Trump: Report his businesses lost more than $1B 'inaccurate'

U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday a New York Times report that his businesses lost more than $1 billion from 1985 to 1994 was "highly inaccurate."

He contended the reported losses were "non-monetary," and that real estate developers like him during that period were entitled to take "massive write offs and depreciation" for tax purposes.

U.S. President Donald Trump alongside First Lady Melania Trump smile during the Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony for US golfer Tiger Woods in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 6, 2019. [Photo: AFP]

The Times reported Tuesday it has acquired printouts from Trump's official IRS tax transcripts, including figures from his federal tax form. The newspaper said Trump reported business losses of $46.1 million in 1985, and a total of $1.17 billion in losses for the 10-year period.

After comparing Trump's information with that of other "high-income earners," the Times concluded that Trump "appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual American taxpayer." Because of his business losses, the newspaper reported, Trump did not pay income taxes for eight of the 10 years.

Trump tweeted Wednesday that developers during that period were "entitled to massive write offs and depreciation" that would "show losses and tax losses in almost all cases." He tweeted that much of those losses were "non-monetary."

"You always wanted to show losses for tax purposes" and "renegotiate with banks," Trump tweeted. He called that "sport."

Trump said the Times story was based on "very old information" and a "highly inaccurate Fake News hit job!"

The House Ways and Means Committee has asked the IRS to provide Trump's personal and business returns for 2013 through 2018. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday refused to do so, saying the panel's request "lacks a legitimate legislative purpose." Mnuchin oversees the IRS.

Mnuchin's move, which had been expected, is likely to set a legal battle into motion. The chief options available to Democrats are to subpoena the IRS for the returns or to file a lawsuit.

Trump is the first president since Watergate to decline to make his tax returns public.