I’ve lost track of all of the many suits targeting Trump. I find it unbelievable that Trump or his accountants and lawyers would commit tax fraud. Besides, hasn’t he been audited over and over and over again?
> I find it unbelievable that Trump or his accountants and lawyers would commit tax fraud. <
I don’t know anything about this particular case. But the tax code is so complicated and arbitrary that I suppose an auditor could find fault with any return.
I recall reading about a test some guy did a number of years ago. He sent a business’s tax documents to five different professional tax preparers. He got back five different suggested returns, ranging from the business owing a lot of money to the business getting a big refund.
If I’m not mistaken, the gist was that he was raising or lowering the stated values of his properties in order to get loans or lower his tax liability.
Which is interesting because the tax assessor and loan officers probably don’t care all that much what the property owner has to say.
If he says his property is worth less, tax assessor can tell him to pound sand
If the loan officer wants that loan, they’re going to look at tax records and then loan the most that they can to get that fat commission.