We have done nothing to influence our home assessment but I know it’s undervalued. We made a number of internal improvements that would make our home a lot more valuable than it is assessed at. These aren’t shenanigans on out part; we’re not obligated to inform the county of these things and I don’t know how to if we wanted to (or if it’s even possible).
I also seem to recall Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and hatchet man, testifying to Congress that this is exactly what happened along with names of people who had the specifics.
At a minimum, it’s gonna come out that the orange one is not a billionaire, and he’s prolly not much of a millionaire once debts and assets are ledgered out. His followers can put up with a lot of shit, but not that he’s basically bankrupt.
What was it that Al Capone actually went to jail for? It’s on the tip of my tongue, was it murder, extortion, fraud, hmmmmm?
Any negative information about Trump will be explained away as either “fake news” or part of the deep state conspiracy. Some of his followers will never be able to see him for what he really is even if the evidence is overwhelming.
Regarding the title of this thread…and the many variations of it we have seen over the years-Get back to me when it actually happens.
It will happen. I have a question- the AG is going to get all of the tax documents. If they show as we suspect that they were fraudulent, does the accountant have any liability? Don’t they have an obligation to say “what you’re asking us to do is illegal?” Not to take Donnie off the hook, he’s probably guilty as sin. But aren’t the accountants equally guilty? And if so, will they release anything that incriminates them?
Accounting firm could take a plea deal to testify against trump
In Ohio (at least), real estate developers, including home builders, are responsible for reporting to the taxing agent how much they spent on each property, which gives the Auditor a beginning value to tax. For this reason, savvy developers liberally grease the palms of politicians from both parties to ensure that the Auditor will turn a blind eye when they under-report the value of properties that will be occupied by their family/friends/political allies, resulting in favorable property tax assessments.
In 1990, the Hamilton Co (Ohio) auditor got a slap on the wrist when they were converting from paper to digital records, and it was discovered that “FOJ” was written on some of the tax forms. Turns out that if you were a “Friend of Joe” (Decourcy, the Auditor), you enjoyed a really sweet discount on your assessed value, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost property tax revenue.
He was sentenced to 6 months in jail, but it was waived. He was probably a friend of the judge.
In addition to the questions raised about how Trump was able to influence his property tax assessments, my question is why the various lenders and such wouldn’t have asked for the tax returns themselves before lending him money, if they contained information which could verify or contradict what he was telling them. Certainly requesting tax returns is SOP for lenders who have much less at stake.
This is not to say that he didn’t play some sort of shenanigans with his property values, but only to question whether that’s something you can get from his tax returns.
The source for the claim that Trump gave different values for his property for different purposes is apparently Michael Cohen, and Michael Cohen himself gave a different reason for Trump’s reluctance to release his tax forms. (He said Trump is afraid that they will be picked apart and challenged.)
ISTM that Vance et al are looking to investigate every angle of Trump’s finances, and it’s hard to tell what specifically they can get from his tax returns specifically. But I imagine it will be of interest to them, one way or another.
Thanks for that info. I had no idea. I guess I’m naive.
This is where I’m at. Trump (and rich, connected people in general) are able to skate by and delay delay delay. If the defense has enough resources then it can likely create enough of a doubt to escape conviction. I also wonder if Trump has greased enough NYC palms over the years that there’s quietly some push-back on any investigation.
it is my understanding, they are handing over more than the tax returns. any and all of the “show your work” must be handed over.
an example would be on a tax return a number is on the page for valuation. the “show your work” papers would give details on how and who came up with that number.
thankfully with the technology we have now, they can get through all of the multitude of data and page more easily.
What I saw on MSNBC last night was that the total amount of records involved is over a terabyte of data, and represents over a million pages of documents.
ms maddow in particular, had on guests that really explained the procedure very well.
the “show your work” is going to be quite the gold mine.
Just what I was going to add. Maddow interviewed Susanne Craig, one of the NTY reporters who have been covering this story. Craig stated that eight years’ worth of returns and all supporting documents would be turned over to the DA’s office.
If you’re interested, you can watch the Maddow’s show here. The interview with Craig starts at the 18:32 mark and goes until 26:55.
ISTR reading in the last couple/few days that [someone] estimates Trump is worth $2.5 billion. Still a billionaire, but he’s not worth the $10 billion he claimed. I don’t recall the article, but I think that $2.5 billion might be before he pays his debts. (If he were to pay debts.)
Oops. Should be NYT.
As you say, the lenders want to see his tax returns, so they do contain information that would allow those lenders to assess the value of his properties.
The problem is, is that the lenders don’t get them from the IRS, they get them from him. So, all they really have to do is to look at the returns given to the lenders, and then at the ones given to the IRS, and that will easily show any discrepancies between what he claimed to the banks and to the govt.
By what measure would he delay?
Appeal? You can’t appeal a SCOTUS ruling.
Getting the head of the IRS to refuse the order? The head of the IRS is no longer serving at his privilege.
I doubt that it goes to a jury trial. If he has two sets of books, then that’s pretty damning, and his best bet is to take a plea.
You know who also has lots of resources? The state. You know who else? Banks who he has defrauded.
Rich people don’t get in trouble when they steal from the poor. They do get in trouble when they steal from the rich.
Anyone that he has bribed must know that there will be no more bribes coming, while NYC is full of others who will be happy to grease some palms to make sure he goes down.
should this come down to serious charges, i’m sure that the lawyers would want trump to go with a deal. i’m thinking that trump believes he can charm any jury and want the trial. should be interesting to see who he has as lawyers and how many he goes through.
They will if it goes to a trial. If the grand jury declines to recommend or Vance decline to prosecute, then no.