SMOKE AND MIRRORS

New Trump Tax Documents Show Wild Inconsistencies, Says Report

The figures made buildings appear more profitable to the lender, and less profitable to the officials who determined the property taxes.

Newly unearthed tax documents show stark differences in how Donald Trump’s real-estate businesses reported losses and profits at two Manhattan buildings, depending on who the intended audience was. ProPublica reports it obtained documents showing Trump’s business gave a lender very different figures than ones provided to New York City tax authorities. The numbers made buildings appear more profitable to the lender, and less profitable to the officials who determined its property tax. The figures show “versions of fraud,” said Nancy Wallace, a finance professor at the University of California at Berkeley, adding: “This kind of stuff is not OK.” Trump reportedly informed the lender that he took in double the amount of rent from one building as he reported to the tax office in the same year, and gave out two different occupancy figures. New York City’s tax forms state that “false filings are subject to all applicable civil and criminal penalties.”