No one other than Trump and close advisers probably know his real net worth–and even they may only have a “rough idea.”
Trump could definitely provide more proof than he has, but we do know Trump has a few billion in assets in terms of real estate that we know he owns. What we don’t know is how much debt he has, and we have no idea how much he “really makes” each year or how much he “makes in reported taxable income.”
Trump’s personal finances are extremely convoluted, he owns something like 500 corporate entities. I don’t know Bill Gate’s finances but I’d be surprised if he owned 100 corporate entities. AFAIK Gates when he left Microsoft and slowly sold off his Microsoft stock he put the vast majority of it in a single company through which all of his investments are ran, so it’s possible Gates, someone worth far more than Trump, might “only” own on paper 5-10 corporate entities.
The high complexity of Trump’s finances would make it very hard for anyone without full access to all of is corporate and personal financial records to know. Trump also commingles personal and business assets and income pretty freely. He was known to do so (to the limits, and possibly beyond) of what was proper in his role as CEO of a publicly traded company, and private companies which are much less regulated he probably does it far more. So we know a Trump owned entity owns x $500m building in Manhattan. What portion of that entity does Trump own personally? Does that entity have debts out against the value of the building?
Keep in mind with capital gains like real estate, Trump reports no income and pays no income until “realizing” those gains. So some NYC properties he’s owned for decades undoubtedly are worth far more, because NYC’s real estate market has been red hot for ages. But until he sold them there’d be no reported income and no tax liability change. The property tax would go up during assessments, though.
I think it’s proven he owns around $3bn in real estate assets, so he potentially is worth $3-4bn like Forbes says. But without knowing how much debt Donald is swimming in we don’t really have a clear picture. He could actually have a very low net worth (sub $100m) but still have $4-5bn in assets and access to a lot of “cash flow” through various means that would enable him to live the lifestyle of someone with a net worth of 3-4bn. In fact debt in general allows you to live beyond what you could on your income alone, at least for a time.
Trump does some things that are very un-frugal, like maintaining a private 737, helicopter, several residences. His Trump Tower property tax bill alone for his penthouse residence is probably millions a year.
But we also know Trump plays pretty dirty with all types of taxes. He routinely reports to taxing authorities that properties that are demonstrably worth tens of millions are worth only 3% of that (like his Westchester Golf Course, reported to tax authorities as worth under $2m but reported to the public at large as worth $50m to boost his prestige.) In that case, given the value of land alone in that location, the $2m valuation is nothing but pure fiction designed to lower his tax bill.
That being said, he (or you) can tell the government a property is worth anything you want, but they don’t have to agree with you. However Trump and his father basically made their careers out of a sort of government capitalism, in which they used political and government sweetheart deals, connections, and special treatment to be able to invest in property in a way that is virtually risk free (and unavailable to regular investors.) There have been many years in which the Trumps were the largest donors to New York City politics, and they’ve used those connections pretty extensively in their business dealings. So it’s entirely possible that Trump is actually being taxed on some of his ludicrously low valuation claims, and thus paying even well below his share on property tax.
