Trump's taxes or lack thereof

https://www.yahoo.com/york-times-publishes-donald-trumps-214056953.html

Basically a phony, a fraudster and a tax cheat.

Links aren't coming up right now but they will. I think this is going to explode.

Donald says it's fake news---well Donald prove it.

BOMBSHELL !!! Donald Trump, TAX CHEAT

Ten days before the first Biden-Trump debate, the NYT publishes DJT's tax returns.

HIGHLIGHTS
Paid $750 in Fed. Income Tax in 2016, 2017
Paid $0 in taxes in 10 of the 15 previous years
No revelation of unreported Russia connections

10 years he paid nothing, he lost much more money than he made.

Trump has been involved in "a decade-long battle with the IRS over the legitimacy of $72.9 million tax refund that he claimed and received after declaring huge losses."

The tax returns he has kept hidden from public scrutiny since announcing he would make them public when he declared his candidacy, prove he lied and deceived voters then and has continued to this day.

Trump Organization lawyer, Alan Garten says facts reported are inaccurate. Claims Trump has paid millions in federal "personal taxes." That remark does not mean Federal Income Tax, but may refer to Social Security and Medicare. Without providing any evidence to substantiate his assertions, his evaluation is highly doubtful.

The tax returns are documented proof positiveevidence of tax evasion. Trump undoubtedly knows that he will be facing criminal charges, huge fines and back tax liabilities, as well as prison time for his fifteen years of cheating. He should. No wonder he is trying so hard to steal the election!

The NYT promises more revelations over the coming weeks.

>2 Limelite:

Question - Can not trump resign in the weeks after losing the election and then have a Ford/Nixon moment when Pense gives him a full pardon for all possible federal crimes? Would this not cover all the IRS tax fraud stuff? I know he can not be pardoned for any state crimes but what about all this federal tax fraud?

It is my understanding that trump could well be sentenced to prison based on conviction of the various state-level crimes he has certainly committed. If so then all drinks are on me at my favorite neighborhood bar. lol.

Huh. I had to go look it up. I paid $4,138 federal income tax in 2016. Something seems out of whack.

This isn't really news to anyone, surely. And since it's not news — everyone's processed it long ago — I doubt it will change much.

>3 JGL53: Gosh, wouldn't that be sort of dihonest and violating the spirit of the presidential power of pardon?

I'm shocked (shocked!) that you would even suggest such a thing.

>3 JGL53:

In theory, possibly. And in theory, that possibility is why Trump and McConnell are packing the SCOTUS with right wing ideologues who are disreputable jurists. Much will hinge on the outcome of the confirmation process for this latest nominee because I anticipate that if Pence were to try such a stunt as granting an open pardon, an immediate legal challenge against that action would be filed and would be decided there.

The constitutionality of open pardons has never been tested/decided.

In the event of DJT being unable to steal the election outright, or losing a legal bid to do so in the SCOTUS because they were to refuse to hear it (or some other reason), Plan B would have to be that one, if the criminal is to evade jail as well as taxes.

It gets interesting if Democrats moved impeachment against Pence either before or immediately upon Trump's exit. I don't know if a prez who's being impeached on the basis of violations of the Constitution, or probably more importantly, obstruction of his or his predecessor's impeachment, can be considered eligible to invoke constitutional functions of pardon for his predecessor. If Pence were to be convicted in a swiftboat way/speed, he can't pardon anyone. Nancy Pelosi becomes prez. Game over. Figuring this kind of mess out is too hairy for my little brain that's not trained in Constitutional Law.

We have any such animals here who can give us hope of an answer?

BREAKING! Trump Soon To Become "President Insolvency"?

Behind the curtain lurks no wizard, but a worm. Trump about to go bust -- again.

. . .Donald Trump’s taxes (reveal) he’s been making huge amounts of money off of licensing for “The Apprentice,” which he uses to support his fledgling resorts and clubs. But as that money slows, about $421 million in bills are coming due.

. . .The report went on to calculate that Trump made more money playing a businessman on television than he did being a businessman in real life if his tax records are any indication.

Well, that's not surprising. He paid more in hush money to a single "working girl" than he paid in both 2016-17 federal income taxes!

