Fortune magazine on what Trump may be hiding in return:
I'd bet on 1, 2, 4, 5.
- Trump has claimed he is worth $10 billion. But looking at his tax returns would prove whether he is telling the truth; Forbes has estimated his wealth to be roughly $4 billion, far, far less than he would have had if he had simply invested in the stock market and let it ride. As Fortune has stated of Trump’s claims: “On a press release with his financial disclosure form released last year, for example, Trump put his 2014 income at $362 million, excluding certain items like interest and dividends. But that figure appeared to include revenue that wouldn’t count as taxable income. For example, Trump’s disclosure form included $4.3 million in 'golf-related revenue' over 18 months from his course in Scotland. But the course lost more than $2 million in 2014 after its costs were taken into account."
- The tax returns could reveal he has paid no taxes by claiming real estate depreciation provisions and carrying forward business operating losses from years before, as Fortune reported.
- The tax returns could show how much money he makes from licensing his products, which would enable others to determine if his products really were as successful as he claims.
- Here’s a big one, too. How much money does Trump actually give in charity? His itemized charitable donations would be revealed, and its quite possible that Ted Cruz might have been correct in suggesting Trump gave donations to “liberal groups like Planned Parenthood,” not to mention other organizations with questionable motives.
- How much of a tax break has Trump gleaned from his promises to refrain from constructing luxury houses that he never intended to build? His game–playing vis-à-vis the driving range at the Trump National Golf Course in Los Angeles is a case in point.
- How much does Trump deduct from his opulent lifestyle? His massive yacht was written off as a casino expense, for one example.
- How much money is Trump’s network of businesses actually making? He owns over 90% of the roughly 500 businesses he reported last year, and their actual value would become public.
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