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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump's Company Is Suing Towns Across the Country to Get Breaks on Taxes
Trumps Company Is Suing Towns Across the Country to Get Breaks on Taxes Trump, Inc. PodcastWhy is Trumps business arguing its properties are worth just a fraction of what Trump has claimed they are on his own financial disclosures? To save on taxes.
by Katherine Sullivan April 11, 4 a.m. EDT
President Donald Trump is famous for bragging about his net worth. Publicly, he claims hes worth more than $10 billion. He even sued an author over the issue and lobbied the editors of Forbes about his ranking on their billionaires list.
Yet quietly in another setting, the Trump Organization says the presidents holdings are worth far less than he has proclaimed. Across the country, the Trump Organization is suing local governments, claiming it owes much less in property taxes than government assessors say because its properties are worth much less than theyve been valued at. In just one example, the company has asserted that its gleaming waterfront skyscraper in Chicago is worth less than than its assessed value, in part because its retail space is failing and worth less than nothing.
Since becoming president, Trumps companies have filed at least nine new lawsuits against municipalities in Florida, New York and Illinois, arguing for lower tax bills, ProPublica has found. Some of those lawsuits have been previously reported. At stake is millions of dollars that communities use to fund roads, schools and police departments.
Real estate owners dispute property taxes frequently, and some even sue. The president has a long track record of doing so himself. But experts are troubled that hes doing so while in office.
No president in modern times has owned a business involved in legal battles with local governments. The idea that the president would have these interests and then those companies would sue localities is really a dangerous precedent, says Larry Noble, of the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center. The dynamic between local and federal governments is impossible to ignore in these cases, says Noble. Municipalities rely on resources from the federal government and the federal government can make your life easier or much more difficult. The concern arises because the president did not fully separate from his businesses, he says.
A spokesman for the Trump Organization said, Like any other business or property owner when property taxes become inflated it is not uncommon to challenge the process to ensure fair treatment. This is a routine practice and any suggestion otherwise is simply ridiculous.
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https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-inc-podcast-trump-organization-suing-towns-property-tax-breaks
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Trump's Company Is Suing Towns Across the Country to Get Breaks on Taxes (Original Post)
DonViejo
Apr 2018
OP
The boys have been busy. Sounds like they inherited the ol' man's techniques.
Frustratedlady
Apr 2018
#1
Frustratedlady
(16,254 posts)1. The boys have been busy. Sounds like they inherited the ol' man's techniques.
These tax departments could offer them a deal. They could set a value, but would only be able to sell for that price, not some astronomical figure like that house in Florida. I wonder what its value was?