Real estate developer Donald Trump is not afraid to take — or change — a political stand. A capitalist at heart and potential presidential candidate in 2016, sometimes his point of view can surprise.
Here are eight facts about his take on top political issues:
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1. An advocate of simplifying the tax code, in 1999, Trump proposed a one-time 14.25 percent tax on trusts and individuals with a net worth over $10 million, to help pay off the national debt. He believed this one-time tax would allow for the repeal of the federal inheritance tax, which in the long run would benefit the wealthy.
"By my calculations, 1 percent of Americans, who control 90 percent of the wealth in this country, would be affected by my plan," Trump said at the time.
2. Trump believes there should be a means test for people who live in rent-controlled apartments. He sees rent control as having a benefit only for “the privileged minority who are protected by it.”
He further blamed rent control as one of the factors that created a lousy housing market in New York City from the 1960s to the 1980s.
3. Trump wrote in his 2011 book "Time to Get Tough" that the U.S. corporate tax should be reduced from 39 percent to zero.
“We are the greatest country on planet Earth — the world's companies want to be here. A zero percent corporate tax would create an unprecedented jobs boom. Millions of jobs would materialize.”
Elimination of corporate income tax is part of Trump’s five-part tax proposal that includes lowering capital gains taxes.
4. In his book "The America We Deserve," Trump credits capital punishment with deterring crime.
“To point out the extreme, 100 percent of the people who are executed never commit another crime,” he wrote. “My only complaint is that lethal injection is too comfortable a way to go.”
He supports capital punishment both as the ultimate punishment and as a deterrent to potential criminals.
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5. In March 2014, Trump tweeted, "If I were President I would push for proper vaccinations but would not allow one time massive shots that a small child cannot take – AUTISM."
A 2013 Journal of Pediatrics study concluded there is no relationship between autism and the number of vaccinations a child is given in one day.
6. Once pro-choice, Trump subsequently changed his mind. “I'm pro-life, but I changed my view a number of years ago,”
he said during a CBN interview in 2011.
Trump changed his view after hearing the story of a friend who had considered aborting a child. The friend didn’t, and the child became the apple of the friend’s eye.
7. In 2011,
Trump told The Des Moines Register that his opinion on whether gay couples should have access to the same benefits as heterosexual married couples was not “fully formed.”
"As of this moment, I would say no and no" to gay marriage and civil benefits, he told the paper.
In a 2013 interview with Howard Stern, Trump said he does not support gay marriage, but also didn't come out strongly against it. "People know it's not my thing, one way or the other," he said.
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