An investigation is underway in the US into reports that President Donald Trump was involved in “dubious tax schemes and “instances of outright fraud” as he received millions of dollars from his father’s fortune.
President Trump has always styled himself as a self-made billionaire – however a special investigation by The New York Times has revealed that he received the equivalent of at least €357m ($413m) from his father.
The investigation found that Trump’s parent’s transferred over €1bn to their children, paying around $52.2m in tax on the transfer – just short of ten times less than they would have without tax avoidance schemes.
White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders has labelled the reports a "misleading attack," noting that the IRS signed off on the transactions decades ago.
Charles Harder, a lawyer for President Trump said the report was "100% false."
I’ve directed NYC’s Department of Finance to immediately investigate tax and housing violations and to work with NY State to find out if appropriate taxes were paid. https://t.co/AVCJ0VWH3T
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) October 3, 2018
The New York Times examined tens of thousands of pages of tax returns and confidential records related to the business interests and trusts of President Trump’s father Fred to compile the report.
The paper said the tax schemes included instances of “outright fraud” and saw the use of a “sham corporation” to mask the payments.
It said the Trump helped reduce the tax bill by undervaluing Fred Trump’s property empire by hundreds of millions of dollars.
Silver spoon
President Trump's parents died in 1999 and 2000, with the Times saying they transferred a total of more than $1bn (€865m) to their five children over the years.
It should have meant a tax bill of at least $550m (€475m) but the Trumps paid just over $52m (€45m), according to the Times' analysis of tax records.
The president has famously portrayed himself as a self-made billionaire who flourished after getting a "very small" $1m (€860,000) loan from his New York property developer father.
But the NYT investigation says Mr Trump was getting $200,000 a year (€172,670) in today's money from his parents' business when he was three-years-old, was a millionaire aged eight, and was receiving $5m (€4.32m) a year in his 40s and 50s.
Investigation
New York City's mayor, Bill de Blasio, tweeted on Tuesday: "I've directed NYC's department of finance to immediately investigate tax and housing violations and to work with NY State to find out if appropriate taxes were paid."
James Gazzale, a spokesman for New York's tax authority, added: "The tax department is reviewing the allegations in the NYT article and is vigorously pursuing all appropriate avenues of investigation."
Additional reporting from IRN ...
