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Trump tax fraud: What is POTUS' net worth? Internet says he needs to ‘go to prison’ for paying only $750

Trump dismissed the report as 'fake news' during a news conference

The trend of explosive articles before the US elections seems to be catching up. The latest to join the trend is The New York Times. They have done a report on President Donald Trump’s taxes. As per the report, Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes in 2016, the year he won the presidency, and another $750 during his first year in office.

The NYT report states that they have obtained his tax return data spanning two decades. The report alleges that Trump has paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years because he reported "losing much more money than he made". According to the report, the acutal story of his tax returns which he has fought desparately to keep private is quite different from what he kept telling the public. His reports to the IRS depict him as a businessman who takes in hundreds of millions of dollars a year but “racks up chronic losses that he aggressively employs to avoid paying taxes". The report found that even though Trump declared losses, he continued to have a luxurious lifestyle by withholding taxes on what could be considered personal expenses, including declaring his estates as investment properties and writing off aircraft travel between his properties as business expenses.

The allegations are also that Trump “has reduced his tax bill with questionable measures, including a $72.9 million tax refund,” which is now the subject of an IRS audit. POTUS allegedly made $427.4 million from the show ‘The Apprentice’ show along with the licensing and endorsements deals associated with the brand. The report states that more than $70,000 was paid to style his hair during ‘The Apprentice’. The report also claims, “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 report noted that between 2010 and 2018, Trump wrote off about $26 million in mysterious ‘consulting fees’. Some of those fees seem to have been paid to his daughter Ivanka Trump.

The NYT found that Trump made $73 million as revenue from abroad. They write: “And while much of that money was from his golf properties in Scotland and Ireland, some came from licensing deals in countries with authoritarian-leaning leaders or thorny geopolitics — for example, $3 million from the Philippines, $2.3 million from India and $1 million from Turkey.” The report also states that “within the next four years, more than $300 million in loans — obligations for which he is personally responsible — will come due.”

What is Trump's net worth?

According to a Forbes September 2020 report, Trump’s net worth has declined from an estimated $600 million since last September, to $2.5 billion. At the end of the report, a note states, “Change in value is from September 6, 2019 compared to July 24, 2020.”

Trump has significant debt against his properties in DC and Chicago, both of which appear to be underwater. Doral, his golf resort in Miami, is worth an estimated $28 million, after accounting for its mortgages, down 80% in a year.

In terms of real estate, Trump has about 350 parking spaces in Manhattan, the Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida and three nearby homes, the Trump Tower and more non-New York based properties as well. Trump also has a product licensing business that has withered away and his hotel licensing empire continues to flounder, states the Forbes report.

When asked about the NYT story on the September 27, Sunday, news conference, Trump said it is "totally fake news", according to USA Today. When asked about an estimated figure, “I paid a lot and I paid a lot of state income taxes, too,” Trump said. "New York State charges a lot and I paid a lot of money in state." As per USA Today, POTUS was the first major presidential candidate in four decades to decline to release tax returns. Trump is currently involved in a legal battle with New York prosecutors asking for his tax records.  

As per The Daily Beast, Trump attacked the IRS, by saying they “treat me like the Tea Party.” “They treat me very badly,” he claimed. “It’s under audit. It’s been under audit for a long time,” he said of his returns. “It’s all be revealed. It’s going to come out,” he later said of the IRS audit, which he called “very big,” “very powerful,” and “very accurate.” When journalists tried to ask follow up questions, Trump ended the press conference after saying he would “release everything.”

Twitter was also exploding with discussions around the bombshell NYT report. Soon, #TrumpTaxes and #LockHimUp began trending. One user said, “When you see in  #TrumpTaxes that he only paid $750 in taxes, in the few years he paid anything at all, you understand how the Republican billionaire tax giveaway was a fraud.” Another commented, “So Donald Trump gave Ivanka, his own daughter, $750,000 as "consulting fees" and used that as a tax deduction. Pure criminality and tax fraud. He needs to go to prison.” Another stated, “@realDonaldTrump so u lie, are in debt, pay no taxes, vulnerable to debtors and loaners,  have no plans, called americans  losers, suckers and disgusting, ignored the virus, in any business, u would be considered a failure.”

One alleged, “The minute Trump took that refund check, for a tax avoidance scheme he wasn't entitled to, was the day he stole $72.9 million from the American people. Straight-up theft of public resources.” One user said,"He inherited his seed money from his dad and squandered it. He inherited an upward trending economy and mismanaged that. How can anyone vote for him again? #TrumpTaxes"

One user said, "#LockHimUp sounds good, but making it a family affair and #LockThemUp sounds better." Another alleged, "Our President has paid more to Stormy Daniels than he has in taxes! #750dollars #LockHimUp" Another asked, "So if prosecutors can prove that trump pushed the #trumptaxcuts to help himself financially because of all the money he owes the IRS, How much additional jail time can we expect?" Another alleged, "Problem is, Trumps have made a fortune off the taxpayers during his term. Not just off his properties, but look at Ivanka. Except for Mary Trump, the Trumps are all dishonest, money grabbing thieves."

MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) cannot independently verify and does not support any claims being made on the Internet.