Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump stated that on taxes he supports, simplifying the tax code and wants to “reduce taxes” on Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends.” Although, he later added on CNN’s “New Day” that “I know exactly what I want to do, I just don’t want to announce it yet.”
Trump began the interview by saying to host Steve Doocy, “Well, we are friends, Steve. We’ve always been friends, and it’s great to be back with you” after Doocy remarked, “glad we’re friends.”
Asked about his tax plan, Trump said, “You have so many plans Steve, and you have the Fair Tax, and you have the flat tax, and you have the current system, but it’s too complicated. Frankly, what we should do is…start it off by simplifying our current system, put H&R Block out of business, knock them out, put them out of business. A simple return, people have to go out and pay a lot of money to get help, to fill out their tax returns. And I’m talking about a simple return. We have to simplify our code, we have to bring down taxes, but we have to simplify our code, Steve, it’s too complicated. You can’t do it. You have to go — in my case, I have lawyers all over the place. I have accounting firms all over the place, everybody. You have to simplify this tax code. And from that point on, you can maybe do something else. But before we do anything, simplify it. Make it nice and easy for people to understand, and reduce taxes.”
In an interview on CNN’s “New Day” shortly after, Trump was asked, “You know you’re have to do better than that, as you go forward here, in terms of putting out ideas that people can cling to. What do you think should be the top tax rate, for someone, let’s say, like you who’s a billionaire?”
Trump answered, “I don’t think I have to do a lot better right now. I mean, we’re in a very formative part of the campaign. And I’m also forming — you know, you don’t understand, to be a successful person and a businessperson, you have to be flexible. You know, the boxers say you have to go with punches. You have to be flexible. You can’t just be boom, boom, hard and fast.” And said that when he bought properties he didn’t have 14-point plans, but “I went in and got it. So, a lot of this stuff, you don’t want to hear about the plans, you got to get in and you got to get it done.”
He added, “Our tax code is too complicated, and we can simplify it so easily.” When asked how, he answered, “Using intelligence. By having common sense,” and re-iterated that he wants to put H&R Block out of business.
He continued, “You can have a Fair Tax, you can have a flat tax, or you can leave the system alone, which is probably the simplest at this point. Leave the system alone, and take out deductions, and lower taxes, and do lots of really good things, leaving the system the way it is. And I know exactly what I want to do, I just don’t want to announce it yet.”
Earlier in the Fox interview, Trump criticized the economic and governing record of fellow GOP candidate Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, and said that an ABC News story citing a senior adviser of his that Trump is “now seriously considering promising not to run as an independent if he does not win the Republican nomination” wasn’t true, and that while he wants to run as a Republican, he’s going to “keep that door open in case I don’t get treated fairly.”
Trump also addressed his relationship with Democratic Hillary Clinton, stating that he would “give to everybody” as businessman, and the fact that people treated him nicely due to this showed a flaw within the political system. He added that he doesn’t need anyone else’s money and has no special interests of lobbyists behind his campaign.
When asked about ISIS, Trump pointed to his earlier criticism of the Iraq War, and argued the US should fight ISIS by taking their oil.
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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