SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
President Trump waves before speaking about tax reform at the Farm Bureau Building at the Indiana State Fairgrounds on Sept. 27 in Indianapolis. (Photo: Alex Brandon/AP)
The Lying Billion-Dollar Beneficiary of His Own Tax Plan: President Trump
After offering "pants on fire" lies about who his reform proposal, Times analysis shows just how much Trump would gain personally
Sep 29, 2017
Despite declaring the "full-on whopper" of a lie this week that his tax plan "is not good for me, believe me," a new analysis by the New York Times published overnight shows that President Donald Trump would save himself well over a $1 billion if the proposals he laid out were to become law.
"Trump asks us to take on faith that these public provisions will somehow work to his detriment without explaining why. We'd be foolish to do so." --Philip Bump, Washington PostUsing what it is known about Trump's fortune--a still difficult number to determine given that he refuses to release his tax returns--the Times looked at a portion of Trump's 2005 return leaked to the press earlier this year alongside an estimate by Bloomberg which put his net worth at approximately $2.68 billion in order to assess the degree to which he would directly benefit.
While keeping in mind that other estimates (and unsubstantiated claims by Trump himself) put his wealth higher, the analysis based on the $2.68 billion estimate found that Trump would personally enjoy:
- Savings of about $1.1 billion from repealing the estate tax
- Savings of $31 million from repealing the alternative minimum tax
- Savings of about $16 million from taxing certain types of business income at 25 percent
- Savings of about $0.5 million from cutting the highest tax rate
Meanwhile, Politifact was among those taking serious issue with the spurious claim made by the president, that the abolishment of the estate tax was a move geared to protect "millions of small business owners and the American farmer" while not mentioning that it is a policy specifically tailored to help millionaires and billionaires like himself pass their massive wealth to their heirs with zero federal tax liability.
The fact-checking site reported:
In 2017, estates worth less than $5.49 million are exempt from the tax, according to the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center. Above $5.49 million, the estate is generally taxed at 40 percent. However, family-owned farms and closely-held businesses may be able to pay less or pay in low-interest installments.
So how many estates are affected by the tax? Not many, and the people who pay it are usually among the country's richest families.
Politifact concluded that Trump saying "millions" of American farmers and small business owners would benefit was "a ridiculously high estimate. Only 5,460 estates even pay the tax each year, according to a credible estimate, and of those, about 80 represented small businesses or farms. We rate the statement Pants on Fire."
As Philip Bump wrote for the Washington Post on Tuesday, "Trump asks us to take on faith that these public provisions will somehow work to his detriment without explaining why. We'd be foolish to do so."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Despite declaring the "full-on whopper" of a lie this week that his tax plan "is not good for me, believe me," a new analysis by the New York Times published overnight shows that President Donald Trump would save himself well over a $1 billion if the proposals he laid out were to become law.
"Trump asks us to take on faith that these public provisions will somehow work to his detriment without explaining why. We'd be foolish to do so." --Philip Bump, Washington PostUsing what it is known about Trump's fortune--a still difficult number to determine given that he refuses to release his tax returns--the Times looked at a portion of Trump's 2005 return leaked to the press earlier this year alongside an estimate by Bloomberg which put his net worth at approximately $2.68 billion in order to assess the degree to which he would directly benefit.
While keeping in mind that other estimates (and unsubstantiated claims by Trump himself) put his wealth higher, the analysis based on the $2.68 billion estimate found that Trump would personally enjoy:
- Savings of about $1.1 billion from repealing the estate tax
- Savings of $31 million from repealing the alternative minimum tax
- Savings of about $16 million from taxing certain types of business income at 25 percent
- Savings of about $0.5 million from cutting the highest tax rate
Meanwhile, Politifact was among those taking serious issue with the spurious claim made by the president, that the abolishment of the estate tax was a move geared to protect "millions of small business owners and the American farmer" while not mentioning that it is a policy specifically tailored to help millionaires and billionaires like himself pass their massive wealth to their heirs with zero federal tax liability.
The fact-checking site reported:
In 2017, estates worth less than $5.49 million are exempt from the tax, according to the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center. Above $5.49 million, the estate is generally taxed at 40 percent. However, family-owned farms and closely-held businesses may be able to pay less or pay in low-interest installments.
So how many estates are affected by the tax? Not many, and the people who pay it are usually among the country's richest families.
Politifact concluded that Trump saying "millions" of American farmers and small business owners would benefit was "a ridiculously high estimate. Only 5,460 estates even pay the tax each year, according to a credible estimate, and of those, about 80 represented small businesses or farms. We rate the statement Pants on Fire."
As Philip Bump wrote for the Washington Post on Tuesday, "Trump asks us to take on faith that these public provisions will somehow work to his detriment without explaining why. We'd be foolish to do so."
Despite declaring the "full-on whopper" of a lie this week that his tax plan "is not good for me, believe me," a new analysis by the New York Times published overnight shows that President Donald Trump would save himself well over a $1 billion if the proposals he laid out were to become law.
"Trump asks us to take on faith that these public provisions will somehow work to his detriment without explaining why. We'd be foolish to do so." --Philip Bump, Washington PostUsing what it is known about Trump's fortune--a still difficult number to determine given that he refuses to release his tax returns--the Times looked at a portion of Trump's 2005 return leaked to the press earlier this year alongside an estimate by Bloomberg which put his net worth at approximately $2.68 billion in order to assess the degree to which he would directly benefit.
While keeping in mind that other estimates (and unsubstantiated claims by Trump himself) put his wealth higher, the analysis based on the $2.68 billion estimate found that Trump would personally enjoy:
- Savings of about $1.1 billion from repealing the estate tax
- Savings of $31 million from repealing the alternative minimum tax
- Savings of about $16 million from taxing certain types of business income at 25 percent
- Savings of about $0.5 million from cutting the highest tax rate
Meanwhile, Politifact was among those taking serious issue with the spurious claim made by the president, that the abolishment of the estate tax was a move geared to protect "millions of small business owners and the American farmer" while not mentioning that it is a policy specifically tailored to help millionaires and billionaires like himself pass their massive wealth to their heirs with zero federal tax liability.
The fact-checking site reported:
In 2017, estates worth less than $5.49 million are exempt from the tax, according to the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center. Above $5.49 million, the estate is generally taxed at 40 percent. However, family-owned farms and closely-held businesses may be able to pay less or pay in low-interest installments.
So how many estates are affected by the tax? Not many, and the people who pay it are usually among the country's richest families.
Politifact concluded that Trump saying "millions" of American farmers and small business owners would benefit was "a ridiculously high estimate. Only 5,460 estates even pay the tax each year, according to a credible estimate, and of those, about 80 represented small businesses or farms. We rate the statement Pants on Fire."
As Philip Bump wrote for the Washington Post on Tuesday, "Trump asks us to take on faith that these public provisions will somehow work to his detriment without explaining why. We'd be foolish to do so."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.