...you cannot embarrass Trump by pointing to his likely next-to-zero tax rate. As a real estate developer, Trump undoubtedly uses every lawful financial tool available to bring his taxes as close as possible to zero. More power to him; that is the American way.
Foreign investments? Plainly, he will just blame those on the Democrats.
No, none of these areas is likely to bear any fruit. That’s because, to expose a wrong-hearted real estate developer as a tax cheat, it is often more important to focus not on what the developer reports on his returns, but on what he
leaves off.
You see, the goal of tax cheats is usually not to save money for some corporation, but to avoid using
their own shekels to pay for personal expenses. Why pay for their own homes, food, golf rounds, cars or flights—or the taxes thereon—when their companies can pick up the tab? But personal expenses charged to a company counts as compensation, and failing to report such perks as taxable income is illegal.
This kind of personal and professional line-blurringis a hallmark of the real estate tax cheat—those people who control whole construction firms, golf courses and hotel crews and who don’t get 1099s and W-2s for all the work they order and the perks they get. Perhaps the most famous example of this kind of fraud comes from New York real estate billionaireLeona Helmsley, who, in 1989 was convicted of having her real estate company pay for personal improvements, including a new dance floor, at her 21-room weekend home in Connecticut, without paying taxes on such benefits. (Helmsley, by the way, is famous for saying, “We don’t pay taxes. Only little guys pay taxes.”
Regardless of whether Trump discloses his tax rate or produces all of his tax returns, Americans most certainly have the right to receive answers to and the proof regarding such basic questions concerning Trump’s financial integrity. And Trump has no excuse to fob off this request: Production of this information would be relatively simple and inexpensive.
Any scrutiny should focus first on Mar-A-Largo, Trump’s weekend and vacation oasis in Palm Beach, Florida, and former estate of Marjorie Merriweather Post. As the East Coast financial elite will attest, having a second home for leisure in Palm Beach is a pretty expensive luxury.
The relevant questions are few and should be quite easy for Trump to answer and to prove: Did Trump pay personally when he bought Mar-A-Largo in 1985? During the time that it was his personal vacation residence from 1985-1995, did his company deduct any of the acquisition costs, real estate taxes, insurance or utilities as a corporate expense? In other words, did he and his family alone live in this vacation home for 10 years while having the government and the rest of us pay for all or some as a business expense? Or, if a corporation bought Mar-A-Largo and provided it as a corporate perk, did Trump pay taxes on the benefit?
For the past 20 years since Mar-A-Largo has functioned as a club, how much has Trump personally paid for his “private quarters,” his “home away from home,” any improvements thereto, and for his staff, food and golf in Palm Beach? Once again, were these amenities provided as a corporate perk? If so, did Trump pay the millions of dollars that would be owed in taxes on this income?
Second, his primary residence at Trump Tower: Did Trump personally pay for his condo, and does he pay for the condo fees, utilities, improvements and expenses? If not—if the company pays—does he report that on his tax return?
Third, everyone pays for his or her own car or must pay taxes on the personal use of a company car. Tom Daschle, a good and honest man, withdrew himself from consideration as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services when a friend and client claimed that he allowed Daschle part-time use of an extra car, and Daschle hadn’t paid taxes on such “benefit.” Has Trump, like the rest of us, paid for his personal travel?
And then, of course, there’s personal
air travel, which we know Trump does often. Is Trump’s plane a personal or corporate jet? If personal, did he pay for the plane and for all of the expenses out of his own pocket? If corporate, has he reimbursed the owner for personal travel or paid the taxes on the perk? The plane records could be gathered in an hour.
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