NY Times gets Trump’s tax returns (1 Viewer)

MT15 said:

So far, the only real defense I have seen offered by Trump and surrogates is “fake news”.

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NoPartyMike said:

Is there anywhere to see the returns?

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Trump’s Taxes Show Chronic Losses and Years of Income Tax Avoidance (Published 2020)

The Times obtained Donald Trump’s tax information extending over more than two decades, revealing struggling properties, vast write-offs, an audit battle and hundreds of millions in debt coming due.

www.nytimes.com

As the president wages a re-election campaign that polls say he is in danger of losing, his finances are under stress, beset by losses and hundreds of millions of dollars in debt coming due that he has personally guaranteed. Also hanging over him is a decade-long audit battle with the Internal Revenue Service over the legitimacy of a $72.9 million tax refund that he claimed, and received, after declaring huge losses. An adverse ruling could cost him more than $100 million.

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The returns are some of the most sought-after, and speculated-about, records in recent memory. In Mr. Trump’s nearly four years in office — and across his endlessly hyped decades in the public eye — journalists, prosecutors, opposition politicians and conspiracists have, with limited success, sought to excavate the enigmas of his finances. By their very nature, the filings will leave many questions unanswered, many questioners unfulfilled. They comprise information that Mr. Trump has disclosed to the I.R.S., 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.

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Most of Mr. Trump’s core enterprises — from his constellation of golf courses to his conservative-magnet hotel in Washington — report losing millions, if not tens of millions, of dollars year after year.

His revenue from “The Apprentice” and from licensing deals is drying up, and several years ago he sold nearly all the stocks that now might have helped him plug holes in his struggling properties.

The tax audit looms.

And within the next four years, more than $300 million in loans — obligations for which he is personally responsible — will come due.

Against that backdrop, the records go much further toward revealing the actual and potential conflicts of interest created by Mr. Trump’s refusal to divest himself of his business interests while in the White House. His properties have become bazaars for collecting money directly from lobbyists, foreign officials and others seeking face time, access or favor; the records for the first time put precise dollar figures on those transactions.

At the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., a flood of new members starting in 2015 allowed him to pocket an additional $5 million a year from the business. In 2017, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association paid at least $397,602 to the Washington hotel, where the group held at least one event during its four-day World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians.

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NoPartyMike said:

Is there anywhere to see the returns?

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RobF said:

As much as the teeny tiny federal income tax payments seem to be taking the headlines, unsurprisingly since they punch a hole in any notion he's not an unsuccessful businessman, I can't help but think that the hundreds of millions of dollars in loans are the most devastating thing about the returns:

The Times reports that within the next four years, more than $300 million in loans -- for which Trump is personally responsible -- will come due. That opens the extraordinary possibility that the lenders could be called upon to decide whether to foreclose on businesses owned by the US President while he is in office if he is unable to pay the money back. Trump is therefore in danger of becoming deeply compromised.​

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I'd suggest someone with that level of debt in that position is highly compromised. Being a poor businessman who doesn't pay much in personal taxes due to his massive losses makes for a poor resumé for the role of President, but being massively in hock should be outright disqualifying.

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SaulGoodmanEsq said:

The funny thing is a person seeking a job with the federal government (bureaucrat/civil service) would be considered a security risk if they owed extensive amounts of money and, thus, would not be hired.

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zztop said:

I'm not worried about him owing hundreds of millions in loans in a couple years. Something tells me he'll get an anonymous "investor" from Russia to cover his debt

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GrandAdmiral said:

Cuomo is interviewing three accountants including a former Trump accountant. They all agree that the NYT's story is underestimating the amount of debt. All things considered (personal and otherwise), they believe it's upwards of $1 billion.

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wardorican said:

Democrats Say Trump Tax Payments Report Shows His 'Disdain' For Working Families

A New York Times story that details how little President Trump has paid in federal income taxes has handed Democrats what they hope will be a potent campaign message.

www.npr.org

Everyone talking about how little he paid, is a good sound byte, but misses the bigger point. Glad Pelosi locked in on the massive debt.

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