The topic of Donald Trump s taxes   or rather the lack of disclosure about Trump s taxes   was central to the 2016 vice presidential debate on Tuesday night. Appearing on CNN just as the debate ended, Trump s son Eric appeared in order to defend his father.Eric Trump tells @DanaBashCNN that Donald Trump  absolutely  pays federal income taxes https://t.co/6OZtrfIwim https://t.co/gm29AedxT4  CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) October 5, 2016Host Dana Bash repeatedly asked the young Trump whether his father paid taxes, and if he would disclose his tax returns to the American people, something he has failed to do so far.In response, Eric Trump repeatedly claimed his dad paid  tremendous  amounts to the IRS and also asserted that he would disclose his tax forms.But reporting from the New York Times shows that when Trump reported a staggering near-$1 billion in losses in 1995, it very likely set him up to dodge paying taxes for the next 18 years. Trump took advantages of loopholes written into the tax code for wealthy real estate developers, and while Americans were sending troops off to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is very possible that Trump never contributed a dime in taxes to those efforts.Trump has evaded disclosing his taxes, something no candidate of either party has done since Richard Nixon, and as such has opened himself up to a ton of speculation. Without proof, questions continue to swirl around him. Did he evade taxes? What is the extent of his ties to Russian oligarchs? What other sources of income is he hiding on his returns? Is he actually a billionaire like he claims, or really a millionaire as other independent probes of his net worth have found? How much money has he shuttled into the so-called Trump Foundation, a vehicle he used to suck in money from other wealthy people, then used to buy baubles for himself while also donating money to some charities while claiming it was his own funds?Trump s son didn t answer any of these questions on CNN. He just kept on stammering about the money being  tremendous. Featured image via screen capture