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Unlike all other presidential candidates, Donald Trump has refused to release his tax returns, and based on what The New York Times learned from a leaked copy of his 1995 tax records, we may now know why.

The leaked documents show that Trump lost $916 million in 1995 due to his failed businesses, including three Atlantic City casinos and Trump Airlines. Based on IRS rules, those losses could cancel out $50 million in taxable earnings each year for 18 years.

This revelation about the Republican presidential nominee (who has professed he will bring jobs back to America) will not resonate well with voters, who must pay taxes or face prosecution and do not have the kind of wealth to take advantage of the loopholes. These are the same voters who Trump has riled up throughout the course of the 2016 presidential election and helped catapult him as the Republican presidential nominee.

Michelle Bernard, President and CEO of the Bernard Center for Women, Politics and Public Policy, said on NewsOne Now: “Donald Trump is telling millions of White people across the country who are angry because they think Affirmative Action has destroyed their lives, because they think Black people have destroyed their lives, because they think Mexicans – who Donald Trump claims are rapists – have destroyed their lives, and it’s men like Donald Trump who have put them in the economic condition that they’re in.” 

In one year, Trump claimed $6,000 for the entire year. Bernard questioned, “What if that had been your income? What if you were somebody that lives at the poverty level or lives below the poverty level and Donald Trump legally gets to claim an income of $6,000 and live in the Trump Tower.”

NewsOne Now panelist Karine Jean-Pierre was not surprised by Trump using the tax loopholes to his advantage, she was more outraged by the amount of money Trump lost.

Jean-Pierre explained it was off of Trump’s business acumen that he launched his political career. She asked, “Really, you lost almost a billion dollars – that’s what you’re going to do for us?

How do you do that with casinos … aren’t you supposed to be making money with casinos? Doesn’t the house always win?” 

Watch Roland Martin and the NewsOne Now panel discuss the Donald Trump tax bombshell in the video clip above.

PHOTO CREDIT: Getty

Watch NewsOne Now with Roland Martin, in its new time slot on TV One.

SEE ALSO:

Black Celebrities And Politicians Called Out For Failing To Pay Taxes

Roland Martin Tells Millennials To Vote Or Shut Up

Is Donald Trump Responsible For The Economic Condition Of Angry White Voters?  was originally published on newsone.com