Trump's taxes show Donald Trump gave $0.00 to charity in his final year in office


Despite repeatedly promising to donate his annual salary in office, former President Donald Trump apparently made zero charitable contributions during his last year in the White House, according to just-released tax documents from the House Ways and Means Committee.
The taxes, published by Congress after a years-long and frequently acrimonious legal battle with the former president, show that while Trump did indeed make a series of salary donations in his first three years in office — often touted during White House press briefings. But Trump's well of philanthropic goodwill evidently dried up entirely by 2020, during which he reported absolutely no charitable gifts at all, a New York Times analysis found. He had previously reported nearly $2 million dollars of donations in 2017, and more than half a million dollars the subsequent two years.
The Washington Post's David Fahrenthold, who has tracked Trump's finances for years, had previously speculated that Trump may have indeed welched on his campaign promise, writing in July 2021 that "six months after he left office, it's not clear where Trump donated that remaining salary — or if he donated it at all." Still, Trump's communications team insisted during his last year in office that he had continued to make his salary donations without interruption, with then-Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany promising that his Q1 paycheck would be directed to help the Health and Human Services Department fight the surging coronavirus pandemic.
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.
However, according to the analysis from the Times' experts, no donation was ever reported on his 2020 tax forms.
In a message shared to his Truth Social platform on Friday, Trump himself lashed out at the release of his tax documents, claiming that all the data showed was his business acumen, while threatening that "the Democrats should never have done it, the Supreme Court should never have approved it, and it's going to lead to horrible things for so many people."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.
-
5 low approval cartoons about poll numbers
Cartoons Artists take on fake pollsters, shared disapproval, and more
-
Deepfakes and impostors: the brave new world of AI jobseeking
In The Spotlight More than 80% of large companies use AI in their hiring process, but increasingly job candidates are getting in on the act
-
Sudoku medium: May 4, 2025
The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Trump's first 100 days: the reshaping of America
Talking Point The second Trump White House is 'less a new administration', and more a 'vengeful monarchy'
-
Trump moves to gut PBS and NPR in latest salvo against the media
IN THE SPOTLIGHT The president's executive order targeting two of the nation's largest public broadcasters comes as the White House seeks to radically reframe how Americans get their news
-
Trump judge bars deportations under 1798 law
speed read A Trump appointee has ruled that the president's use of a wartime act for deportations is illegal
-
Trump ousts Waltz as NSA, taps him for UN role
speed read President Donald Trump removed Mike Waltz as national security adviser and nominated him as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations
-
How could Trump ending a VA mortgage program leave veterans on the streets?
Today's Big Question Vets could face foreclosure as a result of the White House's actions
-
Kamala Harris steps back on center stage
IN THE SPOTLIGHT In her first major speech since Donald Trump took office, the former presidential candidate took solid aim at this administration as speculation grows about her future
-
Trump blames Biden for tariffs-linked contraction
speed read The US economy shrank 0.3% in the first three months of 2025, the Commerce Department reported
-
Trump's crypto 'sea change' upends Washington's finances
In the Spotlight By embracing digital currency, the White House is clearing a path for a new era in dubious self-enrichment