According to the New York Times, Donald Trump has paid little or no federal taxes for several years. The tax data provided by the US Internal Revenue Service reveals that in 2016-2017, the American leader paid only $750 in federal income taxes. In order to reduce or eliminate tax liabilities, the companies owned by Trump reported impressive losses. However, their actual income amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Times emphasized that the head of state had paid no income taxes for ten years before he was elected US president. However, he earned $427.4 million from his reality show and other advertising contracts. Trump's reaction to this information turned out to be rather strong. He dismissed the Times report, calling the story "totally fake news". Donald Trump explained that his taxes were under audit. He claimed it was the very reason why he could not release his returns. "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," Trump Organization lawyer Alan Garten said in his statement to the Times. At the same time, no information on the minimum amount of income taxes paid has been received.
