Tag

#taxes

2 incidents

Outside the grading scale: Pre-Office Conduct

Fred Trump's Fortune: Suspect Tax Schemes Moved at Least $413 Million to Donald Trump

According to the New York Times, Donald Trump and his siblings set up All County Building Supply & Maintenance in 1992, which siphoned millions from Fred Trump's buildings by marking up purchases, and the family dodged hundreds of millions in gift taxes by declaring buildings transferred to the children worth just $41.4 million; they sold over the next decade for more than 16 times that. The criminal statute of limitations had long passed; civil penalties for fraud have no time limit. The state Tax Department said it was reviewing the allegations. No outcome of that review has been published.

Outside the grading scale: Pre-Office Conduct

Tax Returns Investigation: $1 Billion in Losses, Tax Avoidance Schemes Documented

The 2019 NYT investigation used IRS data from 1985-1994, finding Trump declared $1.17 billion in losses — an average of $117 million per year — largely from casino and real estate failures. The losses were so large that Trump paid no income tax in eight of the ten years. The 2020 investigation of complete tax returns found Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and $750 in 2017 through aggressive deductions, carried-forward losses, and tax credits. Trump had for decades refused to release his tax returns, claiming he was under IRS audit. He remained the only presidential candidate in modern history to refuse release until his returns were eventually obtained by courts after litigation.