US President Donald Trump has avoided paying taxes for years, and has paid just $750 (₹55,238) in federal income taxes the year he was elected as the US President in 2016 and in his first year in the White House, he paid another $750, The New York Times reported on Sunday.
According to the report, Trump paid no federal income taxes in 10 of the past 15 years.
‘He had paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years — largely because he reported losing much more money than he made,’ the report further claimed.
The disclosure comes from tax return data the media organisation obtained, that had over two decades of information and ‘the hundreds of companies that make up Trump’s business organisation, including detailed information from his first two years in office. However, the data does not include his personal returns for 2018 or 2019.
Surprisingly, Trump’s companies have paid more taxes in India than the US, accounting for $1,45,400 (₹1,07,09,640) in 2017 and other overseas ventures.
The leak of Nixon’s small tax payment had caused a precedent-setting uproar. Hence, it was decided that presidents and presidential candidates would make their tax returns public. According to the NYT investigative report, Trump has long fought to keep private stories different from the one known to the American public.
‘His reports to the IRS (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,’ it read.
The report came days before his first presidential debate with Democratic rival Joe Biden on Tuesday. Trump dismissed all the claims made in the report and called it ‘totally fake news,’ saying that he has paid taxes, though he gave no specifics.
He vowed that information about his taxes will all be revealed. But he offered no timeline for the disclosure and made similar promises during the 2016 campaign on which he never followed through.
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