“Stop freeloading off Americans.”

That was what former presidential candidate and HUD Secretary Julián Castro wrote on Twitter. He, along with thousands voiced their outrage after the New York Times released a new bombshell report delving into President Trump’s tax history.

In 2016 and 2017, the president only paid $750 dollars in federal income taxes both years. In 10 out of the past 15 years, he paid none.

“Undocumented immigrants paid $11.7 billion in state and federal taxes in 2014. Trump paid only $750 the year he became president and only $750 the next year,” Castro wrote.

While shocking, the Times investigation confirms that the president is capable of all this and more, without repercussion. The news is terrible, yes, and while this blow is staggering,  all it does is fuel the already cemented animosity towards the president, and fails to shock those firmly in his support.

It’s tempting to see this as the end for Trump’s reelection campaign, but as The Guardian reports, we’ve been here before.

Just before the 2016 presidential election, Access Hollywood released the now-infamous tape of Donald Trump, but he won the election a month later. 

This battle over his taxes, after all, has been raging since before Trump became president. Trump, besides resisting the release of his records, has not exactly been secretive over the topic.

When the then Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton suggested he wasn’t releasing his returns because he hadn’t paid them, Trump replied: “That makes me smart.”

The president is freeloading off the press, too. On the eve of the first presidential debate, all eyes are on Trump, and virtually none are following Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. 

Trump’s shadow, leading up to Election Day, has only grown while Joe Biden’s efforts are largely left unnoticed. 

For instance, one of the only times Biden trended on Twitter last week was from an allegation retweeted by the President, that Biden was reading off a teleprompter during an interview.

Multiple sources since then have confirmed the news to be false, but it proves Trump’s prowess in regards to his ability to keep all eyes on him. 

But if anything, the most important commentary to come of the situation is Julián Castro’s, who noted the imbalance in regards to those truly supporting the country.

The average undocumented immigrant in the United States pays more federal income taxes than the president.

The $11.7 billion mentioned by Castro comes from a 2017 Institue on Taxation and Economic Policy report estimating the sacale of tax payments of undocumented migrants in 2014.

State-level taxes, reported Newsweek, were included in the ITEP tally, whereas Trump’s 2016-2017 payments only cover federal taxes.

In any case, as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote, the focus is on the $750 dollars —  a figure far below what most working class individuals pay in taxes.

“He contributed less to funding our communities than waitresses and undocumented immigrants. Donald Trump has never cared for our country more than he cares for himself. A walking scam,” AOC wrote.
 

The president is not supporting his own country, which is the point Castro and AOC are driving home.

Undocumented immigrants, frontline workers amid a pandemic, and virtually every taxpaying resident of the United States has contributed more to the country. Instead, the President owes us millions.