On Tuesday night, the White House said that President Trump paid $36.5 million in federal income tax in 2005 on $153 million in reported income, confirming investigative reporter David Cay Johnston's announcement that somebody had anonymously sent him the first two pages of Trump's 1040 form from that year. The forms don't show much — Trump wrote off more than $100 million for what the White House described as a "large-scale depreciation for construction," and he would have paid just $5 million in ordinary income tax if there were no alternative minimum tax — which Trump, incidentally, seeks to abolish.
The fact that the White House confirmed the authenticity of the forms, however, did not stop Trump from tweeting early Wednesday that the whole story is "FAKE NEWS!" from a reporter "who nobody ever heard of."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Why are home insurance prices going up?Today's Big Question Climate-driven weather events are raising insurers' costs
-
'All too often, we get caught up in tunnel vision'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
2024: the year of legacy media failuresIn the Spotlight From election criticism to continued layoffs, the media has had it rough in 2024
-
Judges block $25B Kroger-Albertsons mergerSpeed Read The proposed merger between the supermarket giants was stalled when judges overseeing two separate cases blocked the deal
-
Rupert Murdoch loses 'Succession' court battleSpeed Read Murdoch wanted to give full control of his empire to son Lachlan, ensuring Fox News' right-wing editorial slant
-
Bitcoin surges above $100k in post-election rallySpeed Read Investors are betting that the incoming Trump administration will embrace crypto
-
Enron mystery: 'sick joke' or serious revival?Speed Read 23 years after its bankruptcy filing, the Texas energy firm has announced its resurrection
-
US charges Indian tycoon with bribery, fraudSpeed Read Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has been indicted by US prosecutors for his role in a $265 million scheme to secure solar energy deals
-
Boeing machinists approve contract, end strikeSpeed Read The company's largest union approved the new contract offer, ending a seven-week strike
-
US economy still strong in final preelection reportSpeed Read It grew at a solid 2.8% annual rate from July through September
-
Boeing machinists reject deal, continue strikeSpeed Read The rejection came the same day Boeing reported a $6.2 billion quarterly loss
