--- title: Donald Trump: Warren Buffett Fires Back on Tax Comment description: Billionaire Warren Buffett released some of his personal tax information in response to Donald Trump's attacks on his tax payments canonical: https://time.com/4525394/warren-buffett-donald-trump-tax-presidential-debate/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-10T17:40:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:42:06.256Z article:section: Politics og:title: Warren Buffett Fires Back at Donald Trump on Taxes og:description: "I have paid federal income tax every year since 1944, when I was 13" og:url: https://time.com/4525394/warren-buffett-donald-trump-tax-presidential-debate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt251bc8b0d2a3f86f/6988a96d196cf430c003d848/gettyimages-540179188.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: gettyimages-540179188 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Warren Buffett Fires Back at Donald Trump on Taxes twitter:description: "I have paid federal income tax every year since 1944, when I was 13" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt251bc8b0d2a3f86f/6988a96d196cf430c003d848/gettyimages-540179188.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Warren Buffett Fires Back at Donald Trump on Taxes > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=1173035c-62bb-4c34-9a5e-91a606e6be8d&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Biggest Moments from the Second Presidential Debate [Watch (HLS stream): The Biggest Moments from the Second Presidential Debate](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0oFylqsH.m3u8) (3:19)  _Published 2016-10-10. The two candidates face off in the second of three presidential debates._ by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Oct 10, 2016 5:40 PM UTC  Warren Buffet participates in a discussion during the White House Summit on the United State Of Women in Washington, DC, on June 14, 2016. Warren Buffet participates in a discussion during the White House Summit on the United State Of Women in Washington, DC, on June 14, 2016. Alex Wong—2016 Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Oct 10, 2016 5:40 PM UTC Billionaire Warren Buffett released some of his personal tax information in response to [Donald Trump’s attack on his tax deductions](http://time.com/4524739/debate-donald-trump-hillary-clinton/) and criticized the Republican nominee for not sharing his own tax returns. During Sunday’s presidential debate, Trump said, “Warren Buffett took a massive deduction,” while Trump defended his own reported $916 million loss in 1995 that may have allowed him to [avoid paying federal income taxes](http://time.com/4515840/donald-trump-tax-records-loss/) for years. Buffett fired back on Monday, saying Trump “has not seen my income tax returns. But I am happy to give him the facts.” “I have paid federal income tax every year since 1944, when I was 13,” Buffett said in a statement that [detailed his tax information](http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161010005859/en/Tax-Facts-Donald-Trump) from 2015\. “I have copies of all 72 of my returns and none uses a carryforward.” Buffett, who supports Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, challenged Trump to release his tax returns. “I have been audited by the IRS multiple times and am currently being audited,” Buffett said. “I have no problem in releasing my tax information while under audit. Neither would Mr. Trump—at least he would have no _legal_ problem.” Trump, the only major party nominee since 1980 to not release tax returns, has repeatedly blamed an ongoing IRS audit as a reason for his delay, although the IRS has said there is no restriction on releasing tax returns under audit. ## Transcript [ APPLAUSE ] Hello. Hello. Certainly, I'm not proud of it. But this is lock- a- room talk, you know. When we have a world. Where you have Isis chopping off heads, where you have, and frankly drowning people in steel cages, where you have wars and horrible, horrible sights all over. I think it's clear to anyone who heard it that it represents exactly who he is, because we've seen this throughout the campaign. We have seen him insult women. We've seen him rate women on their appearance, ranking them from one to ten. We've seen him embarrass women on TV and on Twitter. It's just words folks. It's just words. If I win, I am going to instruct my Attorney General. To get a special prosecutor to look into your situation. Our intelligence community just came out and said in the last few days that the Kremlin, meaning Putin and the Russian government, are directing the attacks, the hacking, on American accounts to influence our election. And believe me, they're not doing it to get me elected. To solve a problem, you have to be able to state what the problem is, or at least say the name. She won't say the name and President Obama won't say the name. But the name is there. It's radical Islamic terror. It's also very shortsighted and even dangerous. To be engaging in the kind of demagogic rhetoric that Donald has about Muslims. It is sort of amusing to hear somebody who hasn't paid federal income taxes in maybe 20 years talking about what he's going to do, but I'll tell you what he's going to do. His plan will give the wealthy and corporations The biggest tax cuts they've ever had. Did you use that $ 960 million loss to avoid paying personal federal income taxes for- Of course I do! Of course I do! And so do all of her donors, or most of her donors. I know many of her donors, her donors took massive tax write- offs. [ CROSSTALK ] Personal federal income tax- A lot of my write- off was depreciation and other things that Hillary, as a senator, allowed. Russia hasn't paid any attention to ISIS. They're interested in keeping Assad in power. You're two minutes is up. I don't like Assad at all, but Assad is killing ISIS. Russia is killing ISIS. And Iran is killing ISIS. And those three have now lined up Because of our weak foreign policy. Would either of you name one positive thing that you respect in one another. [ LAUGH ] [ APPLAUSE ] Look, I respect his children. His children are incredibly able And devoted, and I think that says a lot about Donald. I will say this about Hillary, she doesn't quit, she doesn't give up. I respect that. [ APPLAUSE ] And that's it, the 90 minute debate is now over. History has been made. 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