Donald Trump’s businesses lost more than a billion dollars from 1985 to 1994, according to tax information acquired by the New York Times.

The newspaper said it had acquired printouts from the future president’s official tax transcripts, including figures from his federal tax form.

It said Mr Trump reported business losses of 46.1 million dollars (€41.6m) in 1985, and a total of 1.17 billion dollars (€1.52bn) for the 10-year period.

After comparing his information with that of other “high-income earners”, the Times concluded that Mr Trump “appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual American taxpayer”.

Because of his business losses, the newspaper reported, Mr Trump did not pay income tax for eight of the 10 years.

The House Ways and Means Committee has asked the Internal Revenue Service to provide Mr Trump’s personal and business returns for 2013 to 2018.

• Read more: Impeachment calls intensify as tax returns legal battle looms for Trump

Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday refused to do so, saying the panel’s request “lacks a legitimate legislative purpose”.

Mr Mnuchin’s move is likely to set a legal battle in motion. The chief options available to Democrats are to subpoena the IRS for the returns or to file a lawsuit.

Mr Trump is the first president since Watergate to decline to make his tax returns public.

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