a new report showing donald trump recorded a $916 million loss on his 1995 tax return will focus more attention on his business practices and his refusal to release any recent federal tax filings. a story in the new york times , based on a copy of three pages of mr. trump<u+2019>s 1995 filing that<u+00a0>were mailed anonymously to the paper, cited tax experts saying the republican presidential nominee could have used the loss to avoid paying personal income taxes for 18 years. mr. trump<u+2019>s personal income taxes have been a focus of campaign rivals for eight months, since ted cruz and marco rubio challenged him to release his returns during a february gop primary debate. at last week<u+2019>s debate , democratic nominee hillary clinton suggested mr. trump hasn<u+2019>t released his tax returns because he has avoided paying income taxes. <u+201c> that makes me smart ,<u+201d> mr. trump responded. mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign, in a statement released late saturday, didn<u+2019>t deny the charge that he may have legally used the loses to avoid paying personal income taxes. in an unsigned statement released following the publication of the story, the campaign claimed the times <u+201c>illegally obtained<u+201d> mr. trump<u+2019>s tax documents and that mr. trump has paid a litany of other taxes, including state tax and real estate taxes. but the statement made no mention of federal income taxes. <u+201c>mr. trump is a highly-skilled businessman who has a fiduciary responsibility to his business, his family and his employees to pay no more tax than legally required,<u+201d> the statement said. <u+201c>that being said, mr. trump has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in property taxes, sales and excise taxes, real estate taxes, city taxes, state taxes, employee taxes and federal taxes, along with very substantial charitable contributions. mr. trump knows the tax code far better than anyone who has ever run for president and he is the only one that knows how to fix it.<u+201d> mr. trump<u+2019>s business taxes are reported on his personal income-tax filing. there are some indications mr. trump may have had income in recent years, namely his decision to donate development rights on some of his properties, for which he could claim tax deductions available only if he had current or future income. mr. trump has in the past criticized 2012 gop presidential nominee mitt romney for waiting too long to release his tax returns, which showed the former massachusetts governor paid an effective 13.9% income-tax rate and for suggesting he couldn<u+2019>t win support from <u+201c>47 percent<u+201d> of americans who he said don<u+2019>t pay income tax. for mr. trump, the saturday tax story is the latest revelation in what has been a series of damaging incidents following his uneven performance in monday<u+2019>s debate, which has contributed to a slide in his standing in some recent state and national polls . mr. trump early in his campaign promised to eventually release his tax returns before the election, as every nominee has for 40 years. but he backed off that, citing a continuing audit as making it impossible. on monday, he said he would release his returns if mrs. clinton released thousands of emails from her personal server that were deleted after she served as secretary of state. clinton campaign manager robby mook said in a statement late saturday that <u+201c>this bombshell report reveals the colossal nature of donald trump<u+2019>s past business failures and just how long he may have avoided paying any federal income taxes whatsoever.<u+201d> write to reid j. epstein at reid.epstein@wsj.com
report of trump<u+2019>s $916 million loss on 1995 taxes to intensify focus on his returns - wsj
reid j. epstein