Posted on 03/08/2016 11:54:52 AM PST by GIdget2004
One of the enduring mysteries of Donald Trump is just how much wealth he has. Forbes pegs his net worth at $4.5 billion, while Bloomberg News puts it at $2.9 billion. The GOP front-runner himself has said he's "really rich."
Maybe, but Trump's income is low enough to qualify for a New York state property-tax break that most high-rollers don't get.
It's called the STAR program, which stands for the New York State School Tax Relief Program and has been around since 1997. It offers an approximately $300 annual benefit for those who qualify. Hundreds of thousands of New York homeowners get it.
Here's where it gets interesting for Trump: To be eligible for STAR, a married couple must have annual income of $500,000 or less. One wouldn't think a guy as rich as Trump claims to be would qualify, but records filed with the city's Department of Finance show he received a $302 STAR benefit on his latest property-tax bill for his Trump Tower penthouse on Fifth Avenue.
That means whatever his annual income is, it's less than $500,000. (The state defines income for STAR purposes as federal adjusted gross income minus the taxable amount of total distributions from annuities or individual retirement accounts.) And Trump would have to have declared his New York apartment as his permanent residence and sent the state a copy of his federal income-tax return in order to qualify for the $302 tax break.
"It's strange that a billionaire would apply for a $302 tax benefit and, moreover, that he would take it," said Martha Stark, a property-tax expert and former New York City finance commissioner who is now a lecturer at Baruch College. A Trump spokeswoman had no immediate comment.
(Excerpt) Read more at crainsnewyork.com ...
What company provides a 737 to a low level management employee only making 500K a year.
I don’t care if Trump makes 2 cents a year. That has ZERO to do with his net worth and ZERO to do with ISIS infiltrating the USA via Mexico.
“it keeps the low information types entertained”
You mean Trump’s base? The ‘lowly educated’?
of couse what djt does not often say is that he does not own a great number of the things he “seems” to own
as to his actual wealth..
“Now, Mr. Trump, have you always been completely truthful in your public statements about your net worth of properties?” my lawyer asked during the deposition.
“I try,” said Donald.
“Have you ever not been truthful?”
“My net worth fluctuates, and it goes up and down with markets and with attitudes and with feelings, even my own feelings, but I try.”
“Let me just understand that a little bit,” my lawyer said. “Let’s talk about net worth for a second. You said that the net worth goes up and down based upon your own feelings?”
“Yes, even my own feelings, as to where the world is, where the world is going, and that can change rapidly from day to day.
Note this is sworn testimony in a case that djt Lost.
Yup, pretty amazing. The not-rich don’t understand why the rich are rich.
Source on that please.
New York City has its own special set of rules and regs. I don't know how it would work but I think someone in assessment would have had to go through the assessment rolls and determine whether each individual needed to submit their returns to prove income.
There are probably thousands of wealthy New Yorkers with this exemption still in place. I have no proof but it wouldn't surprise me in the least.
Not that I disagree with you at all, but I have to wonder why ISIS would even bother to sneak in from Mexico when they can just fly in from Belgium any day of the week?
At least before they had to break a sweat.
You buy politicians when you want the politician to influence decision to your benefit. In commercial real estate - Trump would have to be buying locally. And there is no indication he has.
Again, the in battle of being the buyer(Trump) or the purchased(Cruz, Rubio, Kasich and the rest of the establishment), I will continue to side with the BUYER.
Maybe they do. However things like this get missed all the time. That is a major undertaking. Is there more proof for that statement?
The author; Aaron Elstein
Sure isn’t Einstein.
Amusing.
“Assets are what counts.”
In determining wealth it sure is!
So what? There are plenty of rich people who only take a token salary, but get compensated in other ways.
Just about all he does is work so I can imagine most of what he does is deductible. It’s just the way the laws have been structured.
I know a thing or two about this.
RE: Income has little to no reflection on wealth...especially after tax income.
I would say that Trump is ASSET RICH.
As for Liquid cash ( where he can self-fund his Presidential campaign) ... I don’t think so.
Most of Trump’s wealth is in real estate. As a result, you will not see a lot of that as income until a property is sold.
He can claim wealth by making valuations on the properties he owns, like a commercial suite that is Gucci’s US HQ that is worth more than Romney if it were sold on the open market.
Ewwww......
The Big Boys ‘get’ taxes... or as Trump said the other day, “I have one store worth more than Romney...” The story was fact checked and TRUE.
“The Donald is right! Gucci store worth more than Romney”
From Link:
Now, much of Romney’s wealth has resided in the financial markets, which have generally been way up in recent years. Since Jan. 1, 2012, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 48 percent; the S&P 500 is up 68 percent. But in the absence of better data, that $230 million figure will have to be our baseline, with the substantial caveat that the true number is likely north of that by perhaps tens of millions of dollars.
Before we get into the calculations, let’s lay out a bit of background on that particular Gucci store. The four-story, 45,000-square-foot space at Trump Tower on the corner of 5th Avenue and 56th Street in Midtown Manhattan is the Italian fashion house’s flagship location. In 2010, Bloomberg quoted its annual rent at $16.5 million, a figure that aides to Trump interviewed this week did not dispute but which potentially has increased in the years since.
Although the value of real estate is never certain and always comes down to the price a buyer is willing to pay for it, those two key pieces of information — the store’s square footage and annual rent — allow us at least to estimate a value.
Retail condos — retail spaces sold separately from other commercial and residential units within the same building — have become increasingly popular in New York in recent years, and have generated incredible valuations for storefronts in some of the city’s marquee shopping districts.
Monica’s??
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.