Trump hasn't paid income tax for 10 years, approves New York Times fake news

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The New York Times reported that Trump has paid zero income tax in ten of the past fifteen years. In 2016 and 2017, the income tax paid was only US$750. The report revealed that Trump minimized the tax payable by reporting the losses of his business. Although the Trump consortium reported an overall income of 434,900,000 U.S. dollars in 2018, he also reported a loss of 47.4 million U.S. dollars in the same year.

Trump called the New York Times report "fake news" at the White House press conference on Sunday (September 27), and insisted that he paid taxes, but did not provide more details. He also vowed to reveal his tax information one day, but did not promise a specific time. He made similar promises during the 2016 campaign but never fulfilled them.

The rich tax cut secrets

In the first two years of Trump's presidency, he earned $73 million from businesses in the Philippines, India, Turkey and other places. He also earned income from operating golf courses in Scotland and Ireland. In 2017, he paid only US$750 in taxes to the United States, but his taxes paid to India and the Philippines were US$145,400 and US$156,824 respectively.

A closer examination of Trump's tax avoidance methods shows that Trump has used various methods to cut taxes. The accommodation, airplane, and even the $70,000 hair styling fee he paid during the shooting of the reality show "Who is the successor" all helped to reduce his personal expenses, thereby reducing income tax. And his loss in his own real estate almost offset the income he earned from filming "Who is the successor" and other real estate income with shared property rights.

In addition to actively reducing taxes, Trump is also actively applying for income tax rebates. Since 2010, Trump has received a total of 72.9 million U.S. dollars in income tax rebates, which is also a core item under audit by the IRS. If the final IRS ruling is not good for Trump, Trump may have to pay more than $100 million. Trump currently has a loan of $300 million that needs to be paid off within four years.

Trump's corporate lawyer Gordon (Alan Garten) believes that the New York Times report "if not all, at least part of it is inconsistent with the facts." The New York Times refused to provide Gordon Trump tax information on the grounds of protecting the sources, but said the sources obtained the information through legal channels.

When he ran for President Trump in 2016, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton said that perhaps Trump refused to disclose tax information because he did not pay federal income tax. Trump said at the time that he just thought that refusing to be public "appears smarter."