Earlier quoted context omitted.
For those that don't want to click through: He is on the hook personally for hundreds of millions of dollars in debt that will come due next few years during his potential second term with no obvious way of paying it off. There's no way of knowing who has control of it. Edit: and also from the thread, he owes > $1 Billion in total to lenders.
Is that a net position? I am not interested enough in the further details to try to figure it out for myself, but his net position is more important than the total debt.
Trump’s Taxes Show Chronic Losses and Years of Income Tax Avoidance
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Re: Trump’s Taxes Show Chronic Losses and Years of Income Tax Avoidance
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is that a net position? I am not interested enough in the further details to try to figure it out for myself, but his net position is more important than the total debt.
Net 2.5b https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2020/09/28/yes-don...
Thanks. So according to that analysis, Trump has plenty of debt, and also plenty of resources to manage it.
Hard to value his type of commercial real estate outside of an actual sale though.
Re: Trump’s Taxes Show Chronic Losses and Years of Income Tax Avoidance
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you uncomfortable with the method of finding the truth? I may not agree with specific methods used but if credible then the guilty are guilty.
Yeah, imagine someone did this to Obama or the Clinton Foundation.... The mediatic outrage would be unmeasurable
As I recall, the right wing had a field day with Bill Clinton’s tax write-offs. $2 for donating used underwear to charity!
https://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/16/us/clinton-taxes-laid-bar...
Re: Trump’s Taxes Show Chronic Losses and Years of Income Tax Avoidance
#224Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks. I understand how you're reading this, but my observation is that actual practice on HN is less restrictive. On the front page at the moment I'm writing this, there are at least four more or less political articles: - Uber secures right to continue operating in London https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24614806 - Judge temporarily blocks U.S. ban on TikTok downloads from U.S. app stores https://news.ycombina…
The problem (which I think you seem to be acknowledging) is that as I've pointed out in the original post, the lack of clarity seems to end up in a mysterious (arbitrary? biased?) view on what is ok to cover. RBG: ok. Trump Replacement for RBG: "political". Trump Tax: ok.
Yes, I agree that the lack of clarity leads to these ambiguities. I think it would be impossible to formulate really clear rules on what sort of politics is accepted. People definitely want to discuss "politics with a tech angle" stories, like ones concerning Uber. Many people also definitely want to discuss "very important pure politics" stories like this one, or RBG's death, or paternity leave. At the same time I think most people don't want HN to turn into a "general politics is just as accepted as tech stuff" kind of discussion forum. The line will always be very fuzzy. Maybe the difference between RBG's death and her possible replacement is that RBG has already had a huge, concrete impact on the (US-centric) world, whereas her replacement's impact is speculative at this point.
Re: Trump’s Taxes Show Chronic Losses and Years of Income Tax Avoidance
#225Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you uncomfortable with the method of finding the truth? I may not agree with specific methods used but if credible then the guilty are guilty.
Yeah, imagine someone did this to Obama or the Clinton Foundation.... The mediatic outrage would be unmeasurable
You mean, they released the tax information that Obama already publicly released?
Re: Trump’s Taxes Show Chronic Losses and Years of Income Tax Avoidance
#226Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks! I was reading a different article before that was more of a visualization that didn’t have these details. Unless those had some type of synergy that made his other properties and brand more valuable overall, those sound like poor investments.
Reading the detailed breakdown, the only things he's done or invested in that have not lost money are two early properties he was forced out of but left a small stake in, and his reality TV appearances. Everything else has lost money.
To add to this: Trump International Hotel (the one in DC) was put on the market in Oct. 2019 for $500M. There were no buyers before the sale offering was canceled due to coivd-19.
You don't put a marquee property on the market if it is making money. Especially the one in DC. Especially while you are the current US president.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-organization-exploring-sa...
Re: Trump’s Taxes Show Chronic Losses and Years of Income Tax Avoidance
#227Earlier quoted context omitted.
Net 2.5b https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2020/09/28/yes-don...
Thanks. So according to that analysis, Trump has plenty of debt, and also plenty of resources to manage it. Hard to value his type of commercial real estate outside of an actual sale though.
He has had recent trouble selling his properties for the asking price. He put up Trump International (the DC hotel) on the market in Oct. 2019 for $500M. There were no buyers at that price before he took it off the market due to covid-19.
There is no indication that he has the resources to finance the debt. Nor is there indication that he does not have those resources. We simply do not know either way until a better picture of his finances comes out.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-organization-exploring-sa...
Re: Trump’s Taxes Show Chronic Losses and Years of Income Tax Avoidance
#228Earlier quoted context omitted.
The article lists several examples of things that go beyond avoidance. He paid millions in mysterious ‘consulting’ fees that appear to have gone to his kids, despite them being employees. He declared that he had no financial benefit in a business he walked away from despite still owning 5 percent of it. ...
Again, a lot of these things are pretty common in business. My Dad has a business, and pays me a consultancy fee. I pay consultancy fees to my wife. None of this is unusual for a family business.
If they are employees, and you are doing that, it is actually illegal.
You are either a consultant, or an employee.
Re: Trump’s Taxes Show Chronic Losses and Years of Income Tax Avoidance
#229Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is his net worth? I didn't see it in the article. Whether or not his debts are an issue really depends on how much wealth he has to back it up.
The article is based on income tax returns which only deal with income and don't show net worth.
Then how can they claim his personal loans put him at risk?
If you have $500M in loans due, but $1B in the bank, it’s not really a problem is it?
Re: Trump’s Taxes Show Chronic Losses and Years of Income Tax Avoidance
#230Earlier quoted context omitted.
Where is the Alternative Minimum Tax? You know, that tax law that pops up frequently for high earners in the tech field when they have more deductions than seems fair? Why isn't Trump subject to the same minimum taxation that I would be?
I should have kept reading: Mr. Trump paid alternative minimum tax in seven years between 2000 and 2017 — a total of $24.3 million, excluding refunds he received after filing. For 2015, he paid $641,931, his first payment of any federal income tax since 2010.
So basically, the big headline "$750 in income tax" claim that's been repeated everywhere else and gone viral on social media is technically true but also massively misleading to the tune of millions of dollars? Guess that figures for media coverage of anything remotely involving Trump in 2020. Also, this Reuters piece is terrible at the time of writing my reply: https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-usa-trump-taxes-idUKKBN26J... It makes it sound like the New York Times piece contradicts his claim to have paid many millions of dollars in taxes, when it actually seems to confirm it - but that detail is buried, obfuscated, and omitted from most of the coverage elsewhere of the NYT's reporting.