President Donald Trump’s vast accumulation of wealth was made possible through numerous efforts by his father to steer resources into his son’s hands by vastly undervaluing real estate values, obscuring gifts, and avoiding taxes, according to a bombshell investigation.
A trove of documents including Fred Trump’s tax returns show countless efforts to enrich Donald Trump and set him up to be the successful businessman and public figure and politician that he became.
Many of the transfers were made in secret, often in advantageous ways that saved Trump and his siblings hundreds of millions of dollars, according to a deeply reported New York Times analysis.
REPORTING FOR WORK: A trove of documents including Fred Trump’s tax returns show countless efforts his father took to enrich Donald Trump and his children. Here Trump addresses the National Electrical Contractors Association Convention at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 2, 2018
In just once example, sourced to the 1995 tax return of Fred Trump, a successful developer of large-scale housing construction projects, Donald Trump and his sibling claimed 25 apartment complexes with 6,988 apartments were worth only $41 million. Less than a decade later, in 2004, banks valued them at $900 million.
At the tender age of three, Trump was earning $200,000 a year in 2018 dollars from his dad’s business empire, becoming a millionaire by age 8, according to the report.
By the time he graduated college (Wharton as Trump likes to point out) Trump was getting $1 million a year in today’s dollars – an amount that would jump to $5 million a year by the time he hit his 40s.
The transfers and undervaluations had the effect of allowing the Trump children avoid potential gift taxes as well as estate taxes on the full value of assets.
At the tender age of three, Trump was earning $200,000 a year in 2018 dollars from his dad’s business empire, becoming a millionaire by age 8, according to the report
Responded Trump lawyer Charles Harder: ‘Should The Times state or imply that President Trump participated in fraud, tax evasion or any other crime, it will be exposing itself to substantial liability and damages for defamation.’
Harder distanced Trump and pointed the finger at lawyers and accountants. ‘President Trump had virtually no involvement whatsoever with these matters. The affairs were handled by other Trump family members who were not experts themselves and therefore relied entirely upon the aforementioned licensed professionals to ensure full compliance with the law.’
In just some of the other revelations:
– Trump collected laundry revenue from apartment buildings in his dad’s portfolio;
– His share was $177 million when the Fred Trump empire was sold off in 2004
– Fred Trump transferred eight buildings with 1,032 apartment units to his kids
– Fred and Mary Trump transferred more than $1 billion in wealth to their kids, the Times found, which would have brought $550 million in taxes if they paid the full 55 per cent gift and inheritance tax at the time
– They paid a total tax of just $52.2 million