Trump the Tax Cheat

Donald Trump tried for years to keep his tax returns private. Now we know why. He has been cheating on his taxes for years. The Supreme Court ruled that Trump's tax returns should be made public like every other president in the history of the IRS. Now we know why he fought so hard to hide them. He has been cheating on his taxes, and so far, has gotten away with it.

According to an article by David Cay Johnston published in the National Memo, Trump filed 26 Schedule C forms between 2015 and 2020 The forms showed huge business expenses despite having zero revenue. That created losses which Trump used to offset his income from work and investments, thus lowering his income taxes. Additional Schedule Cs had expenses exactly equal to revenues while only a few showed profits.

Trump knew this was unlawful because he lost two trials over his 1984 income taxes in which he did the exact same thing. Both judges, in scathing opinions, ruled that Trump committed civil tax fraud, according to Johnston.

As president, the fleecing of America continued. He received more than $154.2 million in wages, interest, dividends, capital gains, and pensions over the six years he campaigned for and served as president. Despite this huge revenue stream, Trump reported a loss of $53.2 million in Adjusted Gross Income.

In addition, according to the Congressional report, Trump took charitable deductions that appear to be bogus. He treated personal expenses as business expenses. He made loans to his three older children to escape gift taxes. Loans that they did not have to repay. And, he reported nearly $5 million of capital contributions as tax-deductible business expenses. He most likely avoided state taxes as well, according to Johnston.

Trump has been doing this for a while, as Johnston reported. In 1984, State and city auditors spotted a Schedule C consulting business that showed no fees or other revenue but more than $600,000 in costs. State and city auditors disallowed the losses. Trump appealed. In scathing decisions following the trials, judges for New York state and city ruled that Trump was not entitled to use losses from this supposed consulting business to offset his other income.

Trump produced no receipts, no invoices, no work papers — nothing indicating the 1984 consulting business was more than a figment of his imagination.

He complained of double taxation, but Judge Tillman ruled that claim baseless. In his judicial opinion the Judge wrote, “The problem at issue is not one of double taxation, but of no taxation.”

Trump’s longtime tax accountant and lawyer, Jack Mitnick, gave damning testimony before Judge Tillman. He said the tax return the city received was not an original with “wet” (ink) signatures, but a photocopy. When asked about the validity of the photocopy, Mitnick gave astonishing testimony.

“We did not” prepare that return, referring to himself and his firm. In other words, the tax return was a forgery. Mitnick’s signature was applied using scissors and a photocopy machine. The tax return the city received was not an original with “wet” (ink) signatures, but a photocopy. In other words, the tax return was a forgery. Mitnick’s signature was applied using scissors and a photocopy machine.

There is no statute of limitations on civil tax fraud, so even if Trump is never indicted, he could be pursued by the IRS to collect taxes he owes, along with penalties and interest, going back years or even decades. No president or former president has ever had to be pursued for tax fraud, so Trump may make history.

If you or I did a small percentage of that, we would be penalized by the IRS. If we did half of that, we'd be in federal prison. So where is the justice here?