“‘The Apprentice,’ along with the licensing and endorsement deals that flowed from his expanding celebrity, brought Mr. Trump a total of $427.4 million, The Times’s analysis of the records found."

And most of that income has disappeared down the numerous holes of his various golf resorts, which swallow cash faster than he swallows 'cheeseberders'.

Unable to play a successful businessman in real life, playing a fake one on 'The Apprentice' is the closest he's ever been to successful at any real estate, casino, or golf resort owner tycoon he's impersonated in real life.

Sorry Trump voting base, you've been conned -- again. Tired, yet, of all that winning?

“Rather than making him wealthier, the tax records reveal as never before, each new acquisition only fed the downward draft on his bottom line,” the report revealed.
(SNIP)
Trump is responsible for the loans and other debts totaling a whopping $421 million. Those bills come due in the next four years.

“Should he win re-election, his lenders could be placed in the unprecedented position of weighing whether to foreclose on a sitting president,” said the Times.

Is it any wonder Trump will attempt whatever underhanded tricks it takes to put off the inevitable until those four additional years go by?

Sorry, Don-Boy. But the only sure things in this life remain your only two "choices." Death and taxes.

Ivanka: "She's No Daughter, She's My 'Contractor'!" Both Are Tax Dodgers

She and her brothers are also double- (even triple-?) dippers. 1) Employees of Trump Organization; independent "contractors"; and perhaps employees (with full benefits) of the federal government during his presidency?

Ivanka has been getting millions from her father and avoiding paying the proper amount of tax on it.

The report detailed that Trump has tried to write-off things like family vacations while claiming to be a billionaire with nearly half a billion dollars in debt.
(SNIP)
Gift taxes are when a living person gives over $15,000 to a person, and Trump has given Ivanka much more than that. But to get around it, he calls his money to her “contractor fees,” which she declares as “income.” She’s also had nearly $100,000 in fees for her hair and makeup paid by the president for years.
(SNIP)
. . .nine Trump entities have written off at least $95,464 paid to a favorite hair and makeup artist of Ivanka Trump.”

Just who works for whom, when, and in what capacity is being unraveled by the NYT, which in spite of breaking 3-4 major stories tonight alone, stated it has weeks of stories yet to be printed from what it has learned from Trump's IRS filings. Here's more.

“The tax records show that the three siblings had each drawn a salary from their father’s company — roughly $480,000 a year, jumping to about $2 million after Mr. Trump became president — though Ms. Trump no longer receives a salary.
(SNIP)
While Trump’s taxes don’t show the funds that he gave to Ivanka specifically, she reported payments from “consulting” totaling $747,622. It matches the number exactly that Trump wrote off as “consulting,” which he wrote off of his taxes.

At this rate, the Tuesday night debate could break the ratings for such occasions. That should give Trump something to brag about -- if he shows up for it after these facts and future exposures come out. Judging by his behavior at his press conference (hah!) today, I'm putting my semolians/simolians (choose your own preferred spelling) on him being a no show.

>9 Limelite:

I don't understand. Why should he be worried about fake news?

I have no idea what a semolian is, and I certainly don't have any, but my fake bitcoin says he shows.

#9--Jesus.

> 7

From your lips to god's ears and all that, but - did not Ford give Nixon what the talking heads always referred to as a "blanket pardon"?

If so, then has not precedent been set - regarding the President? lol.

(IOW, if Ford did it, legally apparently, then couldn't Pense argue that he can likewise do it, legally? I'm not a lawyer - so maybe we need to have one chime in on this.)

Mr. Trump spent $70K on hairstyling.

The results show just how poor his judgement is.

One thing Pence wouldn't be able to do is pardon Trump for state crimes and NYS is waiting very patiently for Trump's term to end. I expect he will have to be extradited though that might be tricky if he's holing up in Florida with his buddy Ron DeSantis. Even then though I would figure NYS would move against Trump's business assets within their reach. Jared, Ivanka and Donald could always move to Israel, Brazil or Turkey. I'm sure those right wing govt.'s would protect him.

>14 lriley:

Point.

