New York authorities are investigating claims that Donald Trump took part in “dubious” tax schemes.
The state’s Department of Taxation and Finance said it was reviewing allegations by The New York Times (NYT) that the US president “received at least $413m [£318m] in today’s dollars from his father’s real estate empire, much of it through tax dodges in the 1990s”.
The newspaper claims that Trump and his siblings created a “sham corporaton” to disguise millions of dollars in gifts from their mother and father, Mary and Fred.
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“Records indicate that Mr Trump helped his father take improper tax deductions worth millions more,” says the NYT in an article published on Tuesday. “He also helped formulate a strategy to undervalue his parents’ real estate holdings by hundreds of millions of dollars on tax returns, sharply reducing the tax bill when those properties were transferred to him and his siblings.”
Based on its analysis of tens of thousands of pages of tax returns and records, the newspaper estimates that the Trumps should have paid at least $550m (£423m) in taxes after transferring more than $1bn (£769m) to their children - but only handed over $52.2m (£40.15m).
Charles Harder, a lawyer for the president, has dismissed the claims as “100% false” and “highly defamatory”. He added: “There was no fraud or tax evasion by anyone. The facts upon which the Times bases its false allegations are extremely inaccurate.”
Speaking on behalf of the Trump family, the president’s brother Robert added that “all appropriate gift and estate tax returns were filed, and the required taxes were paid” following the deaths of their father in 1999 and mother the following year.
“Our father’s estate was closed in 2001 by both the Internal Revenue Service and the New York State tax authorities, and our mother’s estate was closed in 2004,” he added.
However, not everyone is totally convinced. Yesterday New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted: “I’ve directed NYC’s department of finance to immediately investigate tax and housing violations and to work with NY State to find out if appropriate taxes were paid.”
A spokesperson for the New York State tax department said: “The tax department is reviewing the allegations in the NYT article and is vigorously pursuing all appropriate avenues of investigation.”
