WASHINGTON (a news agency, REUTERS)US President Donald Trump paid just US$750 (S$1033) in federal income taxes in 2016, the year he won the election, The New York Times reported Sunday, citing tax return data extending more than 20 years.
It added that he also paid only US$750 in his first year in the White House, and he had paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years because he reported losing much more money than he made.
Trump immediately dismissed the report as "totally fake news" again cited an ongoing audit as his reason for not releasing his returns.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer took to Twitter to ask Americans to raise their hands if they paid more in federal income tax than Trump.
US presidents are not required by law to release details of their personal finances, but every one since Richard Nixon has done so.
Trump has broken with presidential tradition by refusing to release his returns, fighting a long battle in the courts and fueling speculation about what they might contain.
He is currently in a legal battle with New York City prosecutors and congressional Democrats who are seeking to obtain his returns.
Trump's tax returns, a key talking point in the 2016 election, have been a constant presence during his presidency and ahead of the Nov 3 election, when Trump is seeking another term.
He also previously indicated he preferred to minimise his tax bill, saying in a 2016 presidential debate it made him "smart"
The Times reported that Trump was able to minimise his tax bill by reporting heavy losses across his business empire. It said he claimed US$47.4 million in losses in 2018, despite saying he had income of at least US$434.9 million in a financial disclosure that year.
The Times emphasised the documents reveal only what Trump told the government about his businesses, and did not disclose his true wealth.
The Times said it had obtained tax-return data covering over two decades for Trump and companies within his business organization. It did not have information about his personal returns from 2018 or 2019.
The report said the tax data that it had seen "provides a road map of revelations, from write-offs for the cost of a criminal defence lawyer and a mansion used as a family retreat to a full accounting of the millions of dollars the president received from the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow."
The records "reveal the hollowness, but also the wizardry, behind the self-made-billionaire image," it added.
Alan Garten, a lawyer for the Trump Organization, told the paper in response that "over the past decade, President Trump 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."