Report: Trump paid $750 as tax in 2016, avoided income tax for 10 years

A new report by the New York Times has accused US President Donald Trump of evading taxes.

The report published on Sunday stated that the president paid no income tax in 10 out of a 15-year period.

The newspaper said it obtained tax returns data extending over more than two decades for Trump and the companies that make up his business organisation, including detailed information from his first two years in office.

It stated that Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 when he became president and paid the same amount in his first year at the White House.

Trump is the first US president since the 1970s who went against the presidential elections norm of making his tax returns public.

His taxes have remained private since he took office — an act which generated legal challenges.

The report said Trump paid no income taxes in 10 of the previous 15 years, “largely because he reported losing much more money than he made”.

“The tax returns that Mr Trump has long fought to keep private tell a story fundamentally different from the one he has sold to the American public,” the report read.

“His reports to the I.R.S. (Internal Revenue Service) portray a businessman who takes in hundreds of millions of dollars a year yet racks up chronic losses that he aggressively employs to avoid paying taxes.

“Now, with his financial challenges mounting, the records show that he depends more and more on making money from businesses that put him in potential and often direct conflict of interest with his job as president.”

The New York Times report claimed that most of Trump’s biggest businesses – such as his golf courses and hotels – “report losing millions, if not tens of millions, of dollars year after year”.

It said the equation is “a key element of the alchemy of Mr Trump’s finances: using the proceeds of his celebrity to purchase and prop up risky businesses, then wielding their losses to avoid taxes”.

The report also claims that Trump’s businesses have received money from “lobbyists, foreign officials and others seeking face time, access or favour” from the president.

It alleged that Trump made $427.4 million in total up until 2018 in revenues from The Apprentice US series, as well as from branding deals where organisations paid to use his name. He also made $176.5 million in profit by investing in two office buildings.

But the New York Times report claimed that the president paid almost no taxes on the earnings because he reported that the businesses made significant losses.

Other allegations against Trump include using tax code that enables business owners to “carry forward leftover losses to reduce taxes in future years”; writing off more than $70,000 in hair-styling costs as business expenses during his time on The Apprentice; among others.

Addressing reporters on Sunday, Trump debunked the report, saying it is “fake news” adding that the IRS has treated him badly.

“Actually I paid tax. And you’ll see that as soon as my tax returns – it’s under audit, they’ve been under audit for a long time,” he said.

Alan Garten, the chief legal officer of Trump Organization, also discredited the claims, saying “most, if not all, of the facts, appears to be inaccurate”.

“Over the past decade, President Trump has paid tens of millions of dollars in personal taxes to the federal government, including paying millions in personal taxes since announcing his candidacy in 2015,” he said.

New York Times said by the term “personal taxes” used by Garten, the legal officer seems to be confusing other federal taxes paid by Trump – such as social security, Medicare and taxes for people who work in his household – with federal income tax.

On Monday, Trump took to his Twitter account to further debunk the report.

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,” the tweets continued.

“Much of this information is already on file, but I have long said that I may release financial statements, from the time I announced I was going to run for president, showing all properties, assets and debts. It is a very impressive statement, and also shows that I am the only president on record to give up my yearly $400,000 plus presidential salary!”