President Trump hit back at a New York Times piece Wednesday that claimed he had lost extraordinary amounts of money in the 1980s and 90s, more than any other person in the country.
The Times claimed that according to tax documents it has obtained covering almost a decade from 1985 to 1994, Trump’s businesses lost some $1.1 billion, more than any other taxpayer in the US.
The data contained in the report notes that Trump’s main businesses – hotels, real estate, casinos, and other retail spaces – ran losses of more than $46 million in one year.
The businesses were in the red for every year contained within the information, with total losses adding up to $1.17 billion.
The President took to Twitter to respond to the report, explaining that “real estate developers” in that period were “entitled to massive write-offs and depreciation” which would be highlighted as tax losses in “almost all cases.”
The President noted that most of the losses were non-monetary, describing the process of creating ‘tax shelters,’ as ‘sport’.
The president further tweeted “Additionally, the very old information put out is a highly inaccurate Fake News hit job!”
….you would get it by building, or even buying. You always wanted to show losses for tax purposes….almost all real estate developers did – and often re-negotiate with banks, it was sport. Additionally, the very old information put out is a highly inaccurate Fake News hit job!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 8, 2019
A Trump lawyer previously told the Times that the tax data was “demonstrably false,” after it was suggested that the data proved Trump avoided paying income tax due to the losses for eight of the 10 years.
The information contained in the report does not include any tax return data that has been sought by Democrats, rather the figures were taken from tax transcripts.
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