President Donald Trump reported more than $1 billion in business losses over a single decade, The New York Times reported Tuesday, citing newly obtained tax records from 1985 to 1994.
>> On NYTimes.com: Read the full story here
An analysis of the figures, which came from Trump's Internal Revenue Service tax transcripts, showed that Trump "appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual American taxpayer" during that period, the newspaper reported.
According to the Times, Trump reported that his core businesses lost $46.1 million in 1985 and "continued to lose money every year." In 1990 and '91, his business losses topped $250 million each year, the report said.
The reported losses enabled Trump "to avoid paying income taxes for eight of the 10 years," the newspaper said.
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Trump slammed the report in a Thursday morning tweet, calling it "a highly inaccurate Fake News hit job."
"Real estate developers in the 1980's & 1990's, more than 30 years ago, were entitled to massive write offs and depreciation which would, if one was actively building, show losses and tax losses in almost all cases. Much was non monetary," Trump tweeted. "Sometimes considered 'tax shelter,' you would get it by building, or even buying. You always wanted to show losses for tax purposes....almost all real estate developers did – and often re-negotiate with banks, it was sport."
The tweets echoed an earlier comment from Trump lawyer Charles Harder, who also called the article "highly inaccurate," the Times reported.
"IRS transcripts, particularly before the days of electronic filing, are notoriously inaccurate," Harder told the Times.
However, former IRS official Mark J. Mazur said the figures that the agency uses to make tax transcripts have "undergone quality control for decades," the Times report said.
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