Two pages of Donald Trump’s 2005 tax returns may have been released in leaked documents revealed on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show.
The documents reported the president had earned $153 million and paid $36.5 million in income taxes in that year.
The report stirred all sorts of feelings among people, including those who felt it had proved Trump had not only paid his taxes, but at a higher rate than the average American.
Desperation is when you're willing to violate the law to obtain tax returns, only to find out POTUS paid millions in taxes??#TrumpTaxReturn
— Elle (@Trigrrd_tweetr) March 15, 2017
Well done to MSNBC and Rachel Maddow on exposing Trump paying millions of dollars in taxes. You really did prove him to be a cheater didnt u
— Judes (@JudieSzmolka) March 15, 2017
Trump’s 2005 paid taxes were below the 27.4% that taxpayers earning $1 million dollars a year average were paying that year, according to data from the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.Others also claimed the leaked documents held no weight as they detailed information from over a decade ago, and didn’t disclose the taxes Trump has paid since – something more than one million people called for in a petition during the presidential election.
The election has been over for months now and MSNBC has Trump's tax returns…. from 12 years ago! Bravo Rachel Maddow, another blunder!
— Jacob McGimsey (@JakeMcGimsey) March 15, 2017
Not sure how 1 year of returns from 12 years ago proves Trump is not dodging paying taxes. Let's see returns for 06-16 ?? #TrumpTaxReturns
— Gina Marie (@Kompanie) March 15, 2017
A little confused as to why we are only seeing the 2005 Trump tax return. Like a whole lot happened in 12 years.
— Not Crista (@thisisntcrista) March 15, 2017
Trump responded to the drama by questioning the means in which the documents were obtained, calling it “fake news”.
Does anybody really believe that a reporter, who nobody ever heard of, "went to his mailbox" and found my tax returns? @NBCNews FAKE NEWS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 15, 2017
In short, everyone still seems to think exactly what they thought before the leak.