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The president of the United States, Donald Trump. (Photo: Stefani Reynolds / Sipa / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
President Donald Trump paid just $ 750 in federal income taxes in both 2016 and 2017, after years of reporting large losses from his business ventures to offset hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, the New York Times reported Sunday, citing data from tax returns.
In a report that Trump dismissed as “fake news,” the Times said the Republican president also failed to pay federal income taxes in 10 of the previous 15 years through 2017, despite receiving $ 427.4 million through 2018 from his reality television show and other endorsements and licenses. offers.
The disclosure of previously private tax information came just over a month before the Nov. 3 election between Trump and Democrat Joe Biden. Democrats were quick to seize the report to paint Trump as a tax evader and raise questions about his carefully prepared image as a smart businessman.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer took to Twitter to ask Americans to raise their hands if they paid more in federal income taxes than Trump.
Calling the report “total fake news” at a White House press conference, Trump again cited an ongoing audit as his reason for not publishing his statements. In a statement to the Times, Alan Garten, a lawyer for the Trump Organization, said Trump had paid millions of dollars in personal taxes over the past decade, without intervening in the specific finding of minimum income taxes.
Trump’s continued refusal to release his taxes has moved away from the usual practice of presidential candidates. He is currently in a legal battle with New York City prosecutors and Congressional Democrats seeking to obtain his statements.
He also previously indicated that he preferred to minimize his tax bill, saying in a 2016 presidential debate that he was doing it “smart.”
The Times reported that Trump was able to minimize his tax bill by reporting large losses across his business empire. It said it claimed $ 47.4 million in losses in 2018, despite saying it had income of at least $ 434.9 million in a financial disclosure that year.
The Times emphasized that the documents reveal only what Trump told the government about his dealings and did not reveal his true wealth.
The Times said it had obtained tax return data covering more than two decades for Trump and the companies within his business organization. He had no information on his personal statements from 2018 or 2019.
The Times also reported that Trump was currently involved in a decade-long Internal Revenue Service audit of a $ 72.9 million tax refund he claimed after declaring large losses. If the IRS rules against you in that audit, you could have to pay more than $ 100 million, according to the newspaper. DM
