Donald Trump’s money trail just got even uglier
Another day, another scandal-at least in the world of Donald Trump. His tax returns are set to be released Friday by the House Ways and Means Committee. This should be interesting. Most of Trump’s schemes-like the one for which his company was recently found guilty-center around securing loans he can’t repay and decreasing his taxes. According to Business Insider, Trump declared negative income in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2020. The total Trump paid for 2016 and 2017 was $1,500. Rubbing salt into the proverbial wound, BI reported that he and his wife Melania paid zero income tax in 2020 and claimed a refund of $5.47 million. A review of the report prepared by the Joint Committee on Taxation to the House Ways and Means Committee dated December 15, 2022, tells the story.
In 2015, Trump claimed a refund of $707,123 after paying $28,049. Under his filing for DJT Holdings, Trump claimed that he lost $28,248,588 and that he made charitable contributions totaling $21,081,511. The 2015 tax return is the only return that the IRS was auditing, so Trump lied about that as well. It gets better. In 2016, Trump and his wife filed for an extension, paying $1,000,000 with his extension request, which ended in a refund of $402,718, most of which he applied to 2017. His business income for that year for DJT Holdings was negative $64,497,128. The very next year, Trump paid $4,200,000 to file an extension, and in 2018, the figure was $7,500,000. He then shows overpayments for 2017 and 2018 of $4,431,776 and $9,980,925, respectively. Come on. There is no way this man didn’t owe taxes on this kind of money. The man is a bona fide crook and tax cheat, but all of that will soon be made public. No wonder he didn’t want his taxes made public. If most of us had to pay back $1,000, it could stand to ruin us, but here’s this man, who claims to be worth millions, getting refunds that are larger than most of us make in a lifetime. Trump’s taxes aren’t his only problem.
The media has been buzzing about an alleged bribery scheme that allowed Dwight and Steve Hammond to secure pardons from Trump. The scheme was cooked up by real estate developer Mike Ingram, who made a $10,000 donation to America First Action, Inc. the day after he wrote to Trump Interior Department arguing for the Hammonds’ pardons. Ingram then made another $10,000 donation, which the House Natural Resources Committee is investigating as part of a potential criminal action surrounding the Villages at Vigneto in Arizona. That case involves the donation of almost a quarter million dollars to the Trump Victory Fund and the Republican National Committee. These donations during the time frame in which they were made were not a coincidence. It’s just not possible. When you add Donald Trump to the mix, you can count on something untoward going on.
Donald Trump’s reign of terror has almost neared its end, and the country will be much better off with him out of the picture. Here’s to a happy 2023 that includes Trump on trial for his criminal misdeeds.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years