US president Donald Trump paid no federal income taxes in 10 out of 15 years beginning in 2000 and paid just $750 as income tax in 2016 according to an explosive report released Sunday by the New York Times.
According to the report, in both the year he won the presidency and his first year in the White House, Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes because he reported losing significantly more than he made.
The report us a blow to Trump’s business tycoon image he has built his political career on.
The Times report in outlining extensive financial losses and years of alleged tax avoidance by Trump, also alleged the $427.4 million Trump was paid for “The Apprentice” to fund his other businesses, mostly his golf courses, and was putting more cash into his businesses than he was taking out.
The tax information obtained by the New York Times also reveals Trump has been fighting the IRS claiming losses he accrued should have resulted in a $73 million refund.
Trump has denied the report while Trump Organization lawyer Alan Garten told the Times that “most, if not all, of the facts appear to be inaccurate” and requested the documents.
At a White House briefing Sunday, Trump claimed that he pays “a lot” in federal income taxes.
“I pay a lot, and I pay a lot in state income taxes,” he said.
Trump added that he is willing to release his tax returns once he is no longer under audit by the Internal Revenue Service
Trump also refused to answer how much he has paid in federal taxes in the press briefing.
The New York Times said it will not make Trump’s tax-return data public so as not to jeopardize its sources “who have taken enormous personal risks to help inform the public.”
During the 2016 campaign, the then-presidential candidate broke with presidential election norms and refused to produce his tax returns for public review. Trump’s tax returns have remained private since he took office.
A previous New York Times investigation published in 2018 reported that Trump had helped “his parents dodge taxes” in the 1990s, including “instances of outright fraud” that allowed him to amass a fortune from them.
The Times report also say Trump received at least $413 million in today’s dollars from his father’s real estate empire, starting at the age of 3, and since Trump became President, he has collected additional $5 million a year at Mar-a-Lago since 2015 from new members.
A roofing material manufacturer GAF reportedly spent at least $1.5 million in 2018 at Trump’s Doral golf course near Miami while Billy Graham Evangelistic Association paid more than $397,000 to Trump’s Washington, DC, hotel in 2017.
The Times also reports that in Trump’s first two years in office, he has collected $73 million in revenue overseas, with much of that coming from his golf courses and licensing deals in countries like the Philippines, India and Turkey.
