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Monday, September 28, 2020
Before his election as president of the United States, Donald Trump worked in the real estate business and said he was very successful. Yet according to a newspaper report, he is said to have paid far less dollars to tax authorities than the average American wage earner.
Just over a month before the US presidential election, an explosive report in the New York Times raises questions about incumbent Donald Trump’s finances. The newspaper writes, among other things, that the US President only paid $ 750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017. Trump called the report “total fake news.” You will publish your tax returns when the IRS audit is complete, which has been ongoing for years. “The IRS does not treat me well. They treat me very badly,” said the president of the United States.
According to its own statements, the “New York Times” obtained access to tax documents of Trump and hundreds of companies in his group of companies for more than two decades. This shows, among other things, that Trump had not paid any income taxes in 10 of the 15 years prior to 2016, given the high reported losses, the newspaper wrote. Trump said: “I have paid a lot, I have also paid a lot of taxes to the state, New York state charges a lot.”
Trump had not released his tax return in the 2016 presidential election campaign, even with reference to the ongoing IRS audit. “Everything will be published, everything will come out, but after the exam.” The negotiations take a long time and things are clear. The IRS itself emphasizes that ongoing auditing does not get in the way of publications.
The president is currently defending himself in a New York court against an attempt by Manhattan prosecutors to access his private financial records. According to the New York Times, an IRS investigation reveals a $ 72.9 million tax credit he received after claiming large losses.
Wasn’t Trump so successful after all?
The detailed “New York Times” report with many accurate figures could at the same time increase political pressure on Trump to provide the public with information about his finances. The documents show, among other things, that he is personally liable for debts of $ 421 million, of which more than $ 300 million would expire in the next four years, the newspaper wrote.
For Trump, the post also raises an image problem. For years he has presented himself as a successful and skilled businessman. General accusations that he pays too little taxes haven’t hurt him so far. When then-opposition candidate Hillary Clinton pointed out her low tax payments in the 2016 election campaign, she chimed in that it proved she was “smart.” The figures published by the “New York Times” list losses that could not only be explained by the minimization of taxes, but also by the bad economic activity.
According to the report, an extremely successful Trump venture was the television show “The Apprentice,” which has brought him a total of $ 427.4 million over the years. However, numerous hotels and golf courses in Trump would have reported heavy losses.
A lot of money for hairstyles and makeup
The report’s detail that Trump had more than $ 70,000 in haircut tax deducted during the days of “The Apprentice” sparked ridicule on the Internet. For his daughter Ivanka, nine Trump companies had deducted costs of $ 95,464 for hairstyles and makeup.
Democrats quickly picked up the report on the campaign trail. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi called for clarity on Trump’s tax payments. Kate Bedingfield, campaign manager for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, told CNN that the report reinforced the impression that Trump is looking down on workers. Biden’s campaign team quickly began selling stickers on her side that read, “I paid more income tax than Donald Trump.” The report also opens up a new target for Biden in the first presidential debate on Wednesday night.
The “New York Times” did not publish any original documents, explaining that it wanted to protect its sources. That would be a legitimate precaution: for example, printed documents may contain digital watermarks that are invisible to the human eye and that are assigned to a specific printer.
