Trump avoided income tax in final year as president
Donald Trump paid no income tax during the final full year of his presidency as he reported a loss from his sprawling business interests, according to tax figures released by a congressional panel. The records, released late on Tuesday by the Democratic-led House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee after a years-long fight, show that Trump's income, and his tax liability, fluctuated dramatically during his four years in the White House. The records cut against the Republican's long-cultivated image as a successful businessman as he mounts another White House bid. Trump and his wife, Melania, paid some form of tax during all four years, the documents showed, but were able to minimise their income taxes in several years as income from Trump's businesses was more than offset by deductions and losses. The committee questioned the legitimacy of some of those deductions, including one for US$916 million, and members said on Tuesday the tax returns were short on details. The panel is expected to release redacted versions of his full returns in coming days. Trump refused to make his tax returns public during his two presidential bids and his campaign for office, even though all other major-party presidential candidates have done so for decades. The committee obtained the records after a years-long fight and voted on Tuesday to make them public. A Trump spokesman said the release of the documents was politically motivated. "If this injustice can happen to President Trump, it can happen to all Americans without cause," Trump Organisation spokesman Steven Cheung said on Wednesday. Democrats on the panel said their review found that tax authorities did not properly scrutinise Trump's complex tax returns to ensure accuracy. (Reuters)