Democrats pounce on Trump tax report

Democrats seized on a fresh line of attack on the eve of the first U.S. presidential election debate, accusing President Donald Trump of gaming the system after a report showed he paid paltry amounts of federal tax in recent years.

This report produced by Jonah Green.

Democrats seized on a fresh line of attack on the eve of the first U.S. presidential election debate, accusing President Donald Trump of gaming the system after a report showed he paid paltry amounts of federal tax in recent years.

Citing tax-return data, the New York Times reported that Trump has hundreds of millions of dollars in debt amid chronic business losses that he uses to avoid paying taxes.

The Times reported Sunday that the self-proclaimed billionaire paid only $750 in federal income taxes in both 2016 and 2017.

Speaking on MSNBC, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said this explains why Trump has refused to release his taxes, as presidents and presidential candidates have done for decades.

“Now we know why: this so-called billionaire business empire is a house of cards.

He is facing hundreds of millions of dollars of personal debt that will come due in just a short period of time and he’s had a string of business failures that he’s propped up” using his tax returns.

Trump has dismissed the report as “fake news.” In a post on Twitter on Monday, he said he had paid “many millions of dollars in taxes” but was entitled to depreciation and tax credits and was “extremely under-leveraged” in terms of his debt and assets.

He did not provide evidence or promise to release any financial statements before the Nov.

3 election.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told MSNBC it was "not right" for Trump to be paying less in taxes than the average American family, adding that the president's debts raised questions of national security.

The report also said Trump paid no federal income tax in 10 of the previous 15 years through 2017, despite receiving $427.4 million in income through 2018 from his reality television program and other endorsement and licensing deals.

Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff tweeted "Trump lives a life of luxury, and lets working families pay the taxes.... No wonder his signature policy is cutting taxes for the wealthy and cutting healthcare for everyone else."