By the time his