SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the fortunes-declining-like-many-other-americans dept.
AlterNet reports
Donald Trump has dropped 92 places in the Forbes list of wealthiest Americans, with the magazine putting his wealth at $3.1bn, down from $3.7bn last year.
[...] Forbes ranked the first billionaire president as the 248th wealthiest person in America. The year before, he was ranked 156th.
As a candidate, Trump said his net worth was more than $10bn, but Forbes pegged that figure at $4.5bn in September 2015. By Forbes' estimates, Trump's wealth has fallen 31% in two years.
According to Forbes' story:
It was another record year for the wealthiest people in America, as the price of admission to the country's most exclusive club jumped nearly 18% to $2 billion. Even at these new heights, entrepreneurs are breaking into the ranks for the first time as they mint fortunes in everything from telecom to booze to fishing. There were 22 newcomers, 14 of whom are self-made entrepreneurs. Among the most notable: Arizona iced tea cofounder Don Vultaggio; Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings; Tito Beveridge, the creator of Tito's Handmade Vodka; Chuck Bundrant, whose Trident Seafoods sells his fish to places like McDonald's and Burger King; and Rocco Commisso, founder of cable TV and broadband firm Mediacom and owner of the New York Cosmos, a soccer club based in Brooklyn.
The most notable loser was President Donald Trump, whose fortune fell $600 million to $3.1 billion. A tough New York real estate market, particularly for retail locations; a costly lawsuit and an expensive presidential campaign all contributed to the declining fortune of the 45th president.
If you prefer, you can just go straight to the list [Edit - that requires JS from www.forbes.com and i.forbesimg.com, JS-phobes can get just the raw numbers here -- FP].
In November, some thought that having a successful businessman at the helm would cure USA's ills. I wonder if this will increase the incidence of buyer's remorse among voters.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @01:07PM (6 children)
Trump's taxes in some years are probably a bit embarrassing. It is legal to carry some business losses into other years for tax purposes, and he has almost certainly done so, resulting in no tax. On the other hand, there are years where he paid enough to buy an F-15 and training for several pilots. There is nothing illegal here. It's just... awkward.
Meanwhile, we have this:
http://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/clinton-foundation-refiles-taxes-after-charges-it-ran-a-slush-fund/ [investors.com]
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/11/17/clinton-foundation-amends-four-years-tax-returns.html [foxnews.com]
Yep. That is 4 years of fraud ("mistakes" if you were born yesterday) that got caught.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @01:32PM (5 children)
There has been only 1 year of Trump's tax returns made available.
Interestingly, that was leaked to Johnston.
It shows that Trump did pay something that year.
It stands to reason that if the same was true for other years, those returns would have been made available.
Johnston, with his vast knowledge of tax law and the way it is abused, speculates that in the following years Trump clawed all of that back.
The audio has enough details to be interesting.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @03:23PM (4 children)
Our tax law is complicated. Any sane person or business will do their best to minimize the amount of tax that must be paid. Those who do this well are intelligent and effective... not that this should be possible.
Blame the law, not the people trying to pay as little as possible.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @04:51PM (3 children)
Blame the obvious con man, not his victims. If Trump had actually followed the law he wouldn't be so hesitant about releasing his taxes, or he is a massive liar and doesn't want anyone to see how much trouble his "business" is in. Take your pick, the man is still a walking talking turd. Also, since most of those tax cuts are lobbied for by businesses I have a hard time giving anyone a pass. Abuse a bad law and you're still a bad person. Same for every police department that used civil forfeiture, they are criminals that should be sent behind bars.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @06:51PM (2 children)
Trump claimed that he is audited ever year. If that is true, he must have paid (after audit, if not before) every penny required by law (plus interest and penalties if applicable). If you don't think he paid enough, the problem is the law, not Trump. I don't understand why people keep claiming that Trump somehow avoided following the law when he was audited.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @09:50PM (1 child)
You got the story wrong.
IRS can go back 7 years with an audit.
It appears that that is what they were doing in the Obama years.
As Johnston says in his interview, the way that real estate people do things, it's necessary to have -multiple- years of returns to determine strategies/violations.
...and, as Trump's 1 leaked tax return shows, there's nothing to prevent him from releasing ALL of his tax returns.
The reason he is not doing that, it seems obvious, is that there's stuff in those that shows him to be crooked.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @12:24AM
I misspoke.
There is no statute of limitations on tax fraud.
IRS can go back as far as they want with audits.
A general recommendation that I have heard is to save tax records for 7 years.
After that, they tend to lose interest in Joe Average.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]