When The New York Times released a bombshell report on Sunday that Trump paid only US$750 (yes, less than a thousand bucks) in federal income tax in 2016 and 2017 while serving as the U.S. president, it immediately raised eyebrows. The explosive revelation was based on 18 years of tax documents (2000 to 2018). The best part – he paid zero income tax in 11 of the previous 18 years.

Every U.S. president since the mid-1970s has made his tax information public. But Trump, despite being the first billionaire president in U.S. history, has been refusing to share his tax information. Now, the world knows why the man, who was allegedly worth a staggering US$2.5 billion (Forbes, Sept 29, 2020), has every reason to hide his tax information.

It certainly didn’t make sense that a billionaire like Trump paid only $750 in income tax when American workers making just under US$18,000 a year would have paid a similar amount of income tax. We’re talking about the man who at one time (March 2020) was worth as much as US$3.1 billion before his fortune took a US$1 billion hit due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Had Americans voted a fake billionaire, or worse, a con artist? How did Trump pay so little and get away with it? Something must be horribly wrong with the American taxation system. More importantly, is President Trump actually broke? To reduce his taxes, Trump had claimed a wide range of personal expenses and used a strategy of tax avoidance based on questionable methods.

Among the tactics used was paying a substantial consulting fee (US$26 million) to his own daughter, Ivanka Trump, even though she was also an executive officer of the Trump Organization. Donald Trump also claimed expenses – US$70,000 – to style his hair for television shows. Similarly, nine of Trump’s companies had paid US$95,464 as expenses to style Ivanka hair.

But Trump actually made truckloads of money – a lot of money – from reality TV show “The Apprentice”. In fact, he earned US$197 million directly from appearing on “The Apprentice” between 2004 and 2015. He also earned a further US$230 million from licensing deals, sponsorships, seminars and whatnot. In total, he made approximately US$427.4 million from the TV show.

He made US$500,000 for appearing in the Big N’ Tasty burger ad. He collected US$5.2 million from 11 different ad campaigns – from steaks and vodka to a board game and cologne. Another US$15 million would pour in from Trump neckties, shirts and even underwear. Unilever paid him US$850,00 for promoting laundry detergent.

Yes, there was a period in which he made too much money to avoid paying taxes. Over three years, Trump paid a total of US$70.1 million in income taxes. But the so-called billionaire also lost truckloads of money, allowing him to spread current losses into subsequent years to offset future tax bills using a provision called “loss carryforward”.

Apparently, as Trump bragged in “The Apprentice” that he was a billionaire who had overcome financial hardship, the reality behind the scene was very different. Months before the first episode of the TV show in January 2004, he filed his individual tax return reporting US$89.9 million in net losses from his core businesses for the prior year.

Based on his corporate tax returns, some of Trump businesses were losing massive amounts of money. The famed Trump golf courses, for example, has lost over US$315 million since 2000. When the 2008 Financial Crisis hit, he declared a huge business loss – a total of US$1.4 billion from his core businesses for 2008 and 2009.

Trump had paid no income taxes in 2008. Confidential records show that starting in 2010 he claimed, and awarded, an income tax refund totaling US$72.9 million – all the federal income tax he had paid from 2005 through 2008, plus interest. In essence, the I.R.S. had refunded not just the US$13.3 million Trump paid in 2007, but also the combined US$56.9 million paid in 2005 and 2006.

The tax refund (from 2005 to 2008) is now the subject of a decade-long audit battle with the I.R.S. If the Internal Revenue Service determines Trump improperly obtained the US$72.9 million tax rebate, a reversal of the refund – plus interest and potential penalties – could result in the POTUS and his business empire owing the Government of the United States over US$100 million.

The Trump Organization was basically bleeding with huge debts, at least that was what Trump declared to the I.R.S., even as he was campaigning for President against Hillary Clinton and boasting about his financial success. He used the US$427.4 million he was paid for “The Apprentice” to fund his other businesses, mostly his golf courses.

However, Trump has also taken out nearly US$300 million of personally-guaranteed loans from Deutsche Bank AG against his properties (Doral golf resort – US$125 million and Trump’s Washington hotel – US$160 million). And the debts will mature in 2023 and 2024. On top of that, a US$100 million mortgage (granted by Ladder Capital) on Trump Tower in New York will due in 2022.

In total, the debt guaranteed by Trump personally (rather than just his business) totals a jaw-dropping US$421 million. Here’s the tricky part – exactly how Trump’s lenders could force him to pay up should he win re-election in the coming November? We’re talking about a president who serves as the top executive of the federal government that includes the I.R.S. and America’s federal prosecutors.

But Trump’s trouble isn’t just with his income tax. During his first two years in office, he has collected at least US$73 million in revenue overseas – coming from his golf courses and licensing deals in countries – including the Philippines, India and Turkey. Clearly, it screams conflict of interest, something which Trump didn’t care and continues his involvement in business while in the White House.

There’s a bigger problem. Trump’s foreign debt of US$421 million raises national security concerns that he could be manipulated to sway U.S. policy by organizations or individuals he’s indebted to. The POTUS may be vulnerable to financial blackmail from a hostile foreign power. Heck, the U.S. president actually has 14 loans on 12 properties.

The report also says that some of President Trump’s businesses have received money from “lobbyists, foreign officials and others seeking face time, access or favour” from the president. This brings back the arrangement of a visit for Malaysian former Prime Minister Najib Razak to the White House in Sept 2017, who happens to be the world’s biggest crook.

Mr. Najib, who walked the corridors of power from 2009 to 2018, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for abuse of power, and 10 years in jail for each of six counts of money laundering and breach of trust (CBT). Additionally, Najib was fined RM210 million, and will serve an additional 5 years if he fails to pay. In total, he was given a total of 72 years in prison.

Trump might not be a smart businessman after all. But he sure is a genius in taking advantage of every loophole of what he previously called a “corrupt tax system” to avoid paying taxes. But at the same time, he is using his position as the world’s most powerful man to make money while building his property empire – even to the extent of subjecting himself to a possibility of national security threat.

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