I know Trump has refused to release his tax returns, giving the fact that the returns are being audited as his justification.
I have assumed that these are his personal returns. What about the Trump Organization tax returns? I assume these have not be released, either. Are the company returns also being audited by the IRS?
What is the relationship between the TO financials and Don the Con’s personal financials? I know that some people receive investment income (for reasons that currently escape me) that is not subject to taxes. Does that apply to income from real estate investments, too?
I’m just trying to visualize how all this ties together. I’m self-employed, so my business income is reported on Schedule C, which is of course port of my personal return. But I have to imagine that TO is incorporated, which would require a corporate tax return. If that’s the case, wouldn’t his personal return show income from salary and dividends from TO, as well as interest/dividends/other investment income from holdings held by him personally as opposed to those held by TO? Wouldn’t his personal returns therefore be relatively straightforward?
What returns are he refusing to release? Personal? Trump Organization? Both? Has anyone ever said, “OK, so you don’t want to release your personal returns. Then release the TO returns.”?
I’m going to guess either one would reveal something unsavoury. Like he’s not a gajillionaire, as he claims, or he’s not quite successful financially, or like he hasn’t paid a nickel in taxes in years, or he’s walking a fine line on tax fraud perhaps?
Something I read said that Trump has over 500 entities reported on his return - partnerships, corporations, etc. So he could in theory be releasing many of those returns if he wanted to. According to him, he’s the main or sole owner of many of them.
My guess is that many of his organizations are audited. The IRS will often do that. An audit might start with a personal return. When they see a partnership on it, they’ll expand the audit to include the partnership. I’ll emphasize that they can. It’s not guaranteed or required, but for someone like Trump, there won’t be much to audit unless you look at some of the business entities.
One of the things I expect to see there: a disclosure on form 8275 that Trump University is facing fraud charges and that if he’s found guilty, the expenses related to TU will be non-deductible on his tax return. This wouldn’t be the same as an admission of guilt - the accountants are disclosing tax positions that might not be upheld under audit - but the press would have a field day with it. (And rightly so, in my opinion).
I also expect we’ll see substantial foreign investments, perhaps even some that he’s failed to report. Changes to foreign account reporting have generated billions in additional tax collections in the last five years or so.
When Trump agreed to be the subject of a Comedy Central Roast the only subject he made off limits were suggestions that he wasn’t as rich as he claimed. They could call him a slum lord who was prejudiced against black people. They could joke about his creepy obsession with his daughter’s looks. They could joke about his infidelity and dumping wives for younger models. And his hair of course. They couldn’t say he was worth three billion instead of 10. Trump has sued when it was suggested that he was rich but not super rich.
It is my feeling that he does not want people to see proof that he is not a multi-billionaire. His entire empire is based on the notion that he is wealth and opulence personified. If he is not worth much more than what he inherited from his father it would damage his ongoing con. Tax returns will not give the full picture of net worth but it will give some clues. And it probably shows he gave little or nothing to charity.
So what’s the Trump Organization? Somehow I assumed that nearly all of his holdings were part of a single entity – the Trump Organization. Sort of like how Birds Eye, Mrs. Paul’s, Aunt Jemima, Duncan Hines, Vlasic, etc., etc. are all part of Pinnacle Foods. How many of his entities are part of the Trump Organization?
It seems to me that having all (or nearly all) of his holdings under one umbrella corporation would have several advantages. What are the advantages to having them as separate entities?
Mark Cuban has said a similar thing. Mark has said that Trumps real net worth was something less than 200 million. Rich of course, but a long way from the muiti-billionaire he claims to be. This was about the time Trump was bragging about being able to finance his own campaign. Cuban pointed out that he lacked the financial strength to do so.
That isn’t the link I was looking for though. The one I was looking for had a bit about Trump threatening to sue Cuban for saying that, to which Cuban responded that he would bring Trump’s claim of wealth into evidence and perhaps the world would see the truth about his wealth. That was the end of the lawsuit talk.
I’m not sure of the details so I shouldn’t speculate too much in terms of Trump specifically.
In a general sense, it’s not uncommon to find situations where tax advantages are available only if you meet certain criteria. If you only have one entity, you just have to deal with the consequences of laws in various areas. If you set up new entities for each activity, then you can tailor them to take maximum advantage of the laws.
Most of Trumps wealth is in the form of land and properties, basically his New York properties, his Golf courses etc…
Land values tend to fluctuate, Trump is hardly the only property magnet whose actual worth is very difficult to estimate. Mark Cuban’s estimate is clearly bullshit, but Trump’s own estimate are extremely generous as well.
In assets, perhaps. But net worth nets out debt. And we have no way of knowing his debt levels, though his tax returns might shed light on that issue. Admittedly, there’s the Deutsche Bank estimate from the middle of last decade that could be worked with.
You can’t possibly KNOW that. You know his name’s on lots of property. Period. Whether or not he owns controlling shares you can’t know. Whether or not the mortgagers actually own the property you, again can’t possibly know. His name is on a lot of things that he no longer has the slightest association with, so making such an assumption is kinda silly.
So please, provide us a cite that shows he’s actually a billionaire.
(His estimation of being a billionaire rests heavy on how highly he values the Trump name. Calling it his brand, HE values it in the billions. Ergo he’s a billionaire! )
How much of those properties does he actually own? It is well known that he lends his name to projects for some consideration but no control. That’s why he estimates his name alone is worth 3 billion. Of the properties he does own partially or completely how much does he owe? Forbes does estimate his worth to be in the low billions but there is a good chance it isn’t even that. His illusion might collapse if he lets out the real numbers. I’ve seen it stated that if he took the millions he inherited from his father and put it in the S&P 500 he would have about 8 billion now. Having considerably less than that shows that the idea of letting a great businessman have a try at the whitehouse is also an illusion.