USA – US President Donald Trump paid $38 million in tax on more than $150 million income in 2005, a leaked partial tax return shows.

The two pages of tax return, revealed by US TV network MSNBC, also showed he wrote off $103 million in losses. It gave no details on income sources.

But the documents also showed that about 82 per cent of the total paid to the Internal Revenue Service that year by Trump and his wife, Melania, was incurred due to a tax that Trump has said should be abolished.

On Tuesday evening, MSNBC announced that it had a copy of one of Trump’s tax returns, dating from 2005 which were revealed on a show later that night.

MSNBC said they received the document from financial journalist and Trump biographer David Cay Johnston, who received it in the post from an anonymous source.

On the programme Cay Johnston confirmed he had no further details on the source, but speculated that the leak could have come from Trump himself.

The White House said publishing the tax return was against the law.

“You know you are desperate for ratings when you are willing to violate the law to push a story about two pages of tax returns from over a decade ago,” a Trump administration official said in a statement.

“Before being elected president, Donald Trump was one of the most successful businessmen in the world with a responsibility to his company, his family and his employees to pay no more tax than legally required.”

The official added that Trump “paid $38 million even after taking into account large-scale depreciation for construction, on an income of more than $150 million, as well as paying tens of millions of dollars in other taxes such as sales and excise taxes and employment taxes, and this illegally published return proves just that”.

“Despite this substantial income figure and tax paid, it is totally illegal to steal and publish tax returns,” the official said.

“The dishonest media can continue to make this part of their agenda, while the president will focus on his, which includes tax reform that will benefit all Americans.”

Trump refused to release his tax returns during the election campaign, breaking with a long-held tradition.

Although leaking federal tax returns is a criminal offence, MSNBC argued that the network was exercising its right to freedom of speech under the First Amendment to the US Constitution to publish information in the public interest.

On Wednesday morning, President Trump slammed Cay Johnston on Twitter, and cast doubt on the claim that the papers came unsolicited through the post.

Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr, welcomed the leak, adding to speculation over whether the president leaked a favourable portion of his own tax return.

Either way, Tuesday’s partial disclosure will further pressure the White House to publish the president’s tax returns in full.

As a candidate, Trump broke with a 40-year precedent by refusing to release his tax returns despite repeated calls from his opponents in both parties.

- PNC sources