Mark Cuban Takes a Sly Dig at Donald Trump Over Taxes: "Tag a Former President Who Doesn't Pay Taxes"

Before the deadline for filing federal income tax returns and extensions with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Monday, April 15, Mark Cuban disclosed the amount of taxes he is paying. However, it appeared that the billionaire was taking a shot at former President Donald Trump by revealing his tax details. Replying to a query from @ianmSC, who sarcastically implied: "Hey Mark just wondering if you or your corporations pay more than the required taxes to pay your fair share, thanks so much." Cuban responded: "I pay what I owe. Tomorrow I will wire transfer to the IRS $288,000,000.00. This country has done so much for me, I'm proud to pay my taxes every single year. Tag a former president that you know doesn't," he wrote. 

As per The Newsweek, when Trump filed for the presidency, he became the first president in decades to not reveal his tax returns, even though he was not required to do so by law. The Republican leader stated that the IRS was auditing him, which was why he was unable to disclose the returns. Netizens reacted to the news saying, @harryjsisson wrote: "Holy crap. Mark Cuban just destroyed Donald Trump for not paying his taxes. This is awesome. Cuban is someone who truly cares for America and he continues to stand up to MAGA lunatics. And he actually pays his taxes."

@levi_anth0ny tweeted: "Every single US citizen should use every single tax law on the books to pay the least amount of taxes possible."

@ArtCandee wrote: "Trump exploits loopholes and doesn’t want to pay his fair share, and he’ll continue to give breaks to folks like you while pawning off the tax burden on folks like me."

A thorough report outlining Trump's income, deductions, and taxes paid or reimbursed during his presidency was released in November 2022. The Joint Committee on Taxation staff report states that Trump reported negative income on his federal tax returns for 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2020. He also paid $1,500 in income taxes for the 2016 and 2017 tax years. The investigation also disclosed that, according to Trump and Melania Trump's 2020 income tax filings, they received a $5.47 million refund while paying no federal income taxes. The Ways and Means Committee then voted to make the report and redacted versions of Trump's entire income tax returns, as well as those of eight connected business companies, available to the public for the tax years 2015 through 2020.

However, the GOP frontrunner criticized the release of his tax details: "The Democrats should have never done it, the Supreme Court should have never approved it, and it's going to lead to horrible things for so many people." He added: "The 'Trump' tax returns once again show how proudly successful I have been and how I have been able to use depreciation and various other tax deductions as an incentive for creating thousands of jobs and magnificent structures and enterprises." In 2016, Trump had made fiery statements about being smart enough, to not pay the taxes. As per CNBC, His remarks followed Hillary Clinton's scathing criticism of the Republican presidential nominee for shattering the four-decade-old custom of presidential contenders disclosing their federal income tax returns.

 “The only years that anybody’s ever seen were a couple of years when he had to turn them over to state authorities when he was trying to get a casino license, and they showed he didn’t pay any federal income tax,” Clinton said. Trump instantly responded: “That makes me smart.” Trump, who is estimated, to be worth up to $10 billion, later claimed that he was a greater steward of his money than the government when Clinton suggested that "maybe... you haven't paid any federal income tax for a lot of years." “It would be squandered, too, believe me,” Trump said.