Tag: Trump taxes

What we know — and still want to know — about Trump’s company

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On Sunday, the New York Times revealed that it had obtained President Trump’s tax returns for much of the past 20 years — a trove of never-before-seen financial data from inside the president’s private business.

Trump had refused to release those returns himself, unlike all other recent presidents. And he had gone to the Supreme Court to stop Congress and the Manhattan district attorney from obtaining them.

The Times report shows one reason Trump might have wanted to keep the returns secret. It said Trump had paid just $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and again in 2017 — and no federal income taxes at all in many previous years. The reason: Trump’s businesses routinely reported losing more money than they made, a fact that saved Trump on his taxes but belied the gold-plated-CEO image he presented to the public. Continue reading.

Here’s why there was no mention of Russia or Michael Cohen in NYT tax bombshell: Trump biographer

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Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter David Cay Johnston has literally written the book on President Donald Trump and his finances. Trump’s supporters have already gone after the report saying that it vindicated the president because there was no mention of Michael Cohen or Russia anywhere in the New York Times bombshell report.

Breitbart editor-at-large Joel Pollak celebrated the news and claimed, without evidence, that the taxes must have come illegally from the IRS. The personal tax returns did show, however, that Trump made an absurdly large amount of money from handling the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow.

As Cay Johnston explained, those things wouldn’t be on Trump’s personal taxes; it would fall under the Trump Organization. Continue reading.

How Tax Secrecy Protects Trump — And Hurts You

As Donald Trump fights to keep his tax and business records from Manhattan prosecutors it’s time to alert Americans that tax returns used to be public. Congress could make them public again. If it did every honest taxpayer would benefit.

In 1924 how much the rich paid the taxman was front-page news. Newspapers back then published lists that revealed who was really rich (John D Rockefeller stands out) and those who were either poseurs claiming great wealth yet paying little tax or were likely tax cheats who failed to report their income fully.

Strong evidence exists that Trump is both a poseur and a cheat, as we’ve shown again and again at DCReport since we published Trump’s 2005 income tax return three years ago. Continue reading.

Manhattan prosecutor agrees to shelve subpoena for Trump tax returns

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Manhattan’s top prosecutor on Monday agreed to delay enforcement of a subpoena for eight years of President Trump’s tax returns.

Cyrus Vance Jr., the Democratic district attorney for Manhattan, had the legal right as of this Friday to enforce a New York grand jury subpoena to obtain a lengthy financial paper trail that includes Trump’s corporate and personal tax records. 

But Vance has agreed to temporarily shelve the subpoena against Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA. The delay allows for another round of litigation, extending the nearly yearlong court battle over the subpoena in which Trump has lost every bout, including a landmark decision last month at the Supreme Court. Continue reading.

Judge throws out Trump effort to block subpoena for tax returns

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A federal judge in New York on Thursday dismissed President Trump’s latest effort to stymie a New York grand jury subpoena for his tax returns and a trove of other financial documents.

The ruling by District Judge Victor Marrero relied heavily on the Supreme Court’s landmark decision last month that rejected Trump’s claim that presidents enjoy absolute immunity from criminal probes.

“That notion, applied as so robustly proclaimed by the president’s advocates, is as unprecedented and far-reaching as it is perilous to the rule of law and other bedrock constitutional principles on which this country was founded and by which it continues to be governed,” Marrero wrote. Continue reading.

Trump’s Bank Was Subpoenaed by N.Y. Prosecutors in Criminal Inquiry

New York Times logoThe subpoena, sent to Deutsche Bank, suggests that the inquiry into President Trump’s business practices is more wide-ranging than previously known.

The New York prosecutors who are seeking President Trump’s tax records have also subpoenaed his longtime lender, a sign that their criminal investigation into Mr. Trump’s business practices is more wide-ranging than previously known.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office issued the subpoena last year to Deutsche Bank, which has been Mr. Trump’s primary lender since the late 1990s, seeking financial records that he and his company provided to the bank, according to four people familiar with the inquiry.

The criminal investigation initially appeared to be focused on hush-money payments made in 2016 to two women who have said they had affairs with Mr. Trump. Continue reading.

D.A. Is Investigating Trump and His Company Over Fraud, Filing Suggests

New York Times logoThe office of the district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., made the disclosure in a new court filing arguing Mr. Trump’s accountants should turn over his tax returns.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office suggested on Monday that it had been investigating President Trump and his company for possible bank and insurance fraud, a significantly broader inquiry than the prosecutors have acknowledged in the past.

The suggestion by the office of the district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., came in a new federal court filing arguing that Mr. Trump’s accountants should have to comply with a grand jury subpoena seeking eight years of his personal and corporate tax returns. Mr. Trump has asked a judge to declare the subpoena invalid.

Until now, the district attorney’s inquiry had appeared largely focused on hush-money payments made in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election to two women who said they had affairs with Mr. Trump. Continue reading.

Manhattan DA filings indicate Trump is being investigated for possible fraud and ‘protracted criminal conduct’: report

AlterNet logoIn New York City, new court filings by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, according to the New York Times, indicate that President Donald Trump may be under investigation for possible fraud.

According to Times reporters William K. Rashbaum and Benjamin Weiser, the filings indicate a “significantly broader inquiry than the prosecutors have acknowledged in the past.” And in the filings, Vance’s office argues that Trump should have to comply with subpoenas that demanded eight years of the president’s financial and tax documents.

Rashbaum and Weiser explain, “The reports, including investigations into the president’s wealth and an article on the congressional testimony of his former lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen, said that the president may have illegally inflated his net worth and the value of his properties to lenders and insurer.” Continue reading.

Prosecutors hint at probe into ‘possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization’

The Hill logoThe Manhattan district attorney’s office on Monday hinted that its subpoena for President Trump‘s tax returns is part of an investigation into “possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization,” including potential fraud allegations detailed in media reports in recent years.

In response to the latest legal challenge by Trump’s attorneys, New York County prosecutors said that news reports about the president’s financial history provide sufficient justification for requesting the extensive amount of information from the accounting firm Mazars in their grand jury investigation.

“In light of these public reports of possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization, there was nothing facially improper (or even particularly unusual) about the Mazars Subpoena, which [was] issued in connection with a complex financial investigation, requesting eight years of records from an accounting firm,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing submitted Monday.nContinue reading. Continue reading.

Supreme Court denies Democrats’ bid to fast-track ongoing fight for Trump financial records

The Hill logoThe Supreme Court on Monday denied a request by House Democrats to accelerate the timeline of remaining court battles over congressional subpoenas for President Trump’s tax returns.

The bid by lawmakers came in response to the court’s landmark 7-2 ruling earlier this month to shield a trove of Trump’s financial records from several Democratic-led House committees and return the dispute to lower courts for further litigation.

Under regular Supreme Court procedure, the ruling would reach the lower courts no earlier than Aug. 3, a delay Democrats sought to avoid by asking the justices to expedite the process. Continue reading.