Donald Trump hasn’t always gotten away with refusing to release his tax returns to anyone. In fact, in 1981, Trump was required to release his tax returns to New Jersey gambling regulators in order to do business there. Those tax returns are available for public review as a result of his submitting them to the state regulators, and they are damning.
Signing a recent tax return- isn’t this ridiculous? pic.twitter.com/UdwqF4iZIZ
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2016
According to ABC News:
“Trump, who has declined to release his tax returns during the campaign season, incurred no tax liability in 1978 and 1979, New Jersey gambling regulators found, when they looked into his tax returns and personal finances in connection with the Trump Plaza Corporation’s 1981 application for a casino license.”
It isn’t as if Trump is doing anything illegal in using business losses to claim a negative income for a failing business. This is a part of tax law that is helpful to businesses that fail. No accusations of illegality exist as a result of the findings of these documents.
This is simply part of a tax loophole that can allow businesses and large corporations to get out of paying taxes. Trump did in at least two years that we know of while building what he insists is massive wealth at the same time.
“Trump claimed negative income in both those years: losses of $406,379 in 1978 and $3,443,560 in 1979. In 1975, 1976, and 1977, he claimed $76,210, $24,594, and $118,530 in income, respectively, paying $18,714, $10,832, and $42,386 in federal taxes, according to the document, the Report to the Casino Control Commission.”
For instance, in a story published by ABC News and reported on at Liberal America, the value of a business can be undersold legally to avoid paying taxes. Trump National Golf Club is a prime example of this.
“Trump wrote on a candidate disclosure form that the sprawling 147-acre private club [The Trump National Golf Club in Westchester County, New York] bearing his name is worth ‘more than $50 million.’
But when it came time to value the property for tax purposes, his lawyers have argued that Trump National is really worth only $1.35 million. The proposed valuation has bewildered officials in the small town of Ossining, who said the new figure would cut Trump’s tax burden by 90 percent and dump that burden on everyone else.
‘Trump says he represents the little guy, but the little guy is going to have to pay his taxes for him here in Ossining,’ said Dana Levenberg, the Ossining town supervisor.”
Trump still insisted that the golf club was worth $50 million when he released his financial details, although his attorneys seem to be doing a double-time walk back after the ABC News story broke.
“Officials said Trump’s attorneys revised their evaluation up to $9 million. The new estimate moved Trump closer to — but still well short of — the town’s 2014 estimate that the property was worth at least $14.3 million. Levenberg said property values have since been reviewed and have gone up.
Trump had already disclosed on a prior personal financial disclosure form that the course was worth over $50 million before the original ABC News report. Increased public scrutiny over the multi-million-dollar difference between his own estimate of the property’s value and those made by his attorneys for tax purposes do not appear to have prompted the presumptive Republican nominee for president to alter his stance.
Officials with the Trump Organization declined to comment for ABC News’ original report on the golf course controversy.”
Remember when the very wealthy Mitt Romney’s 14% tax rate was a big problem for his presidential campaign? Does 0% sound better?
To watch Donald Trump refuse to release even his tax rate, much less his returns, see video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQKr4KRyBNM
Featured image via Getty/Jeff J. Mitchell
