Then-President-elect Donald Trump with then-President Barack Obama at the White House on November 10, 2016. JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images Donald Trump in a 2012 tweet criticized President Barack Obama for his 20.5% tax rate. The tweet is under scrutiny after a bombshell New York Times report on Sunday said that in 2012 Trump paid no federal income taxes because his businesses were losing so much money. Obama was criticized when his tax returns were released in 2012, as they revealed that he had a lower tax rate for the 2011 tax year than his secretary. Sign up here for our free live event Tuesday to get the inside track on the race for the White House with Business Insider's DC Bureau. A tweet from 2012 in which Donald Trump attacked President Barack Obama for paying a 20.5% tax rate is getting renewed attention in light of a New York Times report showing that Trump has paid next to nothing for years.In the tweet, Trump cited information in a tax return released by Obama that year showing that for 2011 he paid $162,074 in federal taxes on a gross income of $789,674."@BarackObama who wants to raise all our taxes, only pays 20.5% on $790k salary.