MSNBC host Rachel Maddow has revealed US President Donald Trump's 2005 tax returns on live television.

Key points: Maddow says the documents were obtained by an investigative journalist who received them in the mail

Maddow says the documents were obtained by an investigative journalist who received them in the mail The records show Mr Trump paid $US38 million in tax on an income of more than $US150

The records show Mr Trump paid $US38 million in tax on an income of more than $US150 The White House confirmed the figures minutes before the broadcast

The documents showed Mr Trump's 2005 income to be more than $US150 million.

Maddow said the billionaire had paid $US38 million in tax, but had a "big write-down" of $US103 million that year.

The figures were consistent with those pre-emptively released by the White House minutes before the broadcast went to air.

In a statement, the White House said Mr Trump took into account "large-scale depreciation for construction", and that as head of the Trump Organisation, he had a responsibility "to pay no more tax than legally required".

Maddow released the details on Wednesday in a broadcast beginning at 12:00pm AEDT.

She said she had received the documents from investigative journalist David Cay Johnston, after they had "turned up in his mailbox".

'Trump could have leaked documents himself'

During the broadcast, Johnston suggested Donald Trump could have leaked the documents himself, adding the businessman had a long history of leaking information to the media.

Johnston suggested it may even have been Mr Trump who leaked a racy photoshoot of his wife Melania and another woman to the New York Post in the lead-up to the election.

Johnston said there was a lot of detail about Mr Trump's business dealings that remained secret.

"You want to see the sources of income which'll be shown in his business returns — he has over 500 business entities," he said.

"You want to know who the partners are in those entities and what they show about the income.

"You also, by the way, want to show the interest he's paying and the fees he's paying to other people, to know who he's paying."

Trump refused to release tax returns due to IRS audit

Prior to the show, the White House said publishing Mr Trump's returns would be illegal.

"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," the White House said, adding it was "totally illegal to steal and publish tax returns" and bashed the "dishonest media".

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Maddow defended the release, saying it was in the public interest.

Mr Trump faced mounting pressure to release his tax returns in the lead-up to last year's November election, but refused to do so, saying his taxes were under audit by the Internal Revenue Service.

Presidents and major candidates for the White House have routinely released their income tax returns. Experts say an IRS audit does not bar someone from releasing the documents.

Former Republican nominee Mitt Romney in May said Mr Trump's refusal to release his tax returns should disqualify him from the presidential race.

At the time, Mr Romney said the only explanation for Mr Trump's refusal to release his records was that they contained "a bombshell of unusual size".

In October, the New York Times reported Mr Trump had declared a $US916 million loss on his 1995 income tax returns.

The loss would have allowed Mr Trump to cancel out the equivalent amount of taxable income over an 18-year period, experts hired by the newspaper to analyse the records said.

Mr Trump's advisors hit back, saying the write-off showed his business "genius".

"He would have been fool not to take advantage of it," former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani said at the time.



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Source: MSNBC

ABC and wires