If accurate, The New York Times reports that Trump paid no federal income tax in 10 of the 15 years from 2001 through 2015. In 2016 and 2017, he paid just $750. He paid little tax because his substantial income — including hundreds of millions of dollars in proceeds from The Apprentice — was in many years fully offset by tax credits or losses in other businesses. For example, the Times reports Trump claimed $162.3 million in losses through 2018 from his Doral, Florida, golf resort alone. BBC reports.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday called a report that President Donald Trump has more than $300 million in loans coming due in the next few years a “national security issue” and argued it raises questions about whether foreign nations or individuals could have “leverage” over the president.
The Times, which said it plans to publish additional stories based on the documents, reported that Trump has not paid any income taxes in 10 of the past 15 years, mostly because he reported significant losses. It reported that Trump is facing a decade-long Internal Revenue Service audit over a $72.9 million tax refund he received that could end up costing him more than $100 million.
The Times also reported that Trump has more than $300 million in loans coming due within the next few years that he is personally responsible for repaying.
Trump said Sunday that the story was “totally fake news” and “made up,” although he acknowledged that he “didn’t know anything about the story” ahead of its publication, which came moments before his news conference began.
In a series of tweets on Monday, Trump says that the information was illegally obtained.
The Fake News Media, just like Election time 2016, is bringing up my Taxes & all sorts of other nonsense with illegally obtained information & only bad intent. I paid many millions of dollars in taxes but was entitled, like everyone else, to depreciation & tax credits…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 28, 2020
…..Also, if you look at the extraordinary assets owned by me, which the Fake News hasn’t, I am extremely under leveraged – I have very little debt compared to the value of assets. Much of this information is already on file, but I have long said that I may release….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 28, 2020
For Trump’s most fervent supporters, two responses were already locked in and ready to go.
If the returns show he’s actually a billionaire, then he’s a brilliant businessman and all the naysayers need to eat their words.
If the returns show massive losses, debt, and a tax bill lower than the just about every middle-class taxpayer in America — as they did — that just shows you what an adept player of “the system” Trump is. Eat it, haters. —Business Insider on MSN
