This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Hampton U chapter.
Throughout Donald Trump’s campaign in 2016 to now there has been a cloud of his taxes hanging over him. From claiming that showing his taxes were not necessary, to complete avoidance over the topic of taxes by him and his administration. It begs the question of what exactly do these taxes contain? The New York Times was on the case, with a thorough investigation, finding 7 major discoveries.
- Trump has paid less than a middle class American in taxes. In 2016 and 2017 Trump paid $750 in taxes to the United States, while still failing to repay $287 million to lenders he has owed since 2010. Trump paid an annual $1.4 million in federal taxes from 2000 to 2017, meanwhile the U.S. taxpayer in the top .001% of earners paid about $25 million annually over the same length of time. This shows how much Trump has moved around his money to owe less in taxes.
- Trump pays for his lifestyle through his businesses. On Trump’s taxes he made homes, planes, and golf courses pay for the Trump family business and classified them as business expenses. Trump even spent $70,000 on hair styling while he was on “The Apprentice”.
- Trump is not as successful as he claims to be. On Trump’s taxes he claimed $315 million dollars in losses since the year 2000 on his golf courses. The Times even state that the Trump International Hotel in Washington DC has lost $55 million dollars.
- Foreign visitors support Trump properties by spending there. This has been brought up before when the Trump International Hotel in Washington DC first opened and Trump suggested foregin visitors should stay there. It was brought up again stating that since 2015 his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida has brought in $5 million dollars more a year since a surge in membership. Billy Graham evangelistic Association spent $397,602 in 2017 at Trump’s Washington DC hotel. An overseas project in the Philippines made trump $3 million dollars, $2.3 from India, and $1 million from Turkey.
- Trump paid family members in “consulting fees”. On Trump taxes he wrote off about $26 million dollars in “consulting fees” as a business expense. The interesting part is that Ivanka Trump reported receiving $747,622 in payment from a consulting company she owned which is the same amount that Trump claimed as a tax deduction for two hotel projects.
- Trumps licensing revenue has drop. Trump made $427.4 million from his reality show “the Apprentice from 2010 to 2018, also through licensing deals from everything from clothing to mattress companies, yes mattresses. Yet, once he started to run for president and make conversational comments he lost over $175 million dollars.
- Trump owes a lot of money soon. Trump has over $421 million dollars in loans, most due within the next four years and a $100 million dollar mortgage on Trump tower due in 2022.
During Tuesday’s first presidential debate Trump claims that he paid more than $750. However, he stated he will not provide his taxes as proof. The main takeaway from the New York Times article is that Trump, unlike any president in history, is facing a reckoning tax with his financial dealings that are due very soon.