Politico on Monday brought the Trump taxes story home to Tennessee.
In a story headlined "A Taxing Lesson for Trump from 40 Years Ago," the news e-zine recalled that "when voters found that Sen. Bill Brock, a Tennessee Republican, had paid almost no taxes, it was over."
It was 1976, and Brock was up for re-election. Unlike Trump, Brock was no stranger to politics. Before he won a seat in the Senate, he'd spent eight years in the U.S. House before he defeated Democratic Sen. Albert Gore, father of the future vice president, in 1970 when busing, school prayer and the Vietnam War were key issues.
Still Brock knew he would not have an easy race. It was the post-Watergate era, Southerner Jimmy Carter headed the Democratic ballot, and Brock had voted for the Equal Rights Amendment and bucked the National Rifle Association.
But what got him was taxes.
Politico notes that Brock belatedly acknowledged guaranteeing a $1.25 million loan for an airport development project in Atlanta, and the press began demanding a look at his tax returns. He stonewalled for weeks. When he finally turned over his 1975 returns, they showed he had paid $2,026 in taxes on an income of $51,670 - less than 5 percent and far below the rate of middle-class voters in the Volunteer State.
It appeared he and his accountants had taken advantage of loopholes - legal loopholes - and he declined to reveal the taxes he had paid in previous years.
Across Tennessee, campaign buttons appeared reading: "I paid more taxes than Bill Brock."
The rest is history. In November, Brock lost his seat to Democrat Jim Sasser by 5 percentage points.
Politico makes a timely suggestion that voters fashion a new campaign button (we prefer a T-shirt) that says, "I paid more taxes than Donald Trump."