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WASHINGTON • President Donald Trump paid just $ 750 (S $ 1,030) in US income taxes.Both in 2016 and 2017, he reported losing millions of dollars on his golf courses and has hundreds of millions in debts that will mature in the next few years, according to a New York Times report.
Trump did not pay income taxes in 10 of the past 15 years because he generated large losses that offset whatever money he made, according to the Times analysis of at least two decades of Trump’s personal and business tax returns.
The documents show that many of Trump’s companies are struggling, and he is pouring more money into the companies than he is taking out, according to the report. He also said that he made $ 73 million overseas in his first two years in the White House, including from countries like the Philippines and Turkey, despite a promise that he would not seek new deals abroad while he was president.
Trump told a news conference Sunday that the report is “totally bogus news,” adding that he “paid a lot” but did not provide details.
“They are under audit and when they are not, I would be proud to show it to you,” Trump said.
Trump broke tradition by refusing to release his personal tax records, which had become standard among candidates for public office in recent decades. House Democrats have issued subpoenas for the documents, which have been mired in legal battles for more than a year. The Supreme Court said in July that lower courts should do more to examine tax return applications.
The Times did not reveal how it obtained the documents, but said they came from sources with legal access to the information. A lawyer for the Trump Organization told the Times that “most, if not all, of the facts appear to be inaccurate.”
The revelations about Trump’s financial life are likely to be a key point of controversy heading into the final month of the presidential campaign. Trump, who has built his public image as a successful businessman and billionaire, faces a number of financial challenges, according to the Times.
DUE LOANS
His income from the NBC television series The Apprentice and from licensing agreements is drying up. Several years ago, he sold nearly every stock that could now have helped him plug the holes in his distressed properties, the Times reported. Over the next four years, more than $ 300 million in loans will mature, obligations for which Trump is personally responsible, the newspaper said.
Trump has previously said that his tax returns are “very beautiful,” but he cannot release the documents while they are under audit with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
The president also indicated that he preferred to minimize his tax bill, saying in a 2016 presidential debate that he was doing it “smart.”
Trump’s pick to head the Internal Revenue Service, Chuck Rettig, has said there is no ban on making the documents public while an audit is underway.
The Times stressed that the documents reveal only what Trump told the government about his dealings and did not reveal his true wealth.
The report found that Trump has canceled a long list of things he classified as business expenses, including $ 70,000 for his stylist while appearing on The Apprentice, and more than $ 95,000 for hair and makeup services for his daughter, Ivanka Trump. who is now a top aide to the White House.
The Times also reported that Trump has treated a property in Westchester County, New York, as an investment property for tax purposes, even though he lists it as a “haven for the Trump family.”
CONSULTATION FEE
The Times report also found that Trump may be using consulting fees as a way to pay his children.
Between 2010 and 2018, it deducted $ 26 million in “consulting fees” as business expense. In her financial disclosure forms, Ms. Ivanka Trump reported consulting income that matched the figures on the tax returns.
That could potentially go against IRS rules forbidding consultants from exorbitantly overpaying or regulations against circumventing gift and inheritance taxes.
“It appears the president has taken advantage of the tax code and used legal fights to delay or avoid paying what he owes,” House Ways and Means president Richard Neal said in a statement.
Neal’s committee is involved in an ongoing litigation to obtain Trump’s tax returns.
Since taking office, Trump has seen increased demand from some conference and event business groups at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, his hotel in Washington and the Doral resort in Miami.
Bank of America, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association are among several organizations that have hosted events at Trump properties in recent years, Times documents show.
BLOOMBERG, REUTERS
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