Donald Trump's Tax Returns

Overview

Donald Trump's Tax Returns, dated between 2000 and 2017, was released by the New York Times on September 27th, 2020. Trump's tax returns contained information about his income, outstanding debts, massive losses and tax payments over about two decades. The Times asserts that Trump's business expert persona is primarily based on salesmanship and not reflective of Trump's business acumen. Critics of the president focused on how much he paid in taxes in 2016 and 2017: $750.

Background

Trump's tax returns, which the president refused to release, were a source of much speculation since Trump announced his presidential candidacy on June 16th, 2015. For example, on February 24th, 2016, Republican Senator Mitt Romney told Fox News that a "bombshell" existed in Trump's returns.^[1] He said:

We're now, you know, in late February and we still haven't seen either Donald Trump's or Marco Rubio's or Ted Cruz's taxes. Frankly, the voters have a right to see those tax returns before deciding who our nominee ought to be.

I think in Donald Trump's case it's likely to be a bombshell.

2016 Trump Tax Scandal

Throughout the 2016 United States Presidential Election, Trump has bucked the tradition of presidential candidates releasing their tax returns, causing speculation that something detrimental to his campaign and reputation was hiding in them.^[2] In the first Presidential Debate, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton questioned why Donald Trump had not released his tax returns. Trump may have alluded to the fact he had not paid taxes and bragged, "That makes me smart."^[3]

On October 1st, 2016, after receiving a leak of some of Trump's tax returns, The New York Times^[4] published an article that revealed Trump had lost $916 million in 1995, "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." Because of American tax laws, the loss would have wiped out over $50 million in taxable income over the next 18 years.

2020 New York Times Trump Tax Return Expose

On September 28th, 2020, the New York Times^[4] released the report "The President's Taxes: Long-concealed Records Show Trump's Chronic Losses and Years of Tax Avoidance." In the article, the Times reports that President Trump paid $750 in 2016 and 2017, that he paid "no federal income taxes in 11 of 18 years that The Times examined,"^[5] many of his business reported significant losses and that "as president, he has received more money from foreign sources and U.S. interest groups than previously known."

Developments

President Trump's Reaction

In the article, President Trump's lawyers refuted the depiction of the president and argued that "most, if not all, of the facts, appear to be inaccurate." They said in a statement:

Over the past decade, President Trump 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 Times responded in the article:

With the term “personal taxes,” however, Mr. Garten appears to be conflating income taxes with other federal taxes Mr. Trump has paid -- Social Security, Medicare and taxes for his household employees. Mr. Garten also asserted that some of what the president owed was “paid with tax credits,” a misleading characterization of credits, which reduce a business owner’s income-tax bill as a reward for various activities, like historic preservation.

The following morning, Trump tweeted, ^[6] "The Fake News Media, just like Election time 2016, is bringing up my Taxes & all sorts of other nonsense with illegally obtained information & only bad intent. I paid many millions of dollars in taxes but was entitled, like everyone else, to depreciation & tax credits. Also, if you look at the extraordinary assets owned by me, which the Fake News hasn’t, I am extremely under leveraged – I have very little debt compared to the value of assets. Much of this information is already on file, but I have long said that I may release. Financial Statements, from the time I announced I was going to run for President, showing all properties, assets and debts. It is a very IMPRESSIVE Statement, and also shows that I am the only President on record to give up my yearly $400,000 plus Presidential Salary!"

Joe Biden's Response

Shortly after the article published, President Trump's presidential election opponent the official campaign team for Vice President Joe Biden tweeted an advertisement using the information. It states that in "typical income taxes," teachers paid $7,239, firefighters paid $5,283, nurses paid $10,216 and Donald Trump paid $750. The post received more than 2.6 million views, 69,000 likes and 36,000 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below).

Teachers paid $7,239
Firefighters paid $5,283
Nurses paid $10,216

Donald Trump paid $750 pic.twitter.com/5YE1cbYsBN

— Team Joe (Text JOE to 30330) (@TeamJoe) September 28, 2020

$750

Online people joked about how much Trump paid in taxes and the hashtag #750dollars trended on Twitter.^[7] Former professional basketball player Rex Chapman tweeted a video of professional football player Cam Newton slinking down in his chair with the caption "He paid $750 in federal taxes." The post received more than 66,000 likes and 13,000 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below).

“He paid $750 in federal taxes” pic.twitter.com/cRiIeCBmpe

— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) September 28, 2020

Some attempted to deflect the criticisms of President Trump. Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk tweeted,^[8] "Only a dishonest media would care more about Trump allegedly paying $750 in taxes than Hunter Biden taking in $350 Million from the Russians. The New York Times game of 'gotcha' with the president makes them look petty and small." The tweet received more than 6,000 likes and 2,500 retweets (shown below, left).

Others posted memes that expressed their frustration with Trump. Twitter^[9] user @EugeneLeeYang tweeted a "Ki Taek From 'Parasite' Driving" meme with the caption "My face when I read $750." The tweet received more than 209,000 likes and 28,000 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below, right).

The article inspired conversation on the /r/news^[10] subreddit, where it received more than 143,000 points (86% upvoted) and 13,000 comments in less than 24 hours. In the /r/politics^[11][12] subreddit, two megathreads received more than 98,000 points (89% upvoted) and 61,000 points (90% upvoted) in less than 24 hours.

Search Interest

External References