Washington – Donald Trump paid just $750 in federal income tax in 2016, the year he ran for the US presidency, and in his first year in the White House, said the New York Times.
The newspaper – which says it got tax records for Trump and his companies over two decades – also said that Trump paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years.
The records showed “chronic losses and years of tax avoidance”, said the newspaper.
Trump has responded by calling the report “fake news”.
“Actually I paid tax. And you’ll see that as soon as my tax returns – it’s under audit, they’ve been under audit for a long time,” said Trump to reporters.
“The IRS [Internal Revenue Service] does not treat me well… they treat me very badly,” he said.
Trump has faced legal challenges for refusing to share documents concerning his fortune and business. He is the first president since the 1970s not to make his tax returns public, though this is not required by law.
The newspaper said the information scrutinized in its report was “provided by sources with legal access to it”.
The report comes just days before Trump’s first presidential debate with Democratic candidate Joe Biden and weeks before the 3 November elections.
