Donald Trump’s oft-repeated claims to be a wildly successful businessman have been dealt a severe blow, after a New York Times analysis of tax records revealed he racked up more than $1bn (£766m) in losses from 1985 to 1994.
The president lost in excess of $250m (£191m) in both 1990 and 1991, which appears to be more than double any other individual US taxpayer in an annual IRS sampling of high-income earners.
Trump lost so much money that he was able to avoid paying income taxes for eight of the 10 years.
Over the 10 years, Trump’s core businesses, including casinos, hotels and apartment buildings, lost $1.17bn (£0.9bn), according to the newspaper.
The Times said it had acquired printouts from the future president’s official tax transcripts, including figures from his federal tax form.
The president has long-claimed he is a largely self-made and “like, really smart... very successful businessman” billionaire, but the bulk of his wealth was inherited from his father.
Trump’s business career is peppered with multiple bankruptcies. An analysis in 2015 concluded he would actually be richer if he had just invested his inheritance.
Trump, a real estate magnate who turned over the running of his businesses to his sons after his election in 2016, touted his business acumen and negotiating skills on the campaign trail.
He broke with a decades-old precedent by refusing to release his tax returns as a presidential candidate in 2016 or since being elected, saying he could not do so while his taxes were being audited, even though this does not prevent their disclosure.
He is the first president since the Watergate scandal to decline to make his tax returns public.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the New York Times’ latest story, Reuters reports.
The Times quoted a lawyer for the president, Charles Harder, as saying the tax information was “highly inaccurate.”
On Monday, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin refused a request by the Democratic chairman of the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee for Trump’s tax returns.
Democrats want Trump’s most recent tax data as part of their investigations of possible conflicts of interest posed by his continued ownership of extensive business interests, even as he serves as president.