Warren Buffett fires back at Donald Trump, sets record straight about taxes

Warren Buffett is setting the record straight about his taxes.

During Sunday’s presidential debate, Republican nominee Donald Trump claimed that Buffett took a “massive deduction,” similar to the one Trump has been accused of taking in 1995 that would have allowed him to avoid paying federal income tax in some of the years that followed.

In a statement, Buffett countered that claim, noting that Trump "has not seen my income tax returns."

“I have paid federal income tax every year since 1944, when I was 13. (Though, being a slow starter, I owed only $7 in tax that year.) I have copies of all 72 of my returns and none uses a carryforward,” Buffett wrote.

Trump has said he cannot make his returns public because he’s the subject of an IRS audit. Billionaire investor Buffett had something to say about that, too. The Berkshire Hathaway CEO said he, too, is under audit but has “no problem in releasing [his] tax information while under audit.”

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“Neither would Mr. Trump — at least he would have no legal problem,” Buffett wrote.

Buffett — who is a Hillary Clinton supporter — said that his 2015 return shows adjusted gross income of $11.56 million. He had total deductions of $5.48 million, which includes more than $3 million in allowable charitable contributions. He paid federal income tax of $1.85 million.

Buffett added that he made $2.86 billion in charitable contributions for the year, of which more than $2.85 billion was not taken as deductions, “and never will be,” he noted.

Cox Media Group