Tax claims ‘fake news'

Trump denies he paid less than $US750

NEW YORK: US President Donald Trump has denied reports he paid less than $US750 ($1060) income tax the year he won the election and during his first year in office.

The New York Times said on Sunday local time that Mr Trump paid no tax for 11 of the 18 years for which it had obtained financial records in a wide-ranging report that said he “takes in hundreds of millions of dollars a year yet racks up chronic losses that he aggressively employs to avoid paying taxes”.

The juicy investigation also listed intimate personal expenses for Mr Trump, including secretly paying more than $1m to his daughter Ivanka and spending about $100,000 on hair stylists.

Mr Trump has defied historical norms and refused to release his tax returns since entering the White House, despite saying on the 2016 campaign trail he would do so.

He is the first president in more than 40 years to refuse to release his tax returns and his stance has been increasingly targeted by his Democrat opponent Joe Biden.

Mr Trump has repeatedly said he could not release his returns because they were being audited.

“It’s under audit. They’ve been under audit for a long time,” he said.

“The IRS does not treat me well. When they’re not (being audited) I would be proud to show (them).”

Several lawsuits are currently trying to reveal Mr Trump’s financial dealings, and the Times unearthed several tax returns ahead of Sunday’s trove that depicted a perilous financial situation for the President.

It said “his finances are under stress, beset by losses and hundreds of millions dollars in debt coming due that he has personally guaranteed”.

Mr Trump slammed the reports and said he had “paid a lot” of taxes.

“It’s fake news. It’s totally fake news,” Mr Trump said during a press conference.

He also claimed the newspaper had not contacted him for comment on its report, which said he had been able to avoid paying personal income tax for 11 years because of substantial losses.

His spokesman said “most, if not all, of the facts appear to be inaccurate” of the report, which came less than five weeks before the November presidential election.

Mr Trump said at a White House press conference that he “paid a lot” in income tax.

“I paid a lot of state income taxes too. New York State charges a lot,” said Mr Trump, who last year moved his home to Florida, which has much lower state taxes.

The Times said Mr Trump had reported losing $US315m at his golf courses alone, the majority of that draining from Trump National at Doral, Florida.

The Trump International Hotel in Washington DC, which has become a de facto White House and hosted multiple foreign leadership delegations, had lost $55m in the past four years, it said.

The report came three days ahead of the hotly anticipated first presidential debate, during which Mr Trump and Mr Biden will face off in Cleveland.

Mr Trump is trailing his Democrat opponent in national polls and closing the gap in some key state races.