Trump dismisses media report accusing him of tax avoidance as 'fake news'

Following a scathing media report that accused Donald Trump of tax avoidance, the US President dismissed it as “fake news”. The New York Times published a report on Sunday, September 27 which said that Trump earned $427.4 million in 2018 through his reality TV programme among other endorsements but did not pay any tax for at least a decade. 

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The report rolled out as Trump was addressing a press conference at the White House. When asked about his take on the report, just weeks before the US Elections, the US President not only called the it “made up” but also assured that he had “paid tax” and said that his tax returns were under audit. Meanwhile, the NYT report also said that Trump only paid $750 in federal income tax in both 2016 and 2017. 

"It's fake news, it's totally fake news. Made up. Fake. Actually, I paid tax, and you will see that as soon as my tax returns - It's under audit, they have been under audit for a long time," sid Trump. "The New York Times wants to create a little bit of a story. They are doing anything they can."

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Timeline of Trump’s finances published 

The NYT report detailed on Trump's financial information supposedly obtained from his tax return data and published a timeline of fillings. As per the report, Trump reported “losing much more money than he made.” 

As per the publication, after going through Trump's tax return data of the last two decades, it found that he paid no federal income taxes on 11 occasions. As per the report, many of Trump's businesses have reported huge financial losses that have further contributed to lowering his taxes. However, NYT has denied publishing the documents in order to protect its source. 

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