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How did Donald Trump lose $916 million in one year? The massive monetary loss assured the businessman turned presidential candidate would not pay taxes on future income for nearly twenty years.

In the aftermath of The New York Times article exposing a portion of Donald Trump’s taxes, Hillary Clinton has gone on the offensive with a new attack ad questioning what the GOP presidential nominee thinks of hardworking Americans who pay their taxes, after he alluded to not paying federal taxes as being “smart.”

During a recent campaign event in Ohio, Clinton said: “What kind of genius loses a billion dollars in a single year? 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, puts his own interests ahead of the country’s. It’s Trump first, and everyone else last.”

Trump decided to spin his “fiduciary responsibility” to pay as little in taxes as possible during an event in Colorado. He responded to critics by offering to change America’s tax code if elected President of the United States.

Trump told those in attendance: “Fixing our broken tax code is one of the main reasons I’m running for president. I’ve been saying from the beginning of this campaign how ridiculous, complex and, yes, unfair the tax system is. It’s an unfair system. I have a fiduciary responsibility to pay no more tax than is legally required like anybody else. Or, put another way, to pay as little tax as legally possible.”

Trump’s tax revelation is not resonating well with many voters. On Tuesday’s edition of NewsOne Now, Roland Martin said the Republican presidential nominee “cannot run away from this.”

How can Trump “say I am the messenger for the blue-collar worker, the White working class worker, and I’m going to fix this, when you are the prime example of somebody taking advantage of a situation?” Martin questioned.

NewsOne Now panelist Hughey Newsome, Contributor for the Bold Media Group, said, “The fact that he in the past has taken advantage of a situation doesn’t preclude the fact that he is the only one actually talking about tax reform.”

But as Trump offers tax reform to American voters, what changes will actually be made?

According to Newsome, Trump’s tax plan is simpler. But Martin argued even if the plan is simpler, “it will still benefit the rich.”

Amber J. Phillips, Co-Director of BLACK, shared her view of Trump’s “simpler” tax plan: “Not only is he not paying taxes, but in a way in him running for president — he’s stealing from the American people and asking for their support at the same time.”

Watch Roland Martin and the NewsOne Now panel discuss controversy surrounding Donald Trump avoiding nearly two decades of paying taxes in the video clip above.

PHOTO CREDIT: Getty

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

SEE ALSO:

Is Donald Trump Responsible For The Economic Condition Of Angry White Voters?

Donald Trump Offers Tax Reform After Getting Busted For Not Paying Taxes  was originally published on newsone.com