The White House has announced President Donald Trump paid $38 million in taxes in 2005 on a $150 million dollar income.
ADVERTISEMENTThe White House has announced President Donald Trump paid $38 million in taxes in 2005 on a $150 million dollar income.
It released the information in response to a report that a US network had obtained two pages of the president’s tax returns.
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WhiteHouse</a> statement on Maddow show <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump">realDonaldTrump tax return viaewstephe</a> <a href="https://t.co/nP8Z0o94p6">pic.twitter.com/nP8Z0o94p6</a></p>— David Shepardson (davidshepardson) March 15, 2017
While publishing private tax returns has been described as illegal by the White House, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow argued on her show that it was in the public interest.
Journalist David Cay Johnston, said he had received the documents in the post from an anonymous source.
The two pages show that Trump paid $5.3m in federal income tax and an extra $31m in what is called alternative minimum tax (AMT).
AMT was set up nearly 50 years ago to stop the wealthiest people from using deductions and loopholes to avoid paying taxes. Trump has called for it to be abolished.
The figures reveal Trump paid an effective tax rate of around 25% which is below the 27.4% averaged by higher-earning taxpayers.
During his election campaign Trump refused to release his tax returns breaking with a long-held tradition by presidential candidates. His Democratic rival Hillary Clinton accused him of paying no federal taxes and of having something to hide.