US President Donald Trump speaking during a news conference at the White House. Photo / AP
US President Donald Trump speaking during a news conference at the White House. Photo / AP
US President Donald Trump paid no federal income taxes in 10 of the past 15 years, according to a report Sunday (US time) in the New York Times.
Trump, who has fiercely guarded his tax filings and is the only president in modern times not to make them public, paidUS$750 in taxes to the federal government the year he was elected, 2016, and $750 again his first year in office.
Speaking at a news conference at the White House, Trump dismissed the report as "fake news" and said he has paid taxes, though he gave no specifics.
The disclosure, which the Times said comes from tax return data it obtained extending over two decades, comes at a pivotal moment ahead of the first presidential debate Tuesday, and weeks before a divisive election.
A lawyer for the Trump Organisation, Alan Garten, and a spokesperson for the Trump Organisation did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Associated Press on the report.
Garten told the Times that "most, if not all, of the facts appear to be inaccurate".
He said in a statement to the news organisation that the President "has paid tens of millions of dollars in personal taxes to the federal government, including paying millions in personal taxes since announcing his candidacy in 2015".
