NUMBERS GAME

New Trump Tower Tax and Loan Documents Show ‘Significant’ Inconsistencies: ProPublica

The documents appear to show a 16 percentage point gap in Trump Tower occupancy rates reported to lenders and tax officials.

Newly unearthed tax and loan documents appear to show that Donald Trump’s business reported wildly conflicting occupancy rates for Trump Tower in Manhattan—depending on who the intended audience was. ProPublica obtained documents that appear to show the president’s business reported a high occupancy rate to lenders, but a lower rate in official tax filings. For example, in June 2012, Trump’s business told a lender that 99 percent of the tower’s commercial space was occupied; but, in tax filings in the same year, it said the building’s occupancy was at 83 percent. That 16 percentage point gap between the loan and tax filings is a “very significant difference,” according to Susan Mancuso, an attorney who specializes in New York property tax. Showing a high occupancy rate to lenders in 2012 may have helped Trump refinance his share of Trump Tower that year, when he reportedly got a $100 million loan on good terms. A spokesperson for the Trump Organization said that “comparing the various reports is comparing apples to oranges.”