BRKG NYT Publishes 10,000 Word Summary Of 20 Years Of Trump Tax Returns; President Calls It "Totally Fake News"

[Plain Jane]

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NYT Publishes 10,000 Word Summary Of 20 Years Of Trump Tax Returns; President Calls It "Totally Fake News"

by Tyler Durden
Sun, 09/27/2020 - 18:41
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With the news and outrage cycle in need of a fresh Trump reset now that the first presidential debate is just two days away, on Sunday afternoon - almost exactly two years after the NYT first published a report alleging how Trump "engaged in suspect tax schemes as he reaped riches from his father", the NYT published what to many anti-Trumpers is the holy grail of Trump bomshells: a 10,000+ word summary of more than two decades of Trump tax documents which reveal that the president paid no income taxes for 10 of the 15 years before he was elected president, with his income tax payments in 2016 and 2017 amounting to just $750. The reason, as was already largely known, Trump had generated nearly $1 billion in casino-linked losses in the 1990s and onward (incidentally, loss carryfowards or NOLs are perfectly acceptable and legal instrument which anyone can apply against future income) and which offset much of the money that he made.
The NYT also claims the documents show Trump losing millions of dollars from his golf courses, "vast write-offs, an audit battle and hundreds of millions in debt coming due" and that Trump earned $73 million abroad.
Combined, Trump initially paid almost $95 million in federal income taxes over the 18 years. He later managed to recoup most of that money, with interest, by applying for and receiving a $72.9 million tax refund, starting in 2010.

“The Apprentice,” along with the licensing and endorsement deals that flowed from his expanding celebrity, brought Mr. Trump a total of $427.4 million, The Times’s analysis of the records found. He invested much of that in a collection of businesses, mostly golf courses, that in the years since have steadily devoured cash — much as the money he secretly received from his father financed a spree of quixotic overspending that led to his collapse in the early 1990s.

The NYT report focuses closely on the specifics of the $73 million refund:

A large refund has been crucial to his tax avoidance.
Mr. Trump did face large tax bills after the initial success of “The Apprentice” television show, but he erased most of these tax payments through a refund. Combined, Mr. Trump initially paid almost $95 million in federal income taxes over the 18 years. He later managed to recoup most of that money, with interest, by applying for and receiving a $72.9 million tax refund, starting in 2010. The refund reduced his total federal income tax bill between 2000 and 2017 to an annual average of $1.4 million. By comparison, the average American in the top .001 percent of earners paid about $25 million in federal income taxes each year over the same span.
The $72.9 million refund has since become the subject of a long-running battle with the I.R.S.
When applying for the refund, he cited a giant financial loss that may be related to the failure of his Atlantic City casinos. Publicly, he also claimed that he had fully surrendered his stake in the casinos. But the real story may be different from the one he told. Federal law holds that investors can claim a total loss on an investment, as Mr. Trump did, only if they receive nothing in return. Mr. Trump did appear to receive something in return: 5 percent of the new casino company that formed when he renounced his stake. In 2011, the I.R.S. began an audit reviewing the legitimacy of the refund. Almost a decade later, the case remains unresolved, for unknown reasons, and could ultimately end up in federal court, where it could become a matter of public record.

A visual summary prepared by the NYT of Trump's profit and losses is shown below:

One argument made by the NYT is that by the time Mr. Trump announced his candidacy in 2015, "his revenue streams from “The Apprentice” and licensing were drying up", his "proceeds from fame continued to tumble, falling below $10 million in 2017 and to $2.9 million in 2018" and Trump "was in need of financial reinvigoration." This is where the idea to run for president came form.


The question then is, since there appears to be no discovery of legal malfeasance, did Trump's businesses benefit from the presidency which the NYT responds affirmatively "in some respects" pointing to the flood of new members in Mar a Lago "starting in 2015 allowed him to pocket millions more dollars a year from the business."
And without a blockbuster "gotcha" that would confirm that Trump had violated the law, the NYT simply concludes by noting that "in the end the financial picture for Mr. Trump is fraught" and that "as he approaches one of the most consequential elections in American history — down in most polls, under I.R.S. audit and heavily in debt — his businesses may not be well equipped to navigate what lies ahead."
While notable, and hardly unique to just the president, this is probably not the damning climax so many in the anti-Trump field were expecting in the 4-year-long crusade to get Trump's tax returns. Oh yes, and then there is the audit, the same audit Trump has said prevents him from publishing his tax filings:

Hanging over his head is the audit. Should the I.R.S. reverse the huge refund he received 10 years ago, Mr. Trump could be on the hook for more than $100 million.

