# Decade in the red. Trump taxes. **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 7, 2019, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decade-in-the-red-trump-taxes/833640 "2019-05-07T23:33:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2019, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decade-in-the-red-trump-taxes/833640/1 "2019-05-07T23:33:43Z")
> **[Decade in the Red: Trump Tax Figures Show Over $1 Billion in Business Losses...](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/05/07/us/politics/donald-trump-taxes.html)** > > Newly obtained tax information reveals that from 1985 to 1994, Donald J. Trump’s businesses were in far bleaker condition than was previously known. I’m sure not many of us are surprised. He’s paid very little in Federal taxes. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2019, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decade-in-the-red-trump-taxes/833640/2 "2019-05-07T23:43:10Z")
Thanks for the link. I might comment more later. It depends on the stupidity of the (posts of the :))Trump defenders. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2019, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decade-in-the-red-trump-taxes/833640/3 "2019-05-07T23:59:08Z")
President Trump is such a great businessman that he structured all his businesses to show losses to avoid paying liberal-imposed taxes. That’s what great businessmen do! #MAGA ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decade-in-the-red-trump-taxes/833640/4 "2019-05-08T00:01:15Z")
> [@](#): > > In fact, year after year, Mr. Trump appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual American taxpayer, The Times found when it compared his results with detailed information the I.R.S. compiles on an annual sampling of high-income earners. Not, wow, Trump lost a lot of money over the years. Or, whoa, he was a pretty bad businessman. Or wow, he wasn’t really all that great a deal maker. No. Donald J. Trump lost more money than practically _ **every other human being in the whole fucking United States during the “Art of the Deal Years”.** _ > [@](#): > > His core business losses in 1990 and 1991 — more than $250 million each year — were more than double those of the nearest taxpayers in the I.R.S. information for those years. And this is the CEO for America that Trump supporters thought would make a great president. I wonder if any of them would ever admit to being hoodwinked. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decade-in-the-red-trump-taxes/833640/5 "2019-05-08T00:03:15Z")
Is this a news story from 2015? Didn’t we already know this? ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decade-in-the-red-trump-taxes/833640/6 "2019-05-08T00:04:20Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Is this a news story from 2015? Didn’t we already know this? The Times story is from today. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decade-in-the-red-trump-taxes/833640/7 "2019-05-08T00:13:59Z")
Here’s a thought: the 2016 campaign was supposed to be nothing more than a tax shelter. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decade-in-the-red-trump-taxes/833640/8 "2019-05-08T00:14:26Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > The Times story is from today. Yes, talking about his taxes from 1985. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decade-in-the-red-trump-taxes/833640/9 "2019-05-08T00:19:43Z")
I recommend the most politically loyal act for any Republican is to invest in every stock the President holds. He’s a genius, you know. You’ll be rolling in money in no time. Tris ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decade-in-the-red-trump-taxes/833640/10 "2019-05-08T00:24:55Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Yes, talking about his taxes from 1985. :rolleyes: Getting upset because of a simple attempt by someone to be helpful: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: A story printed today, with new analysis, btw. > [@](#): > > Since the 2016 presidential campaign, journalists at The Times and elsewhere have been trying to piece together Mr. Trump’s complex and concealed finances. While The Times did not obtain the president’s actual tax returns, it received the information contained in the returns from someone who had legal access to it. The Times was then able to find matching results in the I.R.S. information on top earners — a publicly available database that each year comprises a one-third sampling of those taxpayers, with identifying details removed. It also confirmed significant findings using other public documents, along with confidential Trump family tax and financial records from the newspaper’s 2018 investigation into the origin of the president’s wealth. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decade-in-the-red-trump-taxes/833640/11 "2019-05-08T00:31:55Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > … Donald J. Trump lost more money than practically _ **every other human being in the whole fucking United States during the “Art of the Deal Years”.** _ … This deserves highlighting. This is another of those truths about Trump that his fans have to twist themselves into bizarre logical knots in order to defend. Factually, Trump has been—for every minute of his life—utterly dependent on being funded and bailed out by others. First (and for many years) his father; then foreign entities who saw the cash they were pouring down that particular drain as an investment in future political control of the USA. Trump is an epic, blockbuster, legendary failure. World’s worst businessman. And his defenders are chumps. