Trump paid USD 38 million in taxes in 2005: White House

The White House released details of Trump's income and tax returns after MSNBC journalist Rachel Maddow presented what she said was part of the property mogul's tax forms from 2005.

It was unclear who was behind the apparent leak. The White House released a strongly-worded statement condemning the "illegal" action.

"Despite this substantial income figure and tax paid, it is totally illegal to steal and publish tax returns," the White House 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," it said.

"You know you are desperate for rating when you are willing to violate the law to push a story about two pages of tax returns from over a decade ago," the statement read.

Meadow said the federal document was mailed to David Cay Johnson, a Pulitzer prize winning American investigative journalist and author, who now runs DCreport.org.

Trump made a "large-scale" write-off for construction losses in 2005, the White House said, in response to questions about a partial disclosure of his tax return from that year.

He also paid "millions of dollars in other taxes such as sales and excise taxes and employment taxes," CNN quoted an official as saying, without giving further details.

Trump, 70, was the first major presidential candidate in decades not to release his tax returns. He had said that he would release it when the regular audit is complete.

The US Internal Revenue Service has a policy not to confirm whether or not individuals are under audit, but says it does not stop anyone from releasing their own returns.

Last October, the New York Times revealed parts of Trump's 1995 tax returns that showed losses of USD 916 million. The newspaper said this could have affected his returns for up to 18 subsequent years, allowing him to legally avoid paying federal income taxes.

The forms disclosed yesterday do not say whether the USD 916 million write-down was connected to the 1995 losses.

Trump, an accomplished businessman, won the general elections by running an unconventional campaign.

Democrats and some Republicans have spent months calling for the tax returns to be released, arguing that they could show whether his global business empire posed a conflicts of interest.

Hundreds of thousands of people have signed a petition demanding that the President immediately release his full tax returns, "with all information needed to verify emoluments clause compliance".