Since the question of where all this information came from will likely be scrutinized, the NYT noted that "all of the information The Times obtained was provided by sources with legal access to it" adding that "while most of the tax data has not previously been made public, The Times was able to verify portions of it by comparing it with publicly available information and confidential records previously obtained by The Times."

Those arguing that the report may paint a one-sided picture of Trump's tax returns will be out of luck hoping that the NYT would publish the source data:

"We are not making [Trump’s tax] records themselves public because we do not want to jeopardize our sources, who have taken enormous personal risks to help inform the public."

The article also admits “the filings will leave many questions unanswered, many questioners unfulfilled,” and also kills off the idea that President Trump’s finances were somehow linked to Russia. The piece reads: “Nor do [the tax returns] reveal any previously unreported connections to Russia.”



Of course, to the rabid Russian conspiracy theorists, not even this admission will suffice as Matt Taibbi put it succinctly:



For those pressed for time, here is a recap of the key revelations in the NYT article, which the NYT recapped in a separate article:

• Mr. Trump paid no federal income taxes in 11 of 18 years that The Times examined. In 2017, after he became president, his tax bill was only $750.
• He has reduced his tax bill with questionable measures, including a $72.9 million tax refund that is the subject of an audit by the Internal Revenue Service.
• Many of his signature businesses, including his golf courses, report losing large amounts of money — losses that have helped him to lower his taxes.
• The financial pressure on him is increasing as hundreds of millions of dollars in loans he personally guaranteed are soon coming due.
• Even while declaring losses, he has managed to enjoy a lavish lifestyle by taking tax deductions on what most people would consider personal expenses, including residences, aircraft and $70,000 in hairstyling for television.
• Ivanka Trump, while working as an employee of the Trump Organization, appears to have received “consulting fees” that also helped reduce the family’s tax bill.
• As president, he has received more money from foreign sources and U.S. interest groups than previously known. The records do not reveal any previously unreported connections to Russia.

While the media will be going through all of these revelations with a fine-toothed comb, it's also notable what the report fails to show: unless the NYT has saved the kicker for a subsequent article, "there appears to be no wrongdoing, no Russia ties, and nothing of substance beyond what most corporations do", as the National Pulse's Raheem Kassam writes.

Also of note, the New York Times failed to include the details of the returns in its reporting, admitting in its own article: “The Times declined to provide the records, in order to protect its sources.”

When asked during a Sunday news conference about the NYT revelations, Trump called the central claim the NYT makes – that he only paid $750.00 in federal income taxes – "fake news."

In a statement to The Times, Trump Organization lawyer Alan Garten said "most, if not all, of the facts appear to be inaccurate” and reportedly took issue with the amount of taxes Trump has paid: "Over the past decade, President Trump has paid tens of millions of dollars in personal taxes to the federal government, including paying millions in personal taxes since announcing his candidacy in 2015."

 

[Macgyver]

Where did they get the info from? Tax records are not public.

Edit to add.
Did they just make everything up?

 

[Plain Jane]

I think that the lawsuit to release the tax returns is in NYC. Is it possible that Cyrus Vance (SDNY) had something to do with this?

 

[bw]

Did I miss the walls closing in? Did we get through that whole article without the walls closing in? Aren't the walls supposed to be closing in? Isn't closing-in walls the whole purpose of this? Did someone miss a golden opportunity? Do I give a rip?

 

[The Hammer]

Very rich people paying very little in tax is not illegal and actually not uncommon, if they are able to use large enough business losses to create net operating losses that they can use year after year to offset or eliminate taxable income. I suspect this is what Trump has done, though if he's under audit, we'll see if there's anything actually untoward. An IRS audit does not automatically mean the taxpayer is at fault for anything.

But leftists don't care about actual analysis. They'll just whine and scream like they do about everything else.

And this coming out two days before the first debate is, like, totally obvious, dude...

 

[wait-n-see]

the most important part of the OP is:

"While the media will be going through all of these revelations with a fine-toothed comb, it's also notable what the report fails to show: unless the NYT has saved the kicker for a subsequent article, "there appears to be no wrongdoing, no Russia ties, and nothing of substance beyond what most corporations do", as the National Pulse's Raheem Kassam writes. "


It is 100% BS news attempting to smear Trump with innuendo since they have no evidence of any wrong doing at all. The classic tactic of throwing a ton of so much crap out there that people don't even bother reading it and instead just live off the headlines.


