News / Politics

Current US system destroying middle class: Donald Trump

Sunday, 23 August 2015 8:24 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 23 August 2015 9:39 PM ]

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally at Ladd-Peebles Stadium on August 21, 2015 in Mobile, Alabama. (AFP photo)

Frontrunner Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump says the current American system is destroying the middle class and soon it will cease to exist.

“The middle class is getting absolutely destroyed,” the billionaire said during a telephone interview on CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday. “This country… won’t have a middle class very soon.”

Trump said the middle class is paying most of the taxes while hedge fund managers were "getting away with murder" by not paying their fair share of taxes.

"The hedge fund guys didn't build this country. These are guys that shift paper around and they get lucky," he stated.

He added that “a lot of them - they are paper-pushers. They make a fortune. They pay no tax. It's ridiculous."

Trump went on to say that they are “getting away with murder. I want to lower the rates for the middle class."

Elsewhere in his remarks, the real state mogul said that big donors will not be allowed to influence his presidential campaign, adding that he will only accept campaign contributions which don’t have any strings attached to them.

“I don’t want lobbyists, I don’t want special interests,” he said. “I don’t want any strings attached.”

He revealed that he “turned down $5 million last week from a very important lobbyist because there are total strings attached to a thing like that.”

“He’s going to come to me in a year or two years,” he added. “And he’s going to want something for a country that he represents or a company that he represents. That’s the kind of money I won’t take.”

Trump has maintained a lead among GOP presidential contenders in national polling since he announced his candidacy in mid-July.

A Rasmussen poll released Friday found that a majority of Republican voters (57 percent) believe Trump will be their party’s nominee for president in 2016. Among all likely voters, 49 percent believe Trump is likely to win the GOP nomination, up from 23 percent two months ago.

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