Donald Trump; a decade of financial losing, totalling over $1 Billion
In The New York Times;In response to:
Decade in the Red: Trump Tax Figures
Show Over $1 Billion in Business Losses
Newly obtained tax information reveals that from 1985 to 1994, Donald J. Trump’s businesses were in far bleaker condition than was previously known.
By RUSS BUETTNER and SUSANNE CRAIG
May 7, 2019
By the time his master-of-the-universe memoir “Trump: The Art of the Deal” hit bookstores in 1987, Donald J. Trump was already in deep financial distress, losing tens of millions of dollars on troubled business deals, according to previously unrevealed figures from his federal income tax returns.
Mr. Trump was propelled to the presidency, in part, by a self-spun narrative of business success and of setbacks triumphantly overcome. He has attributed his first run of reversals and bankruptcies to the recession that took hold in 1990. But 10 years of tax information obtained by The New York Times paints a different, and far bleaker, picture of his deal-making abilities and financial condition.
The data — printouts from Mr. Trump’s official Internal Revenue Service tax transcripts, with the figures from his federal tax form, the 1040, for the years 1985 to 1994 — represents the fullest and most detailed look to date at the president’s taxes, information he has kept from public view. Though the information does not cover the tax years at the center of an escalating battle between the Trump administration and Congress, it traces the most tumultuous chapter in a long business career — an era of fevered acquisition and spectacular collapse.
The numbers show that in 1985, Mr. Trump reported losses of $46.1 million from his core businesses — largely casinos, hotels and retail space in apartment buildings. They continued to lose money every year, totaling $1.17 billion in losses for the decade.
In fact, year after year, Mr. Trump appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual American taxpayer, The Times found when it compared his results with detailed information the I.R.S. compiles on an annual sampling of high-income earners. His core business losses in 1990 and 1991 — more than $250 million each year — were more than double those of the nearest taxpayers in the I.R.S. information for those years.
Over all, Mr. Trump lost so much money that he was able to avoid paying income taxes for eight of the 10 years. It is not known whether the I.R.S. later required changes after audits.
Since the 2016 presidential campaign, journalists at The Times and elsewhere have been trying to piece together Mr. Trump’s complex and concealed finances. While The Times did not obtain the president’s actual tax returns, it received the information contained in the returns from someone who had legal access to it. The Times was then able to find matching results in the I.R.S. information on top earners — a publicly available database that each year comprises a one-third sampling of those taxpayers, with identifying details removed. It also confirmed significant findings using other public documents, along with confidential Trump family tax and financial records from the newspaper’s 2018 investigation into the origin of the president’s wealth.
The White House’s response to the new findings has shifted over time.
Trump Engaged in Suspect Tax Schemes as He Reaped Riches From His Father
Several weeks ago, a senior official issued a statement saying: “The president got massive depreciation and tax shelter because of large-scale construction and subsidized developments. That is why the president has always scoffed at the tax system and said you need to change the tax laws. You can make a large income and not have to pay large amount of taxes.”
Decade in the Red: Trump Tax Figures
Show Over $1 Billion in Business Losses
Newly obtained tax information reveals that from 1985 to 1994, Donald J. Trump’s businesses were in far bleaker condition than was previously known.
By RUSS BUETTNER and SUSANNE CRAIG
May 7, 2019
By the time his master-of-the-universe memoir “Trump: The Art of the Deal” hit bookstores in 1987, Donald J. Trump was already in deep financial distress, losing tens of millions of dollars on troubled business deals, according to previously unrevealed figures from his federal income tax returns.
Mr. Trump was propelled to the presidency, in part, by a self-spun narrative of business success and of setbacks triumphantly overcome. He has attributed his first run of reversals and bankruptcies to the recession that took hold in 1990. But 10 years of tax information obtained by The New York Times paints a different, and far bleaker, picture of his deal-making abilities and financial condition.
The data — printouts from Mr. Trump’s official Internal Revenue Service tax transcripts, with the figures from his federal tax form, the 1040, for the years 1985 to 1994 — represents the fullest and most detailed look to date at the president’s taxes, information he has kept from public view. Though the information does not cover the tax years at the center of an escalating battle between the Trump administration and Congress, it traces the most tumultuous chapter in a long business career — an era of fevered acquisition and spectacular collapse.
The numbers show that in 1985, Mr. Trump reported losses of $46.1 million from his core businesses — largely casinos, hotels and retail space in apartment buildings. They continued to lose money every year, totaling $1.17 billion in losses for the decade.
In fact, year after year, Mr. Trump appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual American taxpayer, The Times found when it compared his results with detailed information the I.R.S. compiles on an annual sampling of high-income earners. His core business losses in 1990 and 1991 — more than $250 million each year — were more than double those of the nearest taxpayers in the I.R.S. information for those years.
