"He abuses his power, games the system and puts his own interests ahead of the country's," she continued. "It's always Trump first and everyone else last ... While millions of American families, including mine and yours, were working hard, paying their fair share, it seems he was contributing nothing to our nation. Imagine that. Not fair."

She also repeated another attack line from the summer which has taken on renewed relevancy: "Now, how anybody can lose a dollar, let alone a billion dollars in the casino industry, is kind of beyond me."

While national polls which could indicate whether the tax return expose could damage Trump's candidacy have yet to be released, a CNN/ORC poll released on Monday showed 86% of registered voters consider paying taxes a "civic duty," including 79% of Trump supporters.