The President of the United States has steadfastly refused to release details of his tax affairs.
Tax returns of United States President Donald Trump have been leaked to the media.
A two-page document showing partial tax returns from 2005 were leaked by MSNBC, showing that Trump paid $38m on more than $150m of income in 2005.
No details on the sources of Trump’s income or charitable donations were revealed.
The White House insists that publishing the tax returns is against the law, while Trump has said that he is under audit by tax authorities and that he has been advised by lawyers not to release details of his financial affairs – refusing to release his tax affairs during the election campaign saw Trump break with a long-held tradition coming up to voting day.
Although the US Government have condemned MSNBC’s decision to release the document, David Smith – Washington correspondent for The Guardian – believes Trump may have leaked the document himself in order to deflect from his controversial wire tapping claims against Barack Obama and his attempts to abolish the Affordable Healthcare Act, also known as Obamacare.
“It would be a classic Trump tactic to deflect attention from his troubles with wire-tapping claims and replacing the healthcare law, also known as Obamacare,” said Smith.
“But it would also be a risky one, driving attention back to the issue of why he is the first president in 40 years to refuse to release his tax returns. This is the man who, when in the first presidential debate Clinton suggested he doesn’t pay federal income taxes, interjected: “That makes me smart.”
“Trump claims he cannot release his taxes while he is under audit. Yet he did so on Tuesday night in the White House’s preemptive statement.
“Zac Petkanas, a senior adviser to the Democratic National Committee, said: ‘The White House’s willingness to release some tax information when it suits them proves Donald Trump’s audit excuse is a sham. If they can release some of the information, they can release all of the information.'”
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