Over all, Mr. Trump lost so much money that he was able to avoid paying income taxes for eight of the 10 years. It is not known whether the I.R.S. later required changes after audits.
Since the 2016 presidential campaign, journalists at The Times and elsewhere have been trying to piece together Mr. Trump’s complex and concealed finances. While The Times did not obtain the president’s actual tax returns, it received the information contained in the returns from someone who had legal access to it. The Times was then able to find matching results in the I.R.S. information on top earners — a publicly available database that each year comprises a one-third sampling of those taxpayers, with identifying details removed. It also confirmed significant findings using other public documents, along with confidential Trump family tax and financial records from the newspaper’s 2018 investigation into the origin of the president’s wealth.
The White House’s response to the new findings has shifted over time.
Trump Engaged in Suspect Tax Schemes as He Reaped Riches From His Father
Several weeks ago, a senior official issued a statement saying: “The president got massive depreciation and tax shelter because of large-scale construction and subsidized developments. That is why the president has always scoffed at the tax system and said you need to change the tax laws. You can make a large income and not have to pay large amount of taxes.”
(Continued in my first comment below)
Comments (19)
President Trump has a net worth of over $3 billion. So what you are saying is that he figured out how to go from rags to riches in only a couple of decades. I agree with you. He is BRILLIANT!
What's your net worth? Two moldy Taco Bell burritos and some used motor oil?
President Trump has made all of his financial statements public documenting all of his assets. It shows an incredible list of amazing accomplishments in business that few others on planet earth have ever achieved. He is the envy of the real estate world and recognized worldwide as one of the greatest developers of all times if not THE greatest.
Seriously, this is the best you people have? Pathetic. Even I feel sorry for you.
And by the way, how about posting your tax returns before asking him for his?
In October 2018, Lemon stated on-air: "So, we have to stop demonizing people and realize the biggest terror threat in this country is white men, most of them radicalized to the right. And we have to start doing something about them. There is no travel ban on them. There is no ban on — they had the Muslim ban. There is no white guy ban. So, what do we do about that?"
sleep The news about his losses in the casinos is about a couple of decades old. It's no secret and has been publicly known since it happened. He lost money on that venture. This is old news that anyone who has any general knowledge about the business world knew about ages ago.
But he is now worth far more than he was before that happened because he since became the most sought after real estate developer and financier in the world. His net worth is over $3 billion.
the money laundering, which involves real estate - crooked foreign money gets laundered under shell company names by buying over-priced real estate from Trump.
Satire from The Borowitz Report
Trump to Step Away from Making His Businesses Bankrupt to Focus on Bankrupting the Country
Appearing on Fox News, Kellyanne Conway said that while Trump no doubt could “plunge both his businesses and the country into bankruptcy at the same time,” he feels that he “owes it to the American people to put them first.”
By Andy Borowitz
The tremendous amount Trump has increased the deficit by giving the rich a PERMANENT HUGE tax cuts, certainly leads the country in the direction of bankruptcy.
Satire from The Borowitz Report
Trump to Step Away from Making His Businesses Bankrupt to Focus on Bankrupting the Country
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—President-elect Donald J. Trump will no longer have day-to-day responsibility for driving his businesses into bankruptcy and will instead focus on bankrupting the country, one of his leading surrogates said on Wednesday.
Appearing on Fox News, Kellyanne Conway said that while Trump no doubt could “plunge both his businesses and the country into bankruptcy at the same time,” he feels that he “owes it to the American people to put them first.”
By Andy Borowitz
The tremendous amount Trump has increased the deficit by giving the rich PERMANENT HUGE tax cuts, certainly leads the country in the direction of bankruptcy.
soaking up the lies that he didn't pay at all.
More old news.
Is this what you have left? Old news like it's new news?
The Republicans in Congress have chosen to turn a blind eye so far.
Taken together, that is why the Democrats won so many seats in the House of representatives in the most recent election. More people have disapproved of Trump
than approved throughout his entire reign. Every day it seems that impeachment is more
likely, despite Trump's many attempts to obstruct justice.
While Mnuchin won't release his tax returns to Congress without a Supreme Court battle, it looks like NY state will.
Will ya ever LEARN?? Find another windmill to tilt at, please.
Trump's $ 1 Billion loss spanning a decade.
what a larf you are Jim .
10 years straight, over $1 BILLION total. That's the news part.
But, this is just the set-up.
The big story is where the money is coming from since and how.
Yeah, he's a loser.
they will deny and/or find some excuse for him.
Good to see you back.