Walking through the numbers Trump is trying to keep hidden.
This post has been updated.
Late Saturday evening, the New York Times revealed a remarkable story. Last month, one of their reporters received a letter with a return address of Trump Tower. Inside, tax documents from the mid-1990s, showing a massive $916 million loss reported in 1995 — enough to allow Trump to avoid paying income taxes for decades.
How? We explained the principle in March. The Times reports that Trump claimed $15.8 million in losses from real estate depreciation that year, a loss that legally follows from simply owning property. The biggest chunk was his net operating loss that year, a figure that can be carried over, year-after-year. Tax attorney Steven Goldburd described it to me like this earlier this year:
Let’s say anybody, John Smith, had a business that went bad. If you have a net operating loss, you can roll it over, year-to-year, and it could technically wipe out your taxes this year. If you made an investment last year and you lost a million dollars on that business investment, and this year you only made $500,000 [in income], by rolling over last year’s net operating loss, you just wiped out your $500,000 for this year. But not only that, you still have $500,000 to wipe out for next year!
If you lose $916 million in 1995 and make only $100 million a year in income, you don’t have to pay income taxes again for nine years. There are limits: In 1995, he could have avoided paying taxes during the period of 1992 through 2010, according to IRS rules, if his combined income was less than $916 million.
With this new revelation, it seems worthwhile to walk back through what we know about each and every year of Trump’s known tax history. Trump claims that he can’t release his most recent taxes because they’re under audit, but we still have some picture of what he might have paid when. Ideally, we’ll get to revisit this post in the future, with more information about how much he paid and when. With fewer than 40 days left, this may also be the most we’ll get to know.
@BarackObama who wants to raise all our taxes, only pays 20.5% on $790k salary. http://t.co/bqF26mQf Do as I say not as I do.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2012
1975: $18,714 in federal income taxes paid. Our diligent fact-checkers compiled data on Trump’s tax history in August, from which the figures through 1977 are taken.
1976: $10,843 in taxes.
1977: $42,386 in taxes.
1978: No taxes paid. The Washington Post reported in May that Trump had to disclose income tax returns to gaming regulators in New Jersey in 1981. That disclosure included returns from 1978 and 1979, as our Drew Harwell reported. «State records summarizing the returns show that Trump claimed that his combined income during those two years was negative $3.8 million, allowing him to pay no taxes,» Harwell wrote.
1979: No taxes paid. As above.
1980: Unknown .
1981: Unknown .
1982: Unknown .
1983: Unknown .
1984: Likely no taxes paid. In June, the Daily Beast reported on a case before the New York State Division of Tax Appeals that year. In the opinion of the judge adjudicating the case is a line stating that Trump’s accountant «testified that Mr. Trump had no income tax due against [which] the credit ‘could have been applied.'» A separate case in the city of New York mentions that «[t]he problem at issue is not one of double taxation, but of no taxation,» according to the Daily Beast’s David Cay Johnston.
1985: Unknown .
1986: Unknown .
1987: Unknown .
1988: Unknown .
1989: Unknown .
1990: Unknown .
1991: Little to no taxes paid. A 1993 report on Trump’s income tax obligations from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Control obtained by Politico suggests that Trump’s has a net operating loss in 1991 that meant that «any tax resulting» after his income «should be minimal, if any. »
1992: Unknown. This is the first year for which the 1995 loss could be applied. In an email on Saturday night, Goldburd clarified that Trump could be refunded for taxes paid in 1992 through 1994 (as explained by the Times), though he may have initially paid taxes in those years.
1993: No taxes paid. But Trump apparently didn’t pay taxes in 1993. A 1995 Division of Gaming Control report similar to that from 1991 revealed that Trump’s net operating loss in 1993 would «be more than sufficient to satisfy all anticipated gains. » In other words: The loss would be larger than the income, so no income tax would be required.
1994: Unknown .
1995: No taxes paid. This is the year that Times story begins, detailing a $915 million loss. That net operating loss could potentially last for the next 15 years, with any income in each of those years being subtracted from the carried-over loss.
1996: Possibly no taxes paid. If the net operating loss from 1995 is still larger than income gained through this year.
1997: Possibly no taxes paid. If the net operating loss from 1995 is still larger than income gained through this year.
1998: Possibly no taxes paid. If the net operating loss from 1995 is still larger than income gained through this year.
1999: Possibly no taxes paid. If the net operating loss from 1995 is still larger than income gained through this year.
2000: Possibly no taxes paid. If the net operating loss from 1995 is still larger than income gained through this year.
2001: Possibly no taxes paid. If the net operating loss from 1995 is still larger than income gained through this year.
2002: Possibly no taxes paid, not under audit. If the net operating loss from 1995 is still larger than income gained through this year. This is the year that Trump’s current accountants began representing him, according to a letter they released in March. That letter was meant to demonstrate that a number of recent filings from Trump were still under audit by the IRS — the rationale that Trump has used to explain why he refuses to release them. Even if you accept that he can’t release returns that are under audit, these returns don’t qualify. (For what it’s worth, Richard Nixon released returns that were under audit during his presidency.)
2003: Possibly no taxes paid, not under audit. If the net operating loss from 1995 is still larger than income gained through this year.
2004: Possibly no taxes paid, not under audit. If the net operating loss from 1995 is still larger than income gained through this year.
2005: $38 million in taxes. A return leaked to Johnston in March 2017 offered the most detailed, most recent look at Trump’s taxes. The $38 million was on $150 million in income, and was made up of $5.3 million in regular income tax and about $31 million in alternative minimum tax.
