‘Annoying, to say the least’: Trump’s former tax accountant not enjoying new spotlight
Donald Trump’s former accountant is getting some unwanted attention these days.
“Annoying, to say the least,” said Jack Mitnick, now 80 and semi-retired in Florida, to the Palm Beach Sun-Sentinel on Sunday of the deluge of phone calls he had been receiving since the day before.
On Saturday, the New York Times published a blockbuster story on what it said were Trump’s 1995 tax records. Experts told the paper that his nearly $1 billion claimed income loss that year may have allowed the Republican nominee to legally avoid income taxes for up to 18 years.
The story immediately placed Trump on the defensive. Democrat Hillary Clinton’s campaign seized the report as evidence of her Republican rival’s business failings and of his refusal to play by the rules imposed on average taxpayers.
“What kind of genius loses a billion dollars in a single year?” Clinton said at a rally in Toledo, Ohio, on Monday. “How anyone can lose a dollar, let alone a billion dollars, in the casino industry is beyond me. It’s just hard to figure.”
In an interview with the Times, Mitnick not only verified the legitimacy of the leaked 1995 tax return, but also offered a glimpse at how he helped Trump exploit loopholes in the tax code during the 30 years in which he handled the businessman’s taxes.
“He knew we could use the tax code to protect him,” said Mitnick, who at the time worked for a Long Island accounting firm that catered to New York’s real estate dynasties. Trump’s father, Fred, had been a longtime client of Mitnick’s before he took over the younger Trump’s taxes.
“Here the guy was building incredible net worth and not paying tax on it,” Mitnick told the Times.
Mitnick declined to discuss Trump’s taxes or financial records with the Sun-Sentinel, noting it had been more than 20 years since he last worked for the real estate tycoon and his family.
Meanwhile, the Trump campaign has pointed to the leaked tax return as proof of the GOP nominee’s business savvy, as well as the mainstream media’s bias against him. His team said the 1995 tax-return document was obtained illegally.
“Mr. Trump knows the tax code far better than anyone who has ever run for President and he is the only one that knows how to fix it,” his campaign said in a statement.
“It’s my job to minimize the overall tax burden to the greatest extent possible,” Trump added at a Monday rally in Pueblo, Colo. “As a businessman and real estate developer, I have legally used the tax laws to my benefit and to the benefit of my company and my employees.”
