WASHINGTON — Donald Trump said on Sunday that, as president, he would raise taxes on his Wall Street “friends” because they “are getting away with murder.”
The Republican presidential front-runner — the ultimate 1 percenter himself — railed against hedge-fund managers for not paying enough in taxes while the rest of America is getting “destroyed.”
“I would change it. They’re paying nothing and it’s ridiculous. I want to save the middle class,” he told CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “The hedge-fund guys didn’t build this country. These are guys that shift paper around and they get lucky.
“Some of them are friends of mine, some of them I couldn’t care less about. It’s the wrong thing.”
With its populist tone, Trump’s words could have been mistaken for those of liberal Sens. Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders.
“The hedge-fund guys are getting away with murder,” Trump said. “They’re making a tremendous amount of money. They have to pay tax. I want to lower the rates for the middle class . . . They’re getting absolutely destroyed.”
Trump’s financial disclosure forms put his net worth at more than $10 billion. In 2014, Forbes rated him No. 137 on it list of richest people in America. But the real-estate mogul has sought to contrast his wealth with that of those in the financial industry.
“Look, at least I build things,” he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity this month.
Also Sunday, Trump again defended his immigration plan, which calls for building a wall at the Mexican border, deporting all illegal immigrants, tripling the number of federal agents to enforce immigration laws and ending birthright citizenship.
A study by the American Action Forum said his plan would cost the federal government $400 billion to $600 billion over a decade and shrink economic growth by $1.6 trillion.
Trump blasted the study.
“Well, first of all, they’re wrong,” he said on ABC’s “This Week,” without offering his own figures.
Trump continued to ding his rivals, including ex-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (“I just don’t think he has the energy”) and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (“I’m honored that he wants to copy me.”).
