Donald Trump declared a 916 million dollars loss on his 1995 income tax returns, a tax deduction so substantial it could have allowed him to legally avoid paying any federal income taxes for up to 18 years, records obtained by The New York Times show. The 1995 tax records, never before disclosed, reveal the extraordinary tax benefits that Mr. Trump derived from the financial wreckage he left behind in the early 1990s through mismanagement of three Atlantic City casinos, his ill-fated foray into the airline business and his ill-timed purchase of the Plaza Hotel in Manhatan. Although Mr. Trump’s taxable income in subsequent years is as yet unknown, a 916 million dollars loss in 1995 would have been large enough to wipe out more than 50 million dollars a year in taxable income over 18 years.
The 916 million dollars loss certainly could have eliminated any federal income taxes Mr. Trump otherwise would have owed on the 50,000 dollars to 100,000 dollars he was paid for each episode of ‘The Apprentice’ or the roughly 45 millions that he was paid between 1995 and 2009 when he was chairman or chief executive of the publicly traded company he created to assume ownership of his troubled Atlantic City casinos. Ordinary investors in the new company, meanwhile, saw the value of their shares plunge to 17 cents from 35.50 dollars, while scores of contractors went unpaid for work on Mr. Trump’s casinos and casino bondholders received pennies on the dollar. Mr. Trump declined to comment on the documents. Instead, the campaign released a statement that neither challenged nor confirmed the 916 million dollars loss. “Mr. Trump is a highly-skilled businessman who has a fiduciary responsibility to his business, his family and his employees to pay no more tax than legally required,” the statement said. “That being said, Mr. Trump has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in property taxes, sales and excise taxes, real estate taxes, city taxes, state taxes, employee taxes and federal taxes.”. The statement continued, “Mr. Trump knows the tax code far better than anyone who has ever run for President and he is the only one that knows how to fix it.”