Fox News contributor defends Trump reportedly writing off $70k on hair styling

A Fox News contributor has defended President Donald Trump following a bombshell report that revealed he allegedly wrote off $70,000 for hair styling on his tax returns.

When appearing on Fox News’ Outnumbered on Monday, Mollie Hemingway, a senior editor with The Federalist and Fox News contributor, claimed that the tax write-offs detailed in The New York Times’ report were allowed under the law.

“Depreciation, itemising deductions. All of these things he’s doing are things that probably all of us do, that most people do when they are filing their taxes. I’m not quite sure what is supposed to be news,” she said.

Fox News reporter Bret Baier stated during the segment that Mr Trump previously said in 2016 that he follows the law when it comes to filing his taxes. If people have a problem with how he files, Mr Trump said at the time, then it’s the law that should be addressed.

Ms Hemingway was in agreement with that take.

“As Bret noted, this story came out in 2016, and at the time, Donald Trump said he absolutely did not pay more taxes than he owes. If you do have a problem with the way he is paying his taxes, and that it is legal, you need to change the law,” she said.

The contributor has defended the president since The New York Times released the tax report on Sunday.

“Honestly just feel blessed to follow so many journalists on Twitter who are tax and loan experts. Didn't realize that they had this particular expertise before tonight as I'd never heard them discuss a word of it before, which makes it all the more impressive,” she tweeted. 

Controversy into the president’s taxes comes after the newspaper reported Mr Trump paid only $750 in federal taxes in 2016 and 2017, according to documents obtained by the newspaper.

In 10 of the 15 years of tax filings reviewed by the publication, Mr Trump paid no money toward the federal government because of the hundreds of thousands of dollars he lost from his businesses.

Tax write offs reported by the publication included $70,000 towards hair styling and nearly $700,000 in “consulting fees” that went to his daughter Ivanka Trump.

Mr Trump, differing from all other past presidents, has refused to publicly release his tax returns. His campaign has claimed the president was unable to due to his taxes being under audit.

Supporters of the president defended Mr Trump by saying that he followed the law with his tax write offs, similar to the defence Ms Hemingway gave on Fox News.

But in the case of the haircuts and styling, those are actually difficult to write off.

“You can’t deduct expenses of radio and television appearances to increase your personal prestige or establish your professional reputation,” according to the IRS.

Past court cases have also reaffirmed the decision by the IRS that personal expenses – such as teeth whitening, nail care, haircuts, and skin care – can not be a write off unless they are 100 per cent work-related.

“Expenses that are inherently personal are nondeductible personal expenses,” the US Tax Court ruled in a case involving a TV presenter.

In response to the bombshell report, Democratic challenger Joe Biden released 22 years of tax returns to contrast what he’s paid in taxes while in public office compared to the sitting president.