US President Donald Trump has stated in a series of tweets that he paid "many millions of dollars" in taxes and was entitled to depreciation and tax credits after The New York Times reported that he paid just $750 in 2016 and 2017 - his first year in the White House.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 28, 2020
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 28, 2020
Trump also commented on the matter while talking to reporters at the White House on 27 September, saying it was "fake news, totally made up".
"The New York Times wants to create a little bit of a story. They are doing anything they can", he said.
The statement comes after a report by The New York Times about the US president's tax payments alleging that Donald Trump paid no federal income taxes during a period of between 10 and 15 years.
"For 2015, he paid $641,931, his first payment of any federal income tax since 2010", the NYT says.
Trump paid an alternative minimum tax in seven years between 2000 and 2017, the report says, adding that the sum is "a total of $24.3 million, excluding refunds he received after filing".
According to the report, Trump’s tax bill was only $750 in 2016, while he received a $72.9 million tax refund, which lessened his total federal income tax bill between 2000 and 2017 to an annual average of $1.4 million. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is still reviewing the legitimacy of the refund, the newspaper said.
Trump, who is standing for re-election in November, has called the long-running quest for his financial records a "continuation of the most disgusting witch hunt in the history of our country".
In 2016, Trump promised prior to his White House run to release his financial information but did not do so. Prosecutors in New York, Trump’s former state of residence, tried to obtain the records on grounds that he may have committed tax fraud.
