Maddow tweets get White House to cough up Trump's 2005 tax numbers
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Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Chuck Burton / AP
The White House, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow and The Daily Beast have combined to make public that President Trump paid $38 million in taxes in 2005 on $150 million of income. $5.3 million of that was in federal income taxes, while $31 million came from the Alternative Minimum Tax, as first reported by the David Cay Johnston, a researcher who writes for The Daily Beast.
Why it matters: President Trump has never released his tax returns, saying they're under audit. The NYTimes obtained some of his old returns during the election, showing he wrote off a huge loss that would have allowed him to avoid federal income taxes for nearly 20 years.
The story started with Maddow's cryptic tweet, followed by confirmation that it was Trump.
BREAKING: We've got Trump tax returns. Tonight, 9pm ET. MSNBC. (Seriously). — Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) March 14, 2017
What we've got is from 2005... the President's 1040 form... details to come tonight 9PM ET, MSNBC.— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) March 15, 2017
While Maddow was winding up the story with a 25-minute opening with a series of questions on how Trump makes his money, including...
- If there are inexplicable dumps of foreign money into the president's coffers... couldn't those be explained through his tax returns?
- Is the president in a position where we need to make sure that he's not paying off foreign powers?
- Has he received money from sources?
- Has he received loans?
- Does the president have foreign bank accounts? If so, what banks?
- What is his relationship with Deutsche bank?
- What is his relationship with foreign sources of income?
The White House and The Daily Beast published the numbers, saying Trump paid $31 million in the "Alternative Minimum Tax" in 2005, in addition to $5.3 million in regular federal income tax.
Update: If you'd like to peruse the tax document for yourself, here you go...
