10 things you need to know today: March 15, 2017

MSNBC reveals details of Trump's 2005 tax return, DOJ accuses admiral and seven others in Navy bribery case, and more

Rachel Maddow
(Image credit: Getty Images)

1. Trump's 2005 tax return sent to journalist

President Trump earned more than $150 million and paid $36.5 million in income tax in 2005, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow reported on Tuesday. He paid another $1.9 million in self-employment taxes. Someone mailed Trump's return, unsolicited, to investigative journalist and tax specialist David Cay Johnston, who discussed them with Maddow. Trump also reported a $103 million business loss that year. Trump's earnings and federal income taxes mean he paid an effective 25 percent tax rate, higher than the 10 percent the average American pays but below the 27.4 percent that people earning $1 million a year paid in 2005. Most of what Trump paid was due to the alternative minimum tax, which he has sought to eliminate. The White House noted that "it is totally illegal to steal and publish tax returns," slamming the "dishonest media" for making Trump's taxes "part of their agenda" while Trump focuses on tax reform to "benefit all Americans."

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.