I’ve not even heard it reported as “household income” instead I’ve heard it reported as “earned” which is a very important distinction.
Small business owners can, if structured correctly, thanks to GWB, pay themselves a “salary” from their business and move the rest over as as dividends ( untaxed ) from the business.
So they can perhaps tell the truth that was all they earned but it isn’t all the money they get.
There is no way in the world that someone buys a $450k house, owns all that commercial realestate and only has $45k/year income. The BS meter is past the MAN THE LIFEBOATS stage.
In fact the school is possibly getting scammed into giving them financial aid (needs based would be my guess ) and this story may well be causing them problems on that front as well. Just a hunch.
It would appear he paid $55K for the house in 1990, but, all other things considered, it's still MAN THE LIFEBOATS.
While there may be a lot of things small business owners can do under the tax system to shield their income, dividends are not untaxed. Dividends are in fact taxed twice -- first as corporate income (dividends are always after-tax disbursements) and then again as personal income to the recipient of the dividend.
The Frosts didn’t BUY a $450,000 house....that’s what it’s WORTH now.....WITH a Carriage House...plus they have a warehouse they rent out.