“Payroll! Property!” Say defenders who amplify their general defense of Trump’s near zero federal income tax payments over 15 years. Let’s take a look. Payroll taxes, Social Security and Medicare, max out at 15.3% of our first 137K income, or 21K for the self-employed who pay it all themselves. But wait, that 15.3% is calculated on net income, which Trump returns often claimed as zero. OK, property taxes? Harder to hide a Trump Tower or a disappear a 200 acre estate, but those acres, at least, can also be turned into refund gold according to the Washington Post.