by Chris Black
According to a Tuesday hit piece in the “newspaper of record” (just kidding), President Trump participated in, let me quote, questionable and dubious tax strategies, in order to increase his already huge fortune. The NYT article claims that America’s first billionaire president engaged in outright fraud, thus accruing millions upon millions of dollars, hence increasing the great fortune he received from his father, or something along these lines. The massive front page story was taken seriously by the NY Spate Department of Taxation and Finance, whose spokesman told CNBC that they’re reviewing the fraud allegations:
“The New York State Tax officials are investigating allegations detailed in an exhaustive New York Times investigation into Donald Trump and his family’s business dealings, CNBC has learned.
The Times reported on Tuesday that Trump and his family committed “instances of outright fraud” in order to transfer millions of dollars from the real estate of empire of the presidents father, Fred Trump to his children without paying the appropriate taxes.” –CNBC
According to the New York Times, their reporters managed to procure a massive stash of confidential documents, which included two hundred tax-returns from Fred Trump, and they claim they’ve discovered Donald Trump receiving hundreds of millions of dollars from his father. A part of that fortune is alleged to have been accrued via fraudulent tax schemes.
NEW: Russ Buettner, David Barstow and I got our hands on a massive trove of confidential docs – including 200 tax returns – from Fred Trump’s empire. We found Donald Trump received hundreds of millions from his dad, some of it via fraudulent tax schemes. t.co/9is4ZcpOY4
— Susanne Craig (@susannecraig) October 2, 2018
According to the authors (Susan Craig, David Barstow and Russ Buettner), Donald Trump created a sham corporation in order to siphon taxable income in the form of gifts from his parents, or something along these lines. Moreover, Donald Trump allegedly helped Fred Trump, his father, with taking spurious tax deductions to the tune of millions of dollars, including schemes to undervalue the family’s real estate holdings, and things of that nature.
Obviously, the confidential tax return fillings were leaked to the New York Times by a good Samaritan, and they reveal how the Trump children received over one billion dollars from their parents. That would’ve translated in over 550 million to have been paid in taxes at the time. As per the NYT piece, Trump only paid 52.2 million on that source of income, due to the aforementioned schemes for lowering the tax bill via undervalued real estate holdings. Bottom line, Trump inherited almost half a billion dollars from his parents, and according to the NYT, he committed fraud in the inheritance-process by failing to give the tax-man a fair share (Bernie approves of this message).
The NYT reporters interviewed numerous (former) employees and advisers to Fred Trump’s organization, and reviewed hundreds of thousands of pages of documents related to the Trump real-estate empire, including financial audits, bank statements and invoices.
Trump’s attorney (that’s a very expensive lawyer for our millennial readers) released a statement to the NYT, describing the allegations of tax evasion to be completely false, and saying that Donald Trump played no role in the tax-strategies employed by his family. Charles Harder (great name for an attorney) also implied that Trump may soon own the NYT, hinting at a possible defamation lawsuit:
“There was no fraud or tax evasion by anyone. The facts upon which The Times bases its false allegations are extremely inaccurate. President Trump had virtually no involvement whatsoever with these matters. The affairs were handled by other Trump family members who were not experts themselves and therefore relied entirely upon the aforementioned licensed professionals to ensure full compliance with the law.”
“The New York Times’s allegations of fraud and tax evasion are 100 percent false, and highly defamatory. There was no fraud or tax evasion by anyone. The facts upon which The Times bases its false allegations are extremely inaccurate.”
It would be funny to see Trump becoming the new owner of the failing NYT, isn’t it? The hit-piece in the New York Times insinuates that tax-fraud is the reason for which the POTUS refuses to release his income tax returns.
According to tax experts, it is unlikely that Mr. Trump would be vulnerable to criminal prosecution for helping his parents evade taxes, because the acts happened too long ago and are past the statute of limitations. There is no time limit, however, on civil fines for tax fraud.
It must be noticed that the article in the NYT comes just a day after the new NAFTA deal was signed by President Trump. Tell me again, who owns the NYT? The timing of this story is interesting, to say the least. It’s hard to believe that tax-returns for such a huge fortune went under the radar of the IRS and other relevant agencies, without being closely reviewed, to assure compliance to tax arrangements which were allowed under then-existing law.
Back in the day, they used to call this yellow journalism. Today, it’s just another day in the empire. Keep in mind that the Clintons own New York State, including the NY State Tax Department. What a surprise. So, the sexual allegations didn’t work, the Russian collusion didn’t work, so now the tax-evasion allegations are out. What’s next? Let me end with a quote:
“Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one’s taxes. Over and over again the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands.”
~ Judge Learned Hand
(1872-1961), Judge, U. S. Court of Appeals
It is our duty to pay taxes (although many argue that the demanding of income taxes is illegal). But it IS NOT our duty to pay more taxes than required. Therefore, every single possible legal loophole that helps legally minimize taxes must be used to the advantage of the individual or corporation paying those taxes. That too is the taxpayer’s duty.
Think about it: who the hell would pay half a billion in taxes if their lawyers and accountants found legal ways for them to pay 1/10th that to the Tax Thieves?