Consider the beauty of the whole business. Trump's hot water won't be tax cheating alone. He may be boiled like a lobster for another crime, assuring many years of imprisonment because he can't, in this case, make good on the crime.

With the exposure of his tax returns, state AGs in NY and anywhere else Trump either holds properties or got real estate loans of any type will be able to go after his considerable posterior for bank fraud, if the valuation he gave to any American bank (high-ball) when making his loan application differs from what he declared the valuation to be on his taxes (low-ball).

If there's a disparity that favors Trump's interests over theirs, well. . .Banks hate that.

“We don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia.”

Remember that statement? Made by Eric Trump back in 2014 and periodically pulled back into the public consciousness, especially during the Mueller investigation.

Does the name Andrew Weissman ring a bell? Yep. That Andrew Weissman, a lead attorney on Mueller's corruption investigation team with a long and distinguished history as General Counsel to the FBI, then the chief of the fraud division in the DOJ. Before that,

Decades ago Weissmann served for over ten years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, prosecuting Mafia crime families. After that he was put in charge of a special task force investigating the Enron scandal.

Not the legal wolfhound you want sniffing around your heels if other body parts are dipping into fraudulent deals, like the 10 short ones of Donald J. Trump appear to be.

Wasn't it revealed yesterday that Trump is $421 million in debt to an unknown entity, or entities? And that debt is due within 4 years?

Need a review? Trump gets "all the funding he needs from Russia". . .plus. . .$421 million in debt to unknown party(ies). . .probably equals. . .Trump is not only Putin's Puppet; he's also Putin's Debtor.

Andrew Weissman says the math adds up for him, and when it comes to criminal calculations like this one, he's a master calculator.

Somewhere in the Written Rules of American Government, it says that no high level security clearance -- say, that needed by a sitting president -- is to be granted to a person with significant financial liability for reasons that make that person a target of blackmail and or extortion, thus too great a security risk to be allowed access to America's most important state security secrets.

Yet there sits DJT in the Oval Office, tip-top security clearance and all. How'd that happen?

There is a rather interesting twist to this story to be found in Forbes. If you enjoy business math and accounting you will salivate over it's analysis of Trump's wealth (or lack of it, depending), which is the rest of the story not seen in his tax return juiciness by the NYT. You can read that Trump's total state of indebtedness can be reasonably estimated at $1.1 billion.

Almost half of which debt is almost certainly currently held by Russian "investors."

While DJT may be a man with assets valued in the billions (making him a bona fide billionaire), he also possesses a billionaire's worth of debt. Yes, Trump calls himself the "King of Debt" because

Having debt requires paying interest, which reduces the profits Trump has to declare on his tax returns. But the president also seems to be employing far more unusual methods to limit his tax bill.

It's that last sentence that provides the "interest" to readers.

To remain on his debtor's throne, Trump likely has engaged in creative tax evasion that has crossed over the bright line of legality into the swamp of swindling the IRS out of at least one multi-million dollar refund and let him pay a total of $1500 in income tax to Uncle Sam.

We shall see. Probably in future NYT revelations and possibly in his future trials for tax and bank fraud.

>9 Limelite:

He showed! So I guess I get to keep my fake Bitcoin and you owe everyone some semolians.

>17 librorumamans:

Touche! I'm fresh out of se/imolians. I better get down in the basement and crank up the printer. . .

I have some semolina in the pantry if the moths haven't got to it.

LoL!

As they say,

"Where's the 'beef'?"

or

"Got 'Bullshit'?"

..."The Times also said the documents it (The New York Times) had obtained 'comprise information that Mr Trump has disclosed to the IRS, not the findings of an independent financial examination. They report that Mr Trump owns hundreds of millions of dollars in valuable assets, but they do not reveal his true wealth. Nor do they reveal any previously unreported connections to Russia.' ”

( The Guardian (London) Sunday, 27 Sept. 2020) )

in other words, you people can't "think".

This is all stuff the I.R.S. knows and has already long known. How? Trump told them in his tax-filings.

So, if there were anything illegal going on, Trump, on the basis of these supposedly shocking details, would already have been brought before a tax case tribunal.

