Trump's Ten Years Not Paying Taxes

Presiden AS Donald Trump (Instagram/@realdonaldtrump)

JAKARTA - President of the United States (US) Donald Trump has reportedly not paid federal income tax for ten years. It caused huge losses for both the country and for Trump himself.

According to calculations carried out in the period since 2000, there are ten years - out of 15 accounting years - in which Trump did not pay his tax obligations. In those years Trump reported more losses than he made.

These reports were released by the New York Times newspaper on Sunday, September 27. Trump is also said to have paid $ 750 US in federal income tax when he won the presidency and his first year at the White House.

Detailing the payouts derived from two decades of tax information, Trump's tax evasion has cost the country huge losses. On the other hand, tax evasion has also dealt a crushing blow to the business tycoons Trump built during his political career.

Trump denied the news. While refusing to specify the amount, Trump claims to have "paid a lot" of federal income tax. "I pay a lot, and I pay a lot of state income tax," Trump said.

The President added that he was willing to release his tax return after it was no longer monitored by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which he said had treated him badly. The President, however, is legally under no obligation to report financial statements.

Financial lies

US President Donald Trump (Instagram / @ realdonaldtrump)

A report from the expansive New York Times described Trump as an entrepreneur struggling to keep his business and reporting millions of dollars in losses, even as he campaigned. Trump is thought to brag about his financial success.

According to the newspaper Trump used $ 427.4 million to fund his other businesses, most of his golf courses, putting more money into his business than he took. Tax information obtained by the New York Times also reveals Trump has fought the IRS over a refund of nearly $ 73 million.

Responding to the newspaper's findings, Trump Organization attorney Alan Garten said the "facts did not appear to be accurate" and requested that the document be shown to him. But The New York Times said it would not publish Trump's tax return data so as not to jeopardize its sources who have taken the enormous personal risk of providing this information to the public.

The report also explained that the SPT data obtained by the New York Times did not include Trump's personal tax returns for 2018 or 2019.

Avoid years of taxes

Trump's taxes have been a mystery since he first ran for president. During the 2016 campaign Trump violated presidential election norms and refused to provide tax returns for public review.

Being under an IRS audit does not deter someone from releasing tax returns publicly. But that hasn't stopped Trump from using it as a defense against his release of financial information.

In 2016 Trump released a letter from his tax attorney confirming he was being audited. But the letter also said the IRS finished reviewing Trump's taxes from 2002 to 2008. Trump did not release his tax returns from those years, even though the audit was complete.

An earlier New York Times investigation, published in 2018, reported Trump had helped his parents evade taxes in the 1990s, including "an example of outright scam" that allowed him to raise large sums of money. Trump received at least $ 413 million in deep from his father's real estate empire.