Trump Not Worth A Lot After All

The excuse that Donald Trump uses for not releasing his taxes – that he is currently being audited – is, of course, patently bogus;  nothing about an audit prevents you from releasing the returns. So the question remains as to what Trump’s real reason is.  Mitt Romney believes this refusal is “disqualifying” and surmises that there is a “bombshell” in the tax documents.  And Mitt might actually have some inside information on this, having potentially vetted Trump as a Vice Presidential candidate in the 2012 election.  Others have speculated that the returns will show, as Romney’s did as well, just how low an effective tax rate Trump was paying. But, knowing Trump, he would just portray paying a small percentage of his income in taxes as showing what a smart and effective businessman he was. Now comes the latest report from Crain’s showing that Trump qualified for a tax break in New York that was eligible only for people making under $500,000 per year.  Now you and I would be perfectly happy with that kind of income, it is pretty paltry sum for someone who professes to be worth $10 billion, although Forbes estimates his value to be less than half that.  On the other hand, as of the end of February 2016, Trump had loaned his campaign about $25 million dollars but it is unclear whether that was a cash loan or backed by some form of collateral that Trump owns. And today, the Wall Street Journal reports that Trump does not have the over $500 million that it takes to run a modern Presidential campaign.  In fact, a financial disclosure form that Trump was required to file showed that he could have as little as $100 million in liquid assets. Of course, perhaps Trump can run a less expensive campaign than most others considering the inordinate amount of free media exposure he manages to generate, estimated at nearly $2 billion during the primary campaign.

It seems pretty clear that Trump is not really a developer anymore – he is just a front man for other development money and a spokesman for the Trump brand. And my guess is that his tax returns would show that he is not nearly as wealthy as he constantly professes.  Making this known publicly will not only damage his enormous ego, but probably will hurt the Trump brand as it would show just how minor a “player” he really is.  But we’ll probably never know the truth until his taxes are released.