NEW YORK: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump says
paying no income tax would make him "smart." While nearly half of
Americans agree with him, more people think it is "selfish," and
"unpatriotic," according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on
Tuesday.
Some 67 percent of Americans
said it is "selfish" for a presidential candidate to pay no taxes,
while 61 percent said it is "unpatriotic," according to the poll,
which allowed respondents to pick more than one adjective to describe paying no
taxes.
At the same time, the results
showed some respect for a candidate who can figure out how to reduce their tax
bill. Some 46 percent of Americans, including 35 percent of Democrats and 62
percent of Republicans, thought a presidential candidate who pays no taxes is
"smart."
Trump's taxes have become a big
campaign issue after the New York Times released a portion of his 1995 tax
returns last week and estimated that Trump likely paid no taxes for a number of
years.
The celebrity real estate developer, who is the first presidential
candidate in decades to refuse to release his full tax returns, didn't deny the
report. He later said that he had "brilliantly used" U.S. tax rules
to his advantage.
During the first presidential
debate with his rival Democrat Hillary Clinton last month, Trump responded to
Clinton's allegation that he paid no federal taxes by saying that would make
him "smart."
“What is he trying to say: that
those of us who pay taxes aren’t intelligent?” said poll respondent Yonna
McNerney, 41, of Denver. “I started working at the age of 16, and I’ve always
paid taxes,” she said. “Not paying taxes, I don’t think that’s acceptable.”
McNerney, a mother of three who
works at a telecommunications company, remains uncommitted in the race and said
Trump’s comments about taxes haven’t changed her mind one way or the other.
April St. Aoro, 46, who works
for a manufacturing firm near St. Cloud, Minnesota, was more understanding of
Trump’s point of view, though she also remains undecided in the race.
“I think all of us are trying
to pay as little taxes as possible,” St. Aoro said.
Respondents were slightly less
critical when asked to describe a private citizen paying no taxes.
Some 64 percent agreed it was
"selfish," while just over half agreed it was "unpatriotic."
Some 50 percent, including 37 percent of Democrats and 67 percent of
Republicans, agreed that it was "smart."
The Reuters/Ipsos poll was
conducted online in English in all 50 states. Respondents were asked what they
thought of "a private citizen who has found a way to pay no income
taxes," and given the choice to agree or disagree to the words
"smart," "selfish," and "unpatriotic."
They were then asked the same
set of questions about a presidential candidate.
The Sept. 28-Oct. 3 poll was
part of a larger national tracking poll that tracks public opinion every day.
It included 1,948 American adults, including 893 Democrats and 635 Republicans.
It has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points
for the entire sample, 4 percentage points for Democrats only and 5 percentage
points for Republicans.
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