Mark Cuban Takes Dig at Trump as He Reveals How Much He’s Paying in Taxes

Ahead of Tax Day, billionaire Mark Cuban seemingly took aim at former President Donald Trump on Sunday as he revealed how much he is paying in taxes.

The deadline to file federal income tax returns and extensions to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for most of the country is Monday, April 15. For many, the annual tax adjustments, including new tax brackets, an increased standard deduction and higher limits to 401(k) plans are leading to lower income taxes and an increased tax refund.

On Sunday in a post to X, formerly Twitter, in response to an X user asking Cuban if he or his corporations “pay more than the required taxes in order to pay your fair share,” the businessman revealed how much he will be paying in taxes as he also seemingly took aim at Trump for his taxes.

“I pay what I owe. Tomorrow I will wire transfer to the IRS $288,000,000.00. This country has done so much for me, I’m proud to pay my taxes every single year. Tag a former president that you know doesn’t,” he wrote.

While under no legal obligation to do so, Trump became the first president in decades not to release his tax returns when he launched his run for the White House. Trump claimed he could not release the returns because he was under audit by the IRS.

However, in November 2022, a detailed report showed the amount of income, deductions and taxes paid by or refunded to Trump while he was in the White House.

According to the report by the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, it revealed that Trump, on his federal tax returns, declared negative income in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2020, and that he paid a total of $1,500 in income taxes for the years 2016 and 2017. The report also revealed on Trump’s and his wife Melania’s 2020 income tax returns, they paid no federal income taxes and claimed a refund of $5.47 million.

The report and redacted versions of Trump’s full income tax returns, and those of eight related business entities for the tax years 2015 through 2020 was then made public after the Ways and Means Committee voted to make it public.

Newsweek has reached out to Trump’s spokesperson and Cuban via email for comment.

Trump has previously criticized the release of the report in a statement, saying that “the Democrats should have never done it, the Supreme Court should have never approved it, and it’s going to lead to horrible things for so many people.”

He added: “The ‘Trump’ tax returns once again show how proudly successful I have been and how I have been able to use depreciation and various other tax deductions as an incentive for creating thousands of jobs and magnificent structures and enterprises.”

The majority of Trump’s wealth comes from real estate investments around the world, including a $500 million stake in a Manhattan office building at 1290 Avenue of the Americas and his Trump National Doral Miami Golf Resort, which is valued at $300 million, according to Bloomberg.

Although Trump has amassed enough wealth to be classified among the “wealthiest 0.01 percent,” his net worth has declined in recent years. In 2022, his wealth was estimated at $3 billion, a decrease from $4.6 billion in 2016.

Under his presidency, Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 2017 into law. The act slashed most of the seven income tax brackets, including the top rate, and are due to expire in December 2025. An analysis of the tax cuts by the progressive-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) concluded that almost half of the benefits of the act went to individuals earning more than $232,000 per year.

Trump pitched the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 2017 as an economy-boosting tax cut to benefit the middle and working classes that would pay for itself. However, the deficit ballooned to near $1 trillion. Around the time Congress passed the tax cuts, an analysis by the Tax Policy Center predicted that the poorest would see the lowest proportional benefit and the richest would benefit more than anyone else.