But he hasn't. Why not? Maybe because "tax-avoidance" isn't illegal, maybe it's because there's nothing in these filings which the I.R.S. could base a case on for alleged tax-evasion.

Again, Trump's opposition has nothing but this phony stuff with which to try to smear him.

They make themselves look like what they are --and that's a hell of a lot worse than anything they can or they have ever demonstrated about Donald Trump.

Trump Records Shed New Light on Chinese Business Pursuits
Mike McIntire, Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig | Oct. 20, 2020

As he raises questions about his opponent’s standing with China, President Trump’s taxes reveal details about his own activities there, including a previously unknown bank account.

...The Chinese account is controlled by Trump International Hotels Management L.L.C., which the tax records show paid $188,561 in taxes in China while pursuing licensing deals there from 2013 to 2015.

...The company has direct ownership of THC China Development, but is also involved in management of other Trump-branded properties around the world, and it is not possible to discern from its tax records how much of its financial activity is China-related. It normally reports a few million dollars in annual income and deductible expenses.

In 2017, the company reported an unusually large spike in revenue — some $17.5 million, more than the previous five years’ combined. It was accompanied by a $15.1 million withdrawal by Mr. Trump from the company’s capital account.

...Outside of China, Mr. Trump has had more success attracting wealthy Chinese buyers for his properties in other countries. His hotels and towers in Las Vegas and Vancouver, British Columbia — locales known for attracting Chinese real estate investors — have found numerous Chinese purchasers, and in at least one instance drew the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

During the 2016 campaign, a shell company controlled by a Chinese couple from Vancouver bought 11 units, for $3.1 million, in the Las Vegas tower Mr. Trump co-owns with the casino magnate Phil Ruffin. The owner of a Las Vegas-based financial services firm told The Times he was later visited by two F.B.I. agents asking about the company behind the purchases, which he said had used his office address in incorporation papers without his knowledge. It is not known what became of the inquiry.

...In Vancouver, numerous Chinese buyers of units in Mr. Trump’s hotel and tower helped increase licensing fees from that project to $5.8 million in 2016, the year it was completed, according to tax records. The project was built by a Canadian-based firm controlled by the family of Malaysia’s richest man, Tony Tiah Thee Kian, who operates hotels in China and elsewhere. CNN reported in 2018 that the Vancouver operation was the subject of a counterintelligence review related to Ivanka Trump’s need for a security clearance.

And not long after winning the 2016 election, Mr. Trump reported selling a penthouse in one of his Manhattan buildings for $15.8 million to a Chinese-American businesswoman named Xiao Yan Chen, who bought the unit, previously occupied by Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, in an off-market transaction. Ms. Chen runs an international consulting firm and reportedly has high-level connections to government and political elites in China.

Mr. Trump’s tax records show that he reported a capital gain of at least $5.6 million from the penthouse sale in 2017, his first year as president.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/20/us/trump-taxes-china.html

And for you conspiracy theory fanatics among us. Check out the WSJ, which reports an examination of Bobulinski's records shows NO involvement by Joe Biden in ANY kind of "deal" with Chinese politicians, bankers, or industrialists at all.

"The venture—set up in 2017 after Mr. Biden left the vice presidency and before his presidential campaign—never received proposed funds from the Chinese company or completed any deals, according to people familiar with the matter. Corporate records reviewed by The Wall Street Journal show no role for Joe Biden."

Now you know, like it or not:
1) Trump lied during the debate last night when he tried to smear Joe with his own crimes;
2) Bobulinski is lying scum and a perpetrator of election misinformation, working to skew the vote to Trump;
3) What Hunter Biden may or may not have been involved in has nothing to do with his father, in contrast to the crooked grifters, Ivanka, Eric, and Jr. Their criminal enterprises don't bother you.

So, shut up with your whataboutism where Hunter's concerned.

Bobulinski doesn't come across very credibly to me. He looked stiff, awkward, agitated and jumpy. Compared to someone like Lt. Col. Vindman he doesn't pass muster.

On the question of corruption in the Biden family--no doubt there is some and this certainly isn't a good look. Compared to Trump, his family and his administration they need a whole lot more than this. Even if their accusations are true this is kind of teeny, tiny small potatoes to what Team Trump has been up to.

