Taxes
Trump 2005 Tax Return Shows $150 Million Income, $38 Million Federal Taxes
On Tuesday night, the 2005 personal 1040 income tax return for president Donald Trump was revealed on MSNBC. The network says the return was provided to an independent author and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, David Johnston, by an anonymous source.
Mar. 15, 2017
On Tuesday night, the 2005 personal 1040 income tax return for president Donald Trump was revealed on MSNBC. The network says the return was provided to an independent author and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, David Cay Johnston, by an anonymous source.
For tax year 2005, Trump reported $150 million in income, and paid $38 million in federal income taxes, according to the document. The president also reportedly had a “$105 million write-down,” or carry-over from a $916 million loss in 1996.
The White House also released the return at the same time as the MSNBC report, affirming that the two-page document was indeed the President’s tax return, but stating that the return had been unlawfully obtained. Media are permitted to publish material received from anonymous sources, even if the person was unauthorized to disclose the information.
The President said during his campaign that he would release his tax returns if elected, but that he cannot do so because he is under audit. Since the inauguration, the administration has stated it will not release President Trump’s prior-year tax returns. The IRS, which is a part of the Department of the Treasury, is headed by Trump nominee Steven Mnuchin.
In a statement, the White House said, “You know you are desperate for ratings when you are willing to violate the law to push a story about two pages of tax returns from over a decade ago,” the statement said. It added that Trump, as “one of the most successful businessmen in the world,” paid “no more tax than legally required.”