A damning report claims that Donald Trump might have exploited his $916 million losses in 1995 to evade taxation
In 1995, Trump’s business losses could have allowed him to avoid paying federal income taxes for 18 years. Pic/AP
Washington: Donald Trump, who has vehemently refused to release his tax records, finally came under pressure yesterday after a damning report by the New York Times suggested the billionaire could have avoided paying taxes for nearly two decades, a development that may hurt his presidential bid.
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The revelations, that he declared a $916 million loss on his 1995 income tax return which might have allowed him to dodge paying income tax for up to 18 years, threatened to put the 70-year-old tycoon’s tax records at the centre of the presidential campaign.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that his taxes are under federal audit, though there is no legal reason why a person under audit cannot make tax records public.
“The 1995 tax records, never before disclosed, reveal the extraordinary tax benefits that Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, derived from the financial wreckage he left behind in the early 1990s through mismanagement of three Atlantic City casinos, his ill-fated foray into the airline business and his ill-timed purchase of the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan,” the NYT report said. The Trump campaign, responding to the news report, said his return was obtained illegally by the Times.
“What is happening now with the FBI and Department of Justice on Hillary Clinton’s emails and server, are worse than what took place in the administration of Richard Nixon — and far more illegal,” it said.
“Mr Trump knows the tax code far better than anyone who has ever run for president and he is the only one that knows how to fix it,” the campaign added.
In its statement, the Trump campaign said the Republican nominee has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in other taxes, but did not address the federal tax issues raised by the report.
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