Donald Trump - will need to control his impulses over the next 36 days. Credit:AP Despite serial scandals and embarrassments, Trump remains neck-and-neck in opinion polls with Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton, though in the wake of the first campaign debate on September 26, Clinton now is starting to edge ahead and because the tax revelation threatens claims that are bedrock in his campaign, Trump's support could erode further. First, Trump claims to be the champion of struggling American workers – who have been paying taxes while he seemingly has been getting off scot-free; second, it's difficult to reconcile the vast loses incurred as his business empire verged on collapse in the 1990s, with Trump's insistent claim that he is a seriously successful businessman; and third, that he could benefit in such stratospheric terms as a result of such corporate incompetence. Coming at the end of a week in which the Republican candidate seemingly developed a political death wish, the tax revelation could be a turning point in the campaign – voters will be sure to dwell on the fact that when it came to contributing to the running of the country, they paid their due, on average about 20 per cent; Clinton paid $US3.6 million in 2015, a rate of about 32 per cent; and Trump paid zip. Analysts judge Trump's tax policies to be tilted in favour of the wealthy. And though they would eliminate a "carried interest" loophole, by which hedge fund managers benefit greatly; they leave unchanged the "net operating loss" or "NOL" rules by which the likes of Trump can carry massive expenses and losses from their corporate tax returns across to their personal income tax returns, thereby rendering much of their personal earning untaxed.

The US Democratic Presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, gives speeches that are, for the most part, so prosaic that Jonathan Chait, writing in New York magazine, had to counsel her supporters that "it's OK not to like [her] speaking style." Credit:AP Leading the charge on Sunday, Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid branded Trump's tax policies, as a bid to "stiff" middle class families while giving even more generous tax breaks to those with inherited wealth. "Trump is a billion dollar loser who won't release his [tax returns] because they'll expose him as a spoiled, rich brat who lost the millions he inherited from his father," Reid argued. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Credit:John Locher Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Senator who failed in his contest with Clinton for the Democratic nomination, was cutting: "If everyone in this country was a 'genius' like Mr Trump and did not pay taxes, we'd not have a country."

Speaking on CNN, Sanders said: "This is exactly why so many millions of Americans are frustrated. They are angry, they are disgusted at what they see as a corrupt political system – you have middle class people working longer hours for low wages, they pay their taxes; they support their schools, they support their infrastructure, they support the military. Senator Bernie Sanders here campaigning with Clinton but during the primaries he attacked her over those "damn e-mails." Credit:AP "But the billionaires, no, they don't have to do that because they have their friends on Capitol Hill; they pay zero in taxes." Peter Wehner, a political strategist who worked for the last three Republican presidents judged the collision of the tax report with a week of Trump's self-inflicted wounds as "pretty extraordinary." Supporters at a campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. History shows it doesn't matter who wins the race to the White House, despite the wobble on US sharemarkets whenever it appears Trump is doing well. Credit:AP

He told The Washington Post: "What we're seeing is somebody who is blowing himself apart in real time – it's a political death wish, as if at some deep level, he doesn't want to be president. It's gnawing on him that he could become what he has contempt for – and that's a loser." Publicly at least, Trump was unabashed, resorting to his self-agrandising "I-alone…" argument, as he tweeted: "I know our complex tax laws better that anyone who has ever run for president and am the only one who can fix them." Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump takes the stage at a rally on Saturday in Manheim, Pennsylvania. Credit:AP New Jersey governor and Trump surrogate Chris Christie told Fox News that The New York Times report was "very good" because it revealed "the genius of Donald Trump." Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, also a Trump spruiker, took the "genius" argument further, telling CNN: "Well, all I have is The New York Times story to go on, so let's comment on it as if it were true – this is perfectly legal.

A supporter waits for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to speak at a rally in Pennsylvania. Credit:AP Loading "He has an obligation as the head of a business to take advantage of and to use the lawful deductions and tax advantages that are available to [him]. The man is a genius, he knows how to operate the tax code for the benefit of the people he's serving." But invoking Trump's claim, as an interjection in the September 26 debate, that his tax returns proved how "smart" he was, Clinton campaign chief Robby Mook, issues a challenge – "now that the gig is up, why doesn't [Trump] go ahead and release his returns to show us all how 'smart' he really is?"