The curious case of Trump's taxes

Following years of President Trump’s choice to not release tax records amid his 2016 presidential campaign and current role as president, the New York Times has begun releasing a series of articles detailing President Trump’s tax and income history dating back to 2000. The first article in the series was released on Sunday, Sept. 27. The Timesobtained the long sought-after tax documents of the 45th president of the U.S. before Congress could, and published several pieces of information —most notably that the president reportedly only paid $750 in federal income taxes in 2016, his first year in office. The New York Times received the documents from an undisclosed source. Notably, the House of Representatives has subpoenaed several financial institutions for these records and has yet to receive them.

Of the 18 years’ worth of Donald Trump’s financial information that was summarized by the New York Times, it was shown that Trump only paid federal income tax in seven of those years. Throughout these seven years, the president reduced his tax bill using methods such as tax shelters and a variety of business expenses claimed as deductions. Among those expenses were haircuts and styling totalling $70,000 in one year.

Trump’s taxes have been the subject of an ongoing, routine IRS audit that has lasted nearly 10 years. At the center of this audit is a financial tactic used by Trump in his various business ventures. When it became clear that the losses incurred would outpace the financial gains of his business, Trump is said to“rack up chronic losses that he aggressively employs to avoid paying taxes,” according to the New York Times’ first published exposé.

These financial records are relevant to the American people, the New York Times says, because “...the records show that he depends more and more on making money from businesses that put him in potential and often direct conflict of interest with his job as president.” Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, while speaking to MSNBC, said, “He has exposure to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. To whom? Over four hundred million dollars [Trump’s current debt] in leverage that somebody has over the president of the United States.” The White House has declined multiple times to comment on President Trump’s ongoing audit, but has released statements about the New York Times’ article. A spokesman said that the article is based on “incomplete documents” and is “inaccurate as the President has paid tens of millions of dollars in taxes.”

Questions about the tax documents were asked frequently in the Tuesday, Sept. 29, presidential debate. When asked by moderator Chris Wallace about the New York Times report, Trump responded, “I paid millions of dollars in taxes, millions of dollars of income tax… I paid $38 million one year, I paid $27 million one year…” It’s unclear what effect this information will have on voters in the upcoming presidential election.

The article detailing Donald Trump’s tax returns can be found at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html.