obviously that is not true, the American tax code does not allow ordinary people NOR most businesses to carry business losses forward and apply those to a reduction of income tax. A trader cannot use prior year losses to reduce his income tax bill in future years, he can under certain circumstances, however, reduce his future taxes on gains made from the same trading he experienced losses in earlier. There is a loophole in that property developers (and there are certain hurdles that need to be met to qualify as one) can use losses from properties to offset future income taxes which makes zero sense. Is it illegal what Trump did? No, it is not. But it is unethical and immoral. Is lying to another person illegal (unless under oath)? No it is not, but it is unethical and immoral, especially for a presidential candidate. Has Hilary lied? yes probably she has, but we are talking about Trump's tax records and ditching federal income taxes.