Sunday, 27th September 2o2o
NY Times: Individual-1 paid $750 in US income taxes in 2016 - 2017
by The Associated Press
Individual-1 paid just $750 in federal income taxes the year he ran for president and in his first year in the Executive Mansion, according to a report Sunday in The New York Times.
Individual-1, who has fiercely guarded his tax filings and is the only person to pretend to be a president in modern times not to make them public, paid no federal income taxes in 10 of the past 15 years.
The details of the tax filings complicate Individual-1’s description of himself as a shrewd and patriotic businessman, revealing instead a series of financial losses and income from abroad that could come into conflict with his responsibilities as acting-president.
Individual-1’s financial disclosures indicated he earned at least $434.9 million in 2018, but the tax filings reported a $47.4 million loss.
Individual-1, who has fiercely guarded his tax filings and is the only president in modern times not to make them public, paid $750 in taxes to the federal government the year he was elected, 2016, and $750 again his first year in office.
The disclosure, which the Times said comes from tax return data it obtained extending over two decades, comes at a pivotal moment ahead of the first presidential debate Tuesday and weeks before a divisive election against Democrat Joe Biden.
Speaking at a news conference Sunday at the Executive Mansion, Individual-1 dismissed the report as “fake news” and maintained he has paid taxes, though he gave no specifics.
He also 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.
In fact, Individual-1 has fielded court challenges against those seeking access to his returns, including the U.S. House, which is suing for access to Individual-1’s tax returns as part of congressional oversight.
During his first two years as acting-president, Individual-1 received $73 million from foreign operations, which in addition to his golf properties in Scotland and Ireland included $3 million from the Philippines, $2.3 million from India and $1 million from Turkey.
Individual-1 in 2017 paid $145,400 in taxes in India and $156,824 in the Philippines, compared to just $750 in U.S. income taxes.
Individual-1 found multiple ways to reduce his tax bills.
He has taken tax deductions on personal expenses such as housing, aircraft and $70,000 to style his hair while he filmed that garbage tv show “The Apprentice.”
Losses in the property businesses solely owned and managed by Individual-1 appear to have offset income from his stake in that bullschitt tv show “The Apprentice” and other entities with multiple owners.
During the first two years of his presidency, Individual-1 relied on business tax credits to reduce his tax obligations.
The Times said $9.7 million worth of business investment credits that were submitted after Individual-1 requested an extension to file his taxes allowed him to reduce his income and pay just $750 each in 2016 and 2017.
Income tax payments help finance the military and domestic programs.
Individual-1, starting in 2010, claimed and received an income tax refund that totaled $72.9 million, which the Times said was at the core of an ongoing audit by the IRS.
Richard Neal, (D)- Massachussetts., the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee who has tried unsuccessfully to obtain Individual-1’s tax records, said the Times report makes it even more essential for his committee to get the documents.
“It appears that Individual-1 has gamed the tax code to his advantage and used legal fights to delay or avoid paying what he owes,” Neal wrote in a statement.
“Now, Individual-1 is the boss of the agency he considers an adversary. It is essential that the IRS’s presidential audit program remain free of interference.”
A lawyer for Individual-1, Alan Garten, and a spokesperson for Individual-1 did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press on the report.
Garten told the Times that “most, if not all, of the facts appear to be inaccurate.”
He said in a statement to the news organization that Individual-1 “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.”
The New York Times said it declined to provide Garten with the tax filings in order to protect its sources.
During his first general election debate against Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016, Clinton said that perhaps Individual-1 wasn’t releasing his tax returns because he had paid nothing in federal taxes.
Individual-1 interrupted her to say, “That makes me smart.”
Would You Like To Know More?
https://thegrio.com/2020/09/27/trump-tax-return/