So once again--Do I like the Biden's?-Joe/Hunter whoever. Not really. Mainly see them as pieces of shit. Compared to Trump and his people though the Biden's are angels from heaven. It's like asking someone to choose between losing a finger or their whole arm--Biden is the finger--Trump means losing the arm. I'd rather lose the finger and hopefully it's not the middle one.

Now that we know that Orange Hitler made a total of 25 million dollars cash from just two deals with China in just one year - 2017 - I am a little confused. Does Orange Hitler own his loyalty to China - or to Russia? Equally to both?

Orange Hitler, in the last debate, had to gall to assert that Biden is the one mixed up with China and Russia? Lard Cheeses Crust - how many lies are we up to now with Orange Hitler - is it 25,000 or 26,000?

>25 JGL53:

Perhaps one per COVID victim?

Top 1% fails to report over 20% of income using potentially "criminal" tactics: IRS analysis
Progressives have introduced a bill to boost IRS budget to increase audits of the rich and claw back $1.2 trillion
Igor Derysh | March 22, 2021

...The analysis estimated that the top 1% of households fail to report 21% of their income. Nearly a third of that is through sophisticated schemes that random IRS audits fail to detect. The trend is even starker among the top 0.1% of earners, whose unreported income may be twice as high as the IRS estimates.

...The analysis estimated that random IRS audits found taxpayers' offshore accounts just 7% of the time. Though stricter reporting requirements have cracked down on such behavior, the tactic may actually be increasing through the use of partnerships and pass-through income entities that are more difficult for the IRS to track.

"There is more revenue than you might have thought at the very top," (Daniel Reck, a professor at the London School of Economics and the paper's lead author, told the outlet) said. "What's needed is a broader strategy that involves increased scrutiny of pass-through businesses and investments in the comprehensive audits that the IRS does in its global high-wealth program."

IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig referenced the research during a congressional hearing last week and echoed Reck's call to boost funding for IRS, arguing that each additional dollar spent on enforcement could bring back up to $5 to $7 in additional revenue...

https://www.salon.com/2021/03/22/top-1-fails-to-report-over-20-of-income-using-p...

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NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES
TAX EVASION AT THE TOP OF THE INCOME DISTRIBUTION:THEORY AND EVIDENCE
John Guyton, Patrick Langetieg, Daniel Reck, Max Risch, Gabriel Zucman
Working Paper 28542
NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
March 2021 (78 p)
http://gabriel-zucman.eu/files/GLRRZ2021.pdf

No Federal Taxes for Dozens of Big, Profitable Companies
FedEx and Nike are among those found to have avoided U.S. tax liability for three straight years.
Patricia Cohen | April 2, 2021

Just as the Biden administration is pushing to raise taxes on corporations, a new study* finds that at least 55 of America’s largest paid no taxes last year on billions of dollars in profits...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/02/business/economy/zero-corporate-tax.html
____________________________________________________
*
55 Corporations Paid $0 in Federal Taxes on 2020 Profits (8 p)
Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Matthew Gardner & Steve Wamhoff | April 2, 2021

At least 55 of the largest corporations in America paid no federal corporate income taxes in their most recent fiscal year despite enjoying substantial pretax profits in the United States. This continues a decades-long trend of corporate tax avoidance by the biggest U.S. corporations, and it appears to be the product of long-standing tax breaks preserved or expanded by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) as well as the CARES Act tax breaks enacted in the spring of 2020.

The tax-avoiding companies represent various industries and collectively enjoyed almost $40.5 billion in U.S. pretax income in 2020, according to their annual financial reports. The statutory federal tax rate for corporate profits is 21 percent. The 55 corporations would have paid a collective total of $8.5 billion for the year had they paid that rate on their 2020 income. Instead, they received $3.5 billion in tax rebates.

Their total corporate tax breaks for 2020, including $8.5 billion in tax avoidance and $3.5 billion in rebates, comes to $12 billion...

https://itep.org/55-profitable-corporations-zero-corporate-tax/

Congress Can Get Donald Trump’s Tax Returns, Justice Department Rules
The Treasury Department must turn over the former president’s tax returns to a congressional committee, according to the legal opinion.
Arthur Delaney and Ryan J. Reilly | July 30, 2021

The Treasury Department must turn over copies of former President Donald Trump’s tax returns to a congressional committee, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel ruled on Friday.

