Last week was not a good week for President Trump. A New York Times deep dive into Trump\u2019s taxes revealed that he is not the self-made man he claims to be and that he took place in fraud to avoid paying millions in taxes.<\/p>\n
Trump is not a self-made businessman as he claims.<\/p>\n
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New York Times<\/a>: \u201cThe president has long sold himself as a self-made billionaire, but a Times investigation found that he received at least $413 million in today\u2019s dollars from his father\u2019s real estate empire, much of it through tax dodges in the 1990s.\u201d<\/p>\n \n This morning, Trump said it was \u201cvery well documented\u201d how much money he got from his father. Indeed, Trump received the equivalent of at least $413 million from his father\u2019s real estate empire.<\/p>\n \n President Trump<\/a>: In light of the NYT investigation, I asked President Trump just now how much money he got from his father to get his start in business. He didn\u2019t give a figure, saying instead: \u2018That\u2019s very well documented, very well documented.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n New York Times<\/a>: \u201cBut The Times\u2019s investigation, based on a vast trove of confidential tax returns and financial records, reveals that Mr. Trump received the equivalent today of at least $413 million from his father\u2019s real estate empire, starting when he was a toddler and continuing to this day.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Much of the money Trump received from his father was structured to avoid taxation in ways that were possibly illegal.<\/p>\n \n New York Times<\/a>: \u201cMuch of his giving was structured to sidestep gift and inheritance taxes using methods tax experts described to The Times as improper or possibly illegal. Although Fred Trump became wealthy with help from federal housing subsidies, he insisted that it was manifestly unfair for the government to tax his fortune as it passed to his children.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n \n The most fraudulent example of the Trump\u2019s evading taxes was their creation of a company to funnel money from Fred Trump to his children.<\/p>\n \n New York Times<\/a>: \u201cAll County\u2019s main purpose, the Times found, was to enable Fred Trump to make large cash gifts to his children and disguise them as legitimate business transactions, thus evading the 55 percent tax.\u201d<\/p>\n \n The company the Trumps set up to evade taxes was also used to raise rents on low-income renters.<\/p>\n \n New York Times<\/a>: \u201cFred Trump then used the padded All County receipts to justify bigger rent increases for thousands of tenants.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Editorial boards and experts noted Trump\u2019s business \u201csuccess\u201d appeared to be a fraud all along and called for his tax returns.<\/p>\n \n Baltimore Sun Editorial<\/a>: \u201cAll this can be horribly depressing to average Americans (AKA the \u2018suckers\u2019) who don\u2019t stand to inherit hundreds of millions of dollars or have publicists and lawyers at their beck and call, or accountants devising elaborate schemes to shield them from shouldering their fair share of the taxes needed to pay and equip the military, finance the latest cancer research, protect the health of the nation\u2019s air, land and water or address a multi-billion-dollar backlog of public infrastructure repair.\u201d<\/p>\n USA Today Editorial<\/a>: \u201cDonald Trump, Even With All His Daddy’s Money, Is The Real Apprentice\u201d<\/p>\n Washington Post Editorial<\/a>: \u201cThe narrative of business brilliance upon which President Trump has based his political appeal now stands definitively debunked, like so many of the other myths he has woven about himself.\u201d<\/p>\n The Republican Editorial<\/a>: \u201cThe Trump real-estate empire is a sad, pathetic facade. And Donald Trump is the farthest thing possible from the personification of the American success story.\u201d<\/p>\n Former Pulitzer Prize Winner David Cay Johnston<\/a>: \u201cWe need to see Trump\u2019s tax returns, and the books and records behind them, from this century. And if they show cheating, we need to enforce the laws Trump violated.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump Chronicler Michael D\u2019Antonio<\/a>: \u201cThe wall of secrecy has now been breached, and what lies behind it seems to be proof that, at the very least, the reputation Trump claimed was a fraud all along.\u201d<\/p>\n \n New York state and city officials have already opened investigations into the Trumps\u2019 underpaid taxes and undue rent increases.<\/p>\n CNBC<\/a>: \u201cNew York state tax officials are investigating allegations detailed in an exhaustive New York times investigation into Donald Trump and his family\u2019s business dealings.\u201d<\/p>\n