2017-03-15

MSNBC report sparks angry response from the White House as return shows that Trump made more than $150m and paid $38m in taxes

SEC document shows Trump was worth less than half of $10bn claim in 2012

The changing story of Donald Trump’s tax returns – video

Reporter who obtained tax return: ‘Publishers assumed Trump would soon disappear’

3.13am GMT

That’s all for the blog tonight. We’re closing out with analysis from the Guardian’s Washington correspondent, David Smith, who has delved into the question raised on Rachel Maddow’s show about whether Trump was behind the leak of his tax return.

It would be a classic Trump tactic to deflect attention from his troubles with wire-tapping claims and replacing the healthcare law, also known as Obamacare. But it would also be a risky one, driving attention back to the issue of why he is the first president in 40 years to refuse to release his tax returns. This is the man who, when in the first presidential debate Clinton suggested he doesn’t pay federal income taxes, interjected: “That makes me smart.”

Trump claims he cannot release his taxes while he is under audit. Yet he did so on Tuesday night in the White House’s preemptive statement. Zac Petkanas, a senior adviser to the Democratic National Committee, said: “The White House’s willingness to release some tax information when it suits them proves Donald Trump’s audit excuse is a sham. If they can release some of the information, they can release all of the information.

Related: Hot air and intrigue: did Donald Trump leak his own tax return?

2.45am GMT

The Guardian’s previous reporting has also raised questions about what Donald Trump could be hiding regarding his wealth – another reason why he may want to keep his tax returns secret.

Although on the campaign trail he claimed he is worth more than $10bn, a 2012 statement filed to the Securities and Exchange Commission by Wells Fargo Securities on behalf of Trump suggested he was then worth less than half of that:

In the document, which concerned the securitization of commercial mortgages on properties including Trump Tower in New York City, Trump was described as being worth more than $4.2bn, with liquid assets of more than $250m...

While $250m is a large amount of money, it is nowhere near enough to finance a modern presidential campaign. Trump has already loaned between $43m and $50m to his campaign, raising questions about how much he can afford to continue to spend without selling off assets or taking on significant loans.

Related: SEC document shows Trump was worth less than half of $10bn claim in 2012

2.32am GMT

Here are copies of the documents, from MSNBC:

2.24am GMT

Donald Trump’s son has responded to MSNBC’s story, saying the returns reveal “how successful” his father is and that he paid $40m in taxes. The documents show that the president paid $5.3m in federal income tax and an additional $31m in an “alternative minimum tax” (more on that here). Here are Donald Trump Jr’s tweets:

Thank you Rachel Maddow for proving to your #Trump hating followers how successful @realDonaldTrump is & that he paid $40mm in taxes! #Taxes

Ha Ha... #thankyoumaddow https://t.co/hfDXZ8S3HS

2.17am GMT

MSNBC has published the two-page document. Here’s some quick analysis from Guardian business reporter Sam Thielman:

David Cay Johnston opened his interview on the Maddow show by questioning whether Trump might have leaked the returns himself; if he did, he could hardly have chosen a better document. The 1040, with no schedules attached to elucidate the way Trump’s vast empire of holdings breaks down, states merely that Trump paid $38m in taxes for the year 2005 – the very earliest year he’d have disclosed, had he released his taxes the way every president post-Nixon has customarily done.

2.04am GMT

Here’s a reminder about how US voters feel about Donald Trump’s ongoing refusal to release his tax returns:

A recent Washington Post-ABC poll showed that 74% of Americans want to see Trump’s returns. That includes 53% of Republicans.

Reminder—74% of Americans say Trump should release his tax returns. Just 18% say he shouldn't. https://t.co/HUAMlqthBC

1.54am GMT

Trump’s tax returns reveal that he paid $5.3m in federal income tax and an additional $31m in the alternative minimum tax, or AMT.

The alternative minimum tax was created in 1969 (and amended in 1979) to address the fact that some of the uber-wealthy could use so many deductions and loopholes that they ended up paying zero federal income tax. People with high incomes have to calculate their taxes twice – once with all their deductions and once without many of them. The taxpayer must then pay the higher of the two figures.

1.37am GMT

Here’s a clip from the segment, which is on a commercial break, with Maddow showing the 2005 tax return document:

Rachel Maddow: "The first amendment gives us the right to publish this return." pic.twitter.com/Jgbu1GRSIk

1.31am GMT

Maddow is now reporting on the two-page tax return, which recently arrived to the mailbox of David Cay Johnston. The document shows that Trump made more than $150m and paid $38m in taxes.

“The first amendment gives us the right to publish this return,” she says, responding to the White House claims that reporting on the returns is “illegal”.

The documents show Trump and his wife Melania paying $5.3m in regular federal income tax – a rate of less than 4%. However, the Trumps paid an additional $31m in the so-called “alternative minimum tax,” or AMT. Trump has previously called for the elimination of this tax...

Trump’s 2005 return also shows that he’d continued to benefit from the roughly $916m loss he reported in his 1995 return—published last year by The New York Times. Using a loophole Congress closed in 1996, Trump converted that loss into a tax credit for the same amount he could offset against income.

1.22am GMT

While waiting for the commercial break to end, here’s a flashback to a September debate when Trump was asked about his tax returns. At the time, Hillary Clinton said: “You’ve got to ask yourself, why won’t he release his tax returns? And I think there may be a couple of reasons. First, maybe he’s not as rich as he says he is. Second, maybe he’s not as charitable as he claims to be. Third, we don’t know all of his business dealings.” She added that he may not have paid any income tax.

Trump famously responded: “That makes me smart.”

1.17am GMT

Some background on David Cay Johnston, the reporter who obtained the records, who has previously written for the Guardian:

A Pulitzer Prize winner for his reporting on the US tax code, Johnston has doggedly pursued Trump’s business dealings for decades. In July 2016, he published The Making of Donald Trump, which documents the life and career of the man Johnston describes as “just a conman”.

1.13am GMT

Maddow says reporter David Cay Johnston has obtained a federal return for one year: “This document has been handed to a reporter.” She says she believes this is the first time a reporter has obtained this type of tax document from Trump.

The MSNBC host has reminded viewers that Trump’s opponent Hillary Clinton released every year of her tax returns dating back to 1997 and that Trump made history by refusing to release his documents, breaking a tradition followed by all presidential candidates for more than four decades.

1.05am GMT

Here’s a summary on the previous reporting on Trump’s taxes. In October, the New York Times published a report based on records the paper obtained showing that the real estate mogul declared a $916m loss on his 1995 income tax returns.

The tax deduction was so large that it could allow him to legally avoid paying any federal income taxes for nearly two decades, the paper reported.

1.00am GMT

We’re live-blogging Rachel Maddow’s show tonight where the MSNBC host has promised revelations on Trump’s tax returns.

BREAKING: We've got Trump tax returns. Tonight, 9pm ET. MSNBC.

(Seriously).

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.

Before being elected President, Mr. Trump was one of the most successful businessmen in the world with a responsibility to his company, his family and his employees to pay no more tax than legally required. That being said, Mr. Trump paid $38 million dollars even after taking into account large scale depreciation for construction, on an income of more than $150 million dollars, as well as paying tens of millions of dollars in other taxes such as sales and excise taxes and employment taxes and this illegally published return proves just that. Despite this substantial income figure and tax paid, it is totally illegal to steal and publish tax returns. The dishonest media can continue to make this part of their agenda, while the President will focus on his, which includes tax reform that will benefit all Americans.

On @maddow I'll break a big story about Trump and his taxes - 9PM eastern via @DCReportMedia Ill be on @lawrence, too.

Continue reading...

Show more