The opinion reverses the Justice Department’s previous position that releasing the president’s tax returns to Congress had no “legitimate legislative purpose” and that Democrats merely wanted to embarrass the president by publicizing his private tax information...

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-tax-returns-congress_n_610437c4e4b0d1b96e65...

Judge Drops Hammer on Trump, Says 'Yes' To House Oversight Committee (HOC)

The US House should be able to access some of Donald Trump's tax records through a subpoena to his accounting firm Mazars USA, District Judge Amit Mehta ruled Wednesday.

. . .according to the judge, (the HOC) will be able to have access to documents relating to the Trump Washington D.C. hotel. That's because they have oversight of the GSA, which has entered into this lease. Documents related to the Trump organization, to the president, all related to that D.C. hotel will have to be turned over.

"In addition, the accounting firm (Mazars USA) will also have to turn over information that fit under the umbrella of emoluments," Scannell added.

So, tax records for the years Trump was in office have been cleared for examination by Congress, something Trump has fought since announcing his candidacy in 2015. The Committee is chaired by Carolyn Maloney (NY) who has extensive accomplishments on financial services and national security, among others. Prominent Dems who sit on the committee include California's Katie Porter and former the 2021 Trump Impeachment Leader, Jamie Raskin of Maryland. Two of the most infamous Republicans are also on the committee, Jim Jordan (OH) and Paul Gosar (AZ), scion of a family that despises him.

If any of the Republicans forget themselves and get rowdy, they'd be advised to remember that Chair Maloney has a first degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

The IRS failed to pursue mandatory audits of Donald Trump on a timely basis during his presidency, a congressional panel found on Tuesday, raising questions about statements by the former president and leading members of his administration who claimed he could not release his tax filings because of the ongoing reviews.{...}

"Trump tax audits required by IRS were delayed, panel says" by Josh Boak, Brian Slodysko, Lisa Mascara, and Meg Kinnard | Associated Press
https://apnews.com/article/business-donald-trump-richard-neal-c697c4e300948a9e26...

Trump loves clueless Americans. They vote for him, they send their hard-earned money his way and they pay the tax tab he doesn't pay.

>33 Molly3028: Then he uses federal taxes for his own personal and business expenses through a variety of schemes. He essentially steals from the American people every day. His supporters just want to let him keep swindling no matter what the consequences. It's almost surreal how bizarre that is.

Meanwhile, we need funding for failing systems meant to keep people alive, healthy, and sharing resources fairly. The Biden Administration, the current Congress, and various organizations with donors have been trying to catch up on fixing everything that drastically worsened under the Trump Administration

By the way,

A new $80 billion infusion of funds through the so-called Inflation Reduction Act is supposed to remedy the beleaguered agency's low staffing levels, outdated technology and host of other issues. Republicans who are poised to take control of the House in less than two weeks, however, have said they want to cut that funding.

Source: "IRS mandatory presidential audit policy goes under spotlight' by Fatima Hussein, Associated Press
https://apnews.com/article/business-donald-trump-195e3d06db7c396fea69c2111a5cb98...

Donald Trump's personal taxes for years 2015 through 2020 are supposed to be added to the public US Congressional Record today.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-tax-returns-released-public-...

Do you want to read an overview? The Ways and Means committee in the US House released a 39-page report that anyone can download.

https://waysandmeans.house.gov/sites/democrats.waysandmeans.house.gov/files/docu... (note that this is in pdf format)

Haha. The news dropped a few minutes after I posted about the tax returns.

"Trump's tax returns released by House committee after years of legal battles" | NBC News
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trumps-tax-returns-released-house-...

The officially released documents include both personal and business records.

By the way, the Ways and Means report released last week is missing Page 8. That part should be covering more of what looks suspicious about the Schedule C forms that are mentioned on Page 7. The report suggests that either large amounts of money was not reported or Trump (and his tax helpers) misidentified his hobbies as businesses.