The New York Times reported on Tuesday that President Donald Trump may not have been as successful as he’d like us all to believe. According to the “paper of record” (cough, ahem!), Trump actually lost over $1 billion in the ten year period from 1985-1994.
The numbers show that in 1985, Mr. Trump reported losses of $46.1 million from his core businesses — largely casinos, hotels and retail space in apartment buildings. They continued to lose money every year, totaling $1.17 billion in losses for the decade.
In fact, year after year, Mr. Trump appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual American taxpayer, The Times found when it compared his results with detailed information the I.R.S. compiles on an annual sampling of high-income earners. His core business losses in 1990 and 1991 — more than $250 million each year — were more than double those of the nearest taxpayers in the I.R.S. information for those years.
As a result, The Times charges, Trump didn’t have to pay any income taxes for eight of the ten years. That’s how much money he supposedly lost.
Of course, the report proves one thing very, very clearly. And no, not that Trump may not be a smart businessman. What it does prove is that The Times really doesn’t understand finances — and especially not the way real estate owners do business. As the president himself was quick to point out on Twitter today:
Real estate developers in the 1980’s & 1990’s, more than 30 years ago, were entitled to massive write offs and depreciation which would, if one was actively building, show losses and tax losses in almost all cases. Much was non monetary. Sometimes considered “tax shelter,” ……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 8, 2019
And:
….you would get it by building, or even buying. You always wanted to show losses for tax purposes….almost all real estate developers did – and often re-negotiate with banks, it was sport. Additionally, the very old information put out is a highly inaccurate Fake News hit job!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 8, 2019
What’s more, the NYT report leaves out some very important information such as the New York real estate crash.
Apartment rental prices fell by 15 percent during the slump that had begun in 1988. The prices of co-ops and condos were down by nearly twice that much. Manhattan homes fell by 32.9 percent between 1989 and 1996, according to a study by the Furman Center for Real Estate & Urban Policy. In Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen — that westside stretch where Trump had invested so much in a plan to turn an old railyard into a new neighborhood — home prices fell 40.4 percent.
All in all, when 1995 ended, Trump could finally breathe a sigh of relief. The worst was surely over now… From then on out, it could only get better.
Miraculously, however, that’s exactly where The Times report ends. Funny, that.
In short, this was nothing more than another fake news hit job, carried out by Democrats’ favorite fake newspaper. Shocking, I know.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member