Taxes as Sport

President Trump acknowledged on May 8 taking massive tax write offs for real estate losses topping $1 billion from the mid-1980s to mid-1990s, calling it “sport” among developers like himself during that period.

Trump was reacting to a New York Times report Tuesday that his businesses lost more than $1 billion from 1985 to 1994. The newspaper said its reporting was based on printouts it acquired of Trump’s official IRS tax transcripts, including figures from his federal tax form.

Trump reported business losses of $46.1 million in 1985, and a total of $1.17 billion in losses for the 10-year period.

He claimed the Times report was a “highly inaccurate Fake News hit job!” based on old information.

After comparing Trump’s information with that of other “high-income earners,” the Times concluded that Trump “appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual American taxpayer.” Because of his business losses, the newspaper reported, Trump did not pay income taxes for eight of the 10 years.

Trump is the first president since Watergate to decline to make his tax returns public.

                                                                                                     -- source AP News