ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Skip to main content

Donald Trump paid no income tax in 2020, reported losses in office, records show

Share

Donald Trump paid no income tax during the final full year of his presidency as he reported a loss from his sprawling business interests, according to tax figures released by a congressional panel.

The records, released late on Tuesday by the Democratic-led House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee after a years-long fight, show that Trump's income, and his tax liability, fluctuated dramatically during his four years in the White House.

The records cut against the Republican ex-president's long-cultivated image as a successful businessman as he mounts another bid for the White House.

Trump and his wife, Melania, paid some form of tax during all four years, the documents showed, but were able to minimize their income taxes in several years as income from Trump's businesses was more than offset by deductions and losses.

The committee questioned the legitimacy of some of those deductions, including one for US$916 million, and members said on Tuesday the tax returns were short on details. The panel is expected to release redacted versions of his full returns in coming days.

Trump refused to make his tax returns public during his two presidential bids and his campaign for office, even though all other major-party presidential candidates have done so for decades.

The committee obtained the records after a years-long fight and voted on Tuesday to make them public.

A Trump spokesman said the release of the documents was politically motivated.

"If this injustice can happen to President Trump, it can happen to all Americans without cause," Trump Organization spokesman Steven Cheung said on Wednesday.

Democrats on the panel said their review found that tax authorities did not properly scrutinize Trump's complex tax returns to ensure accuracy.

Though the U.S. Internal Revenue Service is supposed to audit presidents' tax returns each year, it did not do so until Democrats pressed for action in 2019.

The IRS assigned only one agent to the audit most of the time, the panel found, and did not examine some of the deductions claimed by Trump.

The IRS declined to comment.

Prior to taking office, Trump reported heavy losses for many years from his business to offset hundreds of millions of dollars in income, according to media reports and trial testimony about his finances.

The documents released by the committee showed that pattern continued during his time in the White House.

During that time Trump and his wife were liable for self-employment and household employment taxes. As a result, they paid a total of US$3 million in taxes over those four years.

But deductions enabled them to minimize their income tax liability in several years.

In 2017, Trump and his wife reported adjusted gross income of negative US$12.9 million, leading to a net income tax of US$750, the records showed.

They reported adjusted gross income of US$24.3 million in 2018 and paid a net tax of $1 million, while in 2019 they reported US$4.4 million of income in 2019 and paid US$134,000 in taxes.

In 2020, they reported a loss of US$4.8 million and paid no net income tax.

Reporting by Andy Sullivan in Washington Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington Editing by Scott Malone and Matthew Lewis

CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.

Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porsche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.

Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.

The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.

Advocates have identified the woman who died this week after being shot by police in Surrey, B.C., as a South American refugee who was raising a young daughter.

Provincial police investigating the death of a cat that was allegedly set on fire in Orillia earlier this week released surveillance video of a person of interest in the case.

Local Spotlight

Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.

An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.