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decade-in-the-red-trump-taxes/833640/12 "2019-05-08T00:46:10Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Yes, talking about his taxes from 1985. :rolleyes: It’s pretty futile trying to spin what the article is actually about since the article is right there for anyone to read, including the following intro: [Trump] has attributed his first run of reversals and bankruptcies to the recession that took hold in 1990. But 10 years of tax information obtained by The New York Times paints a different, and far bleaker, picture of his deal-making abilities and financial condition. The data — printouts from Mr. Trump’s official Internal Revenue Service tax transcripts, with the figures from his federal tax form, the 1040, for the years 1985 to 1994 — represents the fullest and most detailed look to date at the president’s taxes, information he has kept from public view. I have to say it paints a picture of such staggering business incompetence that even those familiar with his string of failed businesses and bankruptcies – not to mention outright frauds like Trump U – are probably surprised at the extent of it. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decade-in-the-red-trump-taxes/833640/13 "2019-05-08T00:54:06Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Factually, Trump has been—for every minute of his life—utterly dependent on being funded and bailed out by others. First (and for many years) his father; then foreign entities who saw the cash they were pouring down that particular drain as an investment in future political control of the USA. > > Trump is an epic, blockbuster, legendary failure. World’s worst businessman. > > And his defenders are chumps. I don’t think it’s fair to call him a business failure without knowing what he has done since those years. By many accounts, his licensing of his name has made him tons of cash, and that cannot be discounted. This doesn’t make him the “Art of the Deal” type businessman he wanted/still wants to be portrayed as, but it’s also not a failure. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decade-in-the-red-trump-taxes/833640/14 "2019-05-08T00:58:45Z")
Meanwhile, the only bad investment his father made during the same time period, was his son: “While Donald Trump reported hundreds of millions of dollars in losses for 1990 and 1991, Fred Trump’s returns showed a positive income of $53.9 million, with only one major loss: $15 million invested in his son’s latest apartment project.” ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decade-in-the-red-trump-taxes/833640/15 "2019-05-08T01:08:28Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > By many accounts, his licensing of his name has made him tons of cash, and that cannot be discounted. This doesn’t make him the “Art of the Deal” type businessman he wanted/still wants to be portrayed as, but it’s also not a failure. It probably was one of his few reliable sources of income; it’s not clear that is any more since it’s now well known that it was a deception based on two fallacious myths: one, the false myth of his alleged successes, implying great investment potential in the properties, and two, the false implication that he was personally involved in the licensed properties. In fact, most such properties turned out to be unscrupulous developments by shady enterprises that Trump later had to distance himself from by claiming (correctly, for once) that he had nothing to do with them. Some of the condo developments that were licensed that way were tremendous money losers for initial buyers, who subsequently had great difficulty unloading them, and some were the subject of lawsuits. Saying “yes, but he made money out of it” is the kind of compliment you could also pay to a pimp or a heroin dealer. ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decade-in-the-red-trump-taxes/833640/16 "2019-05-08T01:10:02Z")
So you’re saying The Big Loser couldn’t run a business to save his life, but he conned enough people to think he could that he became a success? I don’t see that pig flying with anyone outside of his cult. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decade-in-the-red-trump-taxes/833640/17 "2019-05-08T01:22:44Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > Getting upset because of a simple attempt by someone to be helpful: :rolleyes: What is “helpful” about linking to a silly article about someone’s taxes in 1985? No one, not even the IRS cares, about tax returns from 33 years ago. Should we take another look at Harry Truman’s tax returns from 1945? ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decade-in-the-red-trump-taxes/833640/18 "2019-05-08T01:28:47Z")
Remember when Romney bashed the 47% of the population that don’t pay income taxes and told us about how bad those evil, lazy people are? And remember how a lot of people agreed with him and lectured us on the importance of reforming the tax law so that everyone has “skin in the game”, no matter how poor you are? It’s funny how those people seemed to forget all about people like Trump. Why does this argument not apply to him? Why should we not view Trump as a “leech”? Why should someone who is on disability and unable to work be required to have some “skin the game”, while a guy living off his father’s inheritance can do whatever the fuck he wants? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decade-in-the-red-trump-taxes/833640/19 "2019-05-08T01:40:12Z")
> [@duality72](#): > > So you’re saying The Big Loser couldn’t run a business to save his life, but he conned enough people to think he could that he became a success? I don’t see that pig flying with anyone outside of his cult. Whether he “became a success” is arguable; he certainly didn’t become nearly as big a success as he wants people to believe, and he most definitely didn’t do it on his own. The only thing he did on his own was lose vast amounts of his daddy’s money. But as for not being able to run a business to save his life but conning people to think he could, why do you think the conman was the only presidential candidate in modern times to refuse to release his tax returns, and even now is fighting a vigorous court battle to keep the remaining ones secret? ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decade-in-the-red-trump-taxes/833640/20 "2019-05-08T01:41:31Z")
At least a decade in the red, and no one forecloses? Can nobody see through the Emperor’s new clothes? :rolleyes: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decade-in-the-red-trump-taxes/833640.md?page=2)