Tag: Trump not the successful businessman he wants people to think he is

How Trump used the U.S. tax code to his benefit in three ways

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On Sunday, the New York Times reported it had obtained nearly two decades’ worth of President Trump’s tax information. Since then, most public attention has focused on what the Times reported about Trump’s federal income tax payments: He paid just $750 for the year in 2016, and then another $750 for 2017.

But the Times story also revealed three arrangements in which Trump’s company used the U.S. tax code to its benefit — to lower Trump’s taxes, or to make the IRS refund tens of millions in taxes he had already paid.

In these three cases, tax law experts say, Trump’s company ventured into complex legal territory — areas in which other companies have faced penalties for stretching the rules too far. Both the Trump Organization and the IRS did not respond to requests for comment. Continue reading.

How Reality-TV Fame Handed Trump a $427 Million Lifeline

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Tax records show that “The Apprentice” rescued Donald J. Trump, bringing him new sources of cash and a myth that would propel him to the White House.

From the back seat of a stretch limousine heading to meet the first contestants for his new TV show “The Apprentice,” Donald J. Trump bragged that he was a billionaire who had overcome financial hardship.

“I used my brain, I used my negotiating skills and I worked it all out,” he told viewers. “Now, my company is bigger than it ever was and stronger than it ever was.”

It was all a hoax.

Months after that inaugural episode in January 2004, Mr. Trump filed his individual tax return reporting $89.9 million in net losses from his core businesses for the prior year. The red ink spilled from everywhere, even as American television audiences saw him as a savvy business mogul with the Midas touch. Continue reading.