Former President Donald Trump paid $0 in taxes in his last year of his presidency. According to tax data, Trump reported a loss of $4.8 million in 2020.
The House Ways and Means Committee released a report about Trump’s taxes after they voted 24-16 to release his tax information to the public, following a legal battle that has lasted more than six years. The Committee also detailed how the former president reduced his taxable income by reporting numerous business losses several times.
Trump’s tax returns show that he and his wife, Melania Trump, reported negative income in the four years between 2015 and 2020, and that he paid a total of $1,500 in income taxes for the years 2016 and 2017.
The Committee will release the full returns in the coming days to the full House of Representatives after their team redacts all personal information from them.
As the Covid-19 pandemic ravaged the country, Trump reported losses amounting to $4.8 million leading him to pay exactly $0 in 2020.
The report, which was published online, also revealed that Trump made numerous charitable donations in cash, with the Committee noting that it would inquire if all required proof was submitted for the contributions.
The legal battle to get hold of the former president’s tax returns dates back to 2016.
When the IRS refused to hand over the documents, the Committee sued the Treasury Department, the IRS, and Steven Mnuchin, the former treasury secretary.
The US Supreme Court justices recently ruled that they would not intervene, so the IRS handed over the returns.
The committee’s report also shows that the IRS did not audit the president’s tax returns during his first two years in office, a requirement dating back to 1977. Trump often said that the IRS was auditing his tax returns, citing that as the reason he wouldn’t turn them over.
Reports indicate that the IRS would audit Trump’s $72.9 million tax refund that he got from reporting $700 million in losses in 2009. The tax returns released by the Committee show that Trump collected tax benefits from the losses for 10 more years until 2018.
Despite facing several legal battles due to investigations about his conduct in the January 6, 2021 insurrection, Trump recently announced that he would run for president in 2024.
