Donald Trump heads into the first US presidential debate against Joe Biden on Tuesday night trailing in opinion polls and now reeling from dramatic newspaper revelations detailing his chronic financial losses and years of tax avoidance.
Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes in 2016, the year he ran for and won election, the New York Times reported. In 2017, he paid only $750 again. And he paid no federal income tax at all in 10 out of the previous 15 years.
Evidence that Trump is paying much less than many of his working-class supporters is likely to be weaponized by Biden, his Democratic rival, when the two men go head to head for the first debate in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Biden campaign was quick to seize on the report, releasing an attack ad contrasting Trump’s $750 payment with elementary school teachers (who typically pay $7,239), firefighters ($5,283), construction managers ($16,447) and registered nurses ($10,216).
Biden is hoping to persuade voters who had voted…