The New York Times says it has obtained documents showing Donald Trump declared a loss of 916 million on his 1995 federal income tax return.

According to the publication, the loss was so large it may have enabled Donald Trump to avoid paying tax for up to 18 years legally.

The Republican candidate’s campaign has refused to publish his tax returns and neither confirmed nor denied the scale of his losses.

Hillary Clinton has made much of his tax record.

Image source Wikimedia

During an acrimonious first presidential debate on September 26, Hillary Clinton forced Donald Trump on to the defensive for not releasing his tax returns, suggesting that he was hiding “something terrible”.

When the Democratic candidate accused Donald Trump of not paying federal income tax, he replied: “That makes me smart.”

Hillary Clinton has publicly released nearly 40 years’ worth while Donald Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, has released 10 years of his tax returns.

In its story, the New York Times says the three pages of documents were sent last month to one of its reporters who had written about Donald Trump’s finances.

A former accountant for Donald Trump, Jack Mitnick, whose name appears as Trump’s tax preparer of the filings, said the documents appeared to be authentic copies of portions of the 1995 returns, according to the newspaper.

On October 1, the Trump campaign accused the New York Times of being “an extension of the Clinton campaign”.

Donald Trump, the campaign added, was a “highly skilled businessman who has a fiduciary responsibility to his business, his family and his employees to pay no more tax than legally required.

“That being said, Mr. Trump has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in property taxes, sales and excise taxes, real estate taxes, city taxes, state taxes, employee taxes and federal taxes, along with very substantial charitable contributions.”

Since 1976, every major party presidential nominee has released tax returns.