TRUMP 2020

 

[Plain Jane]

It is 100% BS news attempting to smear Trump with innuendo since they have no evidence of any wrong doing at all. The classic tactic of throwing a ton of so much crap out there that people don't even bother reading it and instead just live off the headlines.

Plus, I wonder if this is a distraction from something else.

 

[West]

Income taxes is a racket anyway, our founders would not even recognize what's left of our Republic today and would see the BS the whole above piece is for what it's worth.

It's not what Trump has paid income taxes or not and what he got back from the scam to begin with.

He's done more for creating jobs and has developed more things and more riches for more people's than most. And he's criticized for it. Shame. As a individual he's done better than most.

 

[night driver]

Where did they get the info from? Tax records are not public.

Edit to add.
Did they just make everything up?

Well HIS are. Court ordered release.

And yeah Cy Vance II is up to his pencil neck in it.

 

[Knoxville's Joker]

so in other words the liberal attacks have made things such that he does not have to pay ANY taxes, because THEY attacked him...

 

[night driver]

I see two issues here.

FIRST, if the Times isn't paying TOP DOLLAR for their tax accountants and analysis these returns will be virtually indecipherable. If you aren't an EXPERIENCED Corporate CPA you are gonna get lost.

And SECOND, an appreciable percentages of IRS Audits result in a check being cut to the person/entity being audited. Friend of mine worked for the IRS and his comment is that they WANT you to use all of the "loopholes" and "accounting tricks" because they want you to get back or protect everything you can. They REALLY only want what the law says is theirs.

ANd I'm sure West won't believe that but, well, it is what it is.

 

[day late]

My wife was watching CNN earlier. One of the libs I can't stand the most, James Carville, came on and said that the NYT piece was just a re-hash of false claims made earlier. He ADMITTED that and then went on to say that Pres. Trump was in deep trouble because of what was written. A finer example of TDS would be hard to find.

 

[day late]

Did I miss the walls closing in? Did we get through that whole article without the walls closing in? Aren't the walls supposed to be closing in? Isn't closing-in walls the whole purpose of this? Did someone miss a golden opportunity? Do I give a rip?

Oh come on now. We've seen this before. It's supposed to be "bombshell, bombshell, BOMBSHELL!!!

 

[night driver]

ANd just for the record (you can see that 2 of these were screwed by the court:

Taxpayer Bill of Rights | Internal Revenue Service

Learn about the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Every taxpayer has a set of fundamental rights with the IRS. Explore your rights and our obligations to protect them.

www.irs.gov

Each and every taxpayer has a set of fundamental rights they should be aware of when dealing with the IRS. Explore your rights and our obligations to protect them.
The Right to Be Informed
The Right to Quality Service
The Right to Pay No More than the Correct Amount of Tax
The Right to Challenge the IRS’s Position and Be Heard
The Right to Appeal an IRS Decision in an Independent Forum
The Right to Finality
The Right to Privacy
The Right to Confidentiality
The Right to Retain Representation
The Right to a Fair and Just Tax System

The Right to Be Informed
Taxpayers have the right to know what they need to do to comply with the tax laws. They are entitled to clear explanations of the laws and IRS procedures in all tax forms, instructions, publications, notices, and correspondence. They have the right to be informed of IRS decisions about their tax accounts and to receive clear explanations of the outcomes.
Learn more about your right to be informed.
Back to Top
The Right to Quality Service
Taxpayers have the right to receive prompt, courteous, and professional assistance in their dealings with the IRS, to be spoken to in a way they can easily understand, to receive clear and easily understandable communications from the IRS, and to speak to a supervisor about inadequate service.
Learn more about your right to quality service.
Back to Top
The Right to Pay No More than the Correct Amount of Tax
Taxpayers have the right to pay only the amount of tax legally due, including interest and penalties, and to have the IRS apply all tax payments properly.

