“Trump taxes show chronic losses and years of tax avoidance,” read the New York Times headline today.
US Presidential elections are due soon and NYT has published a series of investigation report about US President Donald Trump’s tax returns.
Turns out Trump only paid $750 in income taxes in 2016 and 2017, before he was elected as the President and once after taking over the oval office. That’s probably less than what you and I must have paid in a year.
Wondering how did Trump react?
But the investigation is not just about paying less income taxes, Trump has been reporting losses from his business enterprises for years to offset hundreds of millions of dollars in income. Here’re some key revelations from the investigation.
Trump has long fought to keep his tax returns private and turns out he did not pay any income tax for in 10 of the previous 15 years through 2017. That too, despite receiving $427.4 million through 2018 from his reality television program and other endorsement and licensing deals.
Trump had been claiming business expsses aggressively to shrink his income tax bill. Like $70,000 for hairstyling cot for his reality show “The Apprantice”. He also described a New York property that was described as a family retreat by the Trum Organisation, as an investment property, to be able to save on property tax.
The report said that Trump claimed a loss of $47.4 million despite claiming he had an income of $434.9 million that year. The report also mentioned that Trump is responsible for a loan of $421 million due in 4 years. Trump was also able to minimize his tax bill by reporting heavy losses across his business empire that includes his golf courses and hotels.
The most shocking revelations remains that Trump refused to disassociate himself from his business interests while holding the oval office, creating a conflict of interest. The report said:
His properties have become bazaars for collecting money directly from lobbyists, foreign officials and others seeking face time, access or favor; the records for the first time put precise dollar figures on those transactions.
The report also said that the President also made $73 million in revenue from abroad in his first two years at the White House. His licensing deals the licensing deals netted $3 million from the Philippines, $2.3 million from India and $1 million from Turkey.
The New York Times clarified that it had obtained tax-return data covering over two decades for Trump and companies within his business organizations. Times also emphasized on the part that these documents only reveal what Trump told the government and doesn’t disclose his true wealth.