Video of former President Donald Trump saying he paid “millions of dollars” in taxes from 2016 to 2017 resurfaced online following the release of his tax returns this week.
For years, Democrats have targeted Trump’s tax returns, as the businessman was the first president in decades to not release them. His refusal to do so has sparked questions from critics about his finances, including about whether or not he paid his fair share of federal income tax.
After the lengthy legal battle, the House Ways and Means Committee finally made public Trump’s tax returns on Friday. The report covers the time period from 2015, when Trump first launched his presidential bid, to 2020, when he lost reelection to Joe Biden.
The committee’s report found that Trump’s income varied significantly in that timespan, but that he never paid more than 5 percent in income tax. In 2016 and 2017, Trump paid only $750 in federal income tax, as he reported substantial financial losses throughout his myriad of businesses.
Scott Olson/Getty Images; ALON SKUY/AFP via Getty Images
After the tax returns were released, some social media users posted a video from a 2020 presidential debate in which former Fox News host Chris Wallace pressed Trump on reports that he paid only $750 in taxes.
“I know that you pay a lot of other taxes, but I’m asking you the specific question. Is it true that you paid $750 in federal income taxes each of those two years,” Wallace asked.
Trump dismissed reports that he paid such a low amount, insisting he paid millions despite the newly-released returns indicating otherwise. As Trump spoke, Biden, then a candidate, pressed him to release his tax returns to prove how much he paid.
“I’ve paid millions of dollars in taxes. Millions of dollars of income tax. And let me just tell you—there was a story in one of the papers that I paid $38 million one year. I paid $27 million one year,” Trump said.
Mike Sington, a former NBCUniversal executive, tweeted the video on Friday alongside the caption: “Watch Trump lie right to your face.”
The video was also tweeted on Friday by the popular Twitter account Acyn, which frequently is critical of Republicans. More than 1.1 million people have watched the video as of Saturday afternoon.
Republicans, Democrats React to Trump Tax Returns
Democrats and Republicans responded to the release of Trump’s tax returns. Trump, in a statement previously sent to Newsweek, wrote that Democrats “should have never” released the returns.
“It’s going to lead to horrible things for so many people,” Trump said. “The great USA divide will now grow far worse. The radical, left Democrats have weaponized everything, but remember, that is a dangerous two-way street!”
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, described the release of Trump’s tax returns as “a new low” for Democrats.
“The Democrats illegally releasing President Trump’s personal tax records is a new low in the biggest political persecution of any President in history,” the congresswoman tweeted. “Everyone gets to see how successful Pres Trump is & that he always followed the IRS rules. Now, turnabout is fair play.”
Democrats, meanwhile, have said the release of Trump’s tax returns was not intended to target the former president, but was instead focused on the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) mandatory audit of presidents.
Massachusetts Representative Richard Neal, the Democrat who chairs the Ways and Means Committee, slammed the “dormant” system in a statement on Friday.
“We know now, the first mandatory audit was opened two years into his presidency. On the same day this Committee requested his returns,” he wrote.
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s office for comment.