Learn more about your right to pay no more than the correct amount of tax.
Back to Top
The Right to Challenge the IRS’s Position and Be Heard
Taxpayers have the right to raise objections and provide additional documentation in response to formal IRS actions or proposed actions, to expect that the IRS will consider their timely objections and documentation promptly and fairly, and to receive a response if the IRS does not agree with their position.
Learn more about your right to challenge the IRS’s position and be heard.
Back to Top
The Right to Appeal an IRS Decision in an Independent Forum
Taxpayers are entitled to a fair and impartial administrative appeal of most IRS decisions, including many penalties, and have the right to receive a written response regarding the Office of Appeals’ decision. Taxpayers generally have the right to take their cases to court.
Learn more about your right to appeal an IRS decision in an independent forum.
Back to Top
The Right to Finality
Taxpayers have the right to know the maximum amount of time they have to challenge the IRS’s position as well as the maximum amount of time the IRS has to audit a particular tax year or collect a tax debt. Taxpayers have the right to know when the IRS has finished an audit.
Learn more about your right to finality.
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The Right to Privacy
Taxpayers have the right to expect that any IRS inquiry, examination, or enforcement action will comply with the law and be no more intrusive than necessary, and will respect all due process rights, including search and seizure protections and will provide, where applicable, a collection due process hearing.
Learn more about your right to privacy.
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The Right to Confidentiality
Taxpayers have the right to expect that any information they provide to the IRS will not be disclosed unless authorized by the taxpayer or by law. Taxpayers have the right to expect appropriate action will be taken against employees, return preparers, and others who wrongfully use or disclose taxpayer return information.
Learn more about your right to confidentiality.
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The Right to Retain Representation
Taxpayers have the right to retain an authorized representative of their choice to represent them in their dealings with the IRS. Taxpayers have the right to seek assistance from a Low Income Taxpayer Clinic if they cannot afford representation.
Learn more about your right to retain representation.
Back to Top
The Right to a Fair and Just Tax System
Taxpayers have the right to expect the tax system to consider facts and circumstances that might affect their underlying liabilities, ability to pay, or ability to provide information timely. Taxpayers have the right to receive assistance from the Taxpayer Advocate Service if they are experiencing financial difficulty or if the IRS has not resolved their tax issues properly and timely through its normal channels.
Learn more about your right to a fair and just tax system.

 

[Macgyver]

Well HIS are. Court ordered release.

And yeah Cy Vance II is up to his pencil neck in it.

Not to the media.

 

[Night Breeze]

Why doesn't that rag of a paper compare by percentage how well Obama and Clinton did after being elected President. I think both were tons of money better off when they left office as opposed to when they entered. I guess that wouldn't fly very well if the truth was told. I figure as rich as Trump was prior to his election he is making peanuts now while doing the peoples business. Not so with Clinton or Obama who came out really rich.

 

[Doc1]

I hope you all remember that the NYT and virtually all of the media was amazingly incurious about Obama's tax returns or virtually anything else in his past.

Best
Doc

 

[intothatgoodnight]

Well HIS are. Court ordered release.

And yeah Cy Vance II is up to his pencil neck in it.

Hmmmm - time to release several of the key communist player's tax returns - goose, gander, and all of that.


intothegoodnight

 

[Plain Jane]

It does make me wonder if President Trump has anything ready for retaliation...

 

[intothatgoodnight]

I see two issues here.

FIRST, if the Times isn't paying TOP DOLLAR for their tax accountants and analysis these returns will be virtually indecipherable. If you aren't an EXPERIENCED Corporate CPA you are gonna get lost.

And SECOND, an appreciable percentages of IRS Audits result in a check being cut to the person/entity being audited. Friend of mine worked for the IRS and his comment is that they WANT you to use all of the "loopholes" and "accounting tricks" because they want you to get back or protect everything you can. They REALLY only want what the law says is theirs.

ANd I'm sure West won't believe that but, well, it is what it is.

And, then there are the "questionable" IRS audit witch-hunts that cost individual targeted victims tens/hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend against, and YEARS to litigate.

You consulting for the IRS, Chuck - beating the "IRS-are-caring-people" drum a bit loudly, I would say . . . never personally tangled with their amoral/unethical and determined backfield, before?


intothegoodnight

 

[nehimama]

Enlighten me, please? I just do not understand why ANYONE would or should give a $#!t about the President's tax returns?

 

[et2]

How many times have the banks been bailed out... financial institutions ... large corporations... cities ... towns ... politicians. The rich dodging taxes is nothing new, even Warren Buffet told us this. The money game is played by the elite ... Including the jackasses trying to take Trump out with their BS.

But don’t ask Joe about Burisma or China. These people in government steal and make deals with foreign countries making billions and have the gall to point fingers at someone else. Look at the money Hillary got, Bill, Pelosi ... all these politicians are living lives we couldn’t dream of ...off our backs and tax dollars. They then want to tell us how to live our lives ... frugally.

The only people actually paying the price is .... us. And we are expected to deal with it

It‘s a hit piece ... same old smelly pile of crap they flung 4 years ago. They have nothing on Trump or he’d been gone long ago.

 

[Murt]

what laws were broken
if he played by the rules made in DC and won ---too bad so sad

 

[night driver]

And, then there are the "questionable" IRS audit witch-hunts that cost individual targeted victims tens/hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend against, and YEARS to litigate.

You consulting for the IRS, Chuck - beating the "IRS-are-caring-people" drum a bit loudly, I would say . . . never personally tangled with their amoral/unethical and determined backfield, before?


intothegoodnight

Nah, the bride spent a year answering the "1800 WHERE'S MY EARNED INCOME CREDIT_BITCH" line.

She also helped with an internal analysis that closed a noticeable percentage of the work functions done here in CLE.

By the way, more than half of the people who are audited, get an overpayment refund. <==== Little known fact.

 

[night driver]

what laws were broken
if he played by the rules made in DC and won ---too bad so sad

PRECISELY!!!

Have to laugh about the NYT choice of words. "Tax AVOIDANCE" is perfectly legal, and most of the folks I have EVER had contact with there encourage it as long as you are using legal methods.
"Tax EVASION" is a whole different animal.

 

[Plain Jane]

New York Times Fails at Outlining President Trump's Taxes Again... - The Last Refuge

Once again the New York Times attempts to make an issue out of President Trump’s real estate holdings working as a tax shelter and reducing income taxes. In the article the Times completely obfuscates the way income taxes are strategically offset by depreciation, mortgage interest and the entire...

theconservativetreehouse.com

New York Times Fails at Outlining President Trump’s Taxes Again…
Posted on September 27, 2020 by sundance
Once again the New York Times attempts to make an issue out of President Trump’s real estate holdings working as a tax shelter and reducing income taxes.

In the article the Times completely obfuscates the way income taxes are strategically offset by depreciation, mortgage interest and the entire reason why real estate ownership is viewed as a business.
John Carney writing for Breitbart gets it:

[…] So imagine our guy took out an $8 million mortgage at five percent, paying $2 million cash. Now he’s got to pay $400,000 in mortgage payments. He wants to make at least that much so he charges tenants an aggregate of $425,000, which after upkeep comes out to $410,000 of net income. (Remember, if the bank didn’t think he could make more in rent than the mortgage payment, it probably wouldn’t have lent him the money.) The interest payment on the loan–let’s call it $390,000–is deductible from his income, leaving him with $20,000 in net income. He gets to keep that and pay no taxes on it, however, because he still gets to apply the $370,000 depreciation charge. He tells the IRS he lost $350,000.

Under our tax code, ordinary business expenses can be deducted in the year they are incurred. But when a business pays for a long-lasting item expected to produce income–like machinery, vehicles, or an apartment building–it is considered a capital investment. Instead of getting to write-off the cost all at once, the business is required to write it off over the course of decades. After the 1986 tax code, this was set at 27.5 years for residential real estate. (more)

Anyone who has ever operated a business knows that offsetting income is one of the primary reasons to be self-employed. Additionally, the Times completely skips over the tens-of-millions in payroll taxes paid by the Trump organization and tens-of-millions in property and sales taxes paid by all of the various Trump properties.

In the commercial real estate market it is common sense to offset income tax liabilities with a host of valid annual expenses, long-term capital depreciation and mortgage interest payments. With over 500 individual business entities within the Trump organization the ability to offset income in one asset with expenses in another is simply good accounting.

Additionally, President Trump donates his $400,000 government salary back to the U.S. government. So to accuse President Trump of only paying $750 in income taxes totally ignores all of the other donations and tax payments he makes.

In practical terms no President before Trump has ever had his actual business portfolio so deeply connected to the success of the American economy. It doesn’t cost the American taxpayer a dime to have President Trump in office…. Now let’s figure out how DC politicians making $200k/yr are able to become multi-millionaires while holding office.
Anyone?

 

[West]

Nah, the bride spent a year answering the "1800 WHERE'S MY EARNED INCOME CREDIT_BITCH" line.

She also helped with an internal analysis that closed a noticeable percentage of the work functions done here in CLE.

By the way, more than half of the people who are audited, get an overpayment refund. <==== Little known fact.

All true. But if we're going to state averages and facts....

Many Individual (filling single) tax paying working poor people who have paid 15% ,(including employers half) of their hard earned labored incomes never see a penny of it after many die before they can collect any.

Also many illegals who use fake SS# their 15% fica taxes goes strait to the bureaucracies, why many Democrats love illegals, no strings attached to that blood monies.

Fica scam.

 

[Blastoff]

Now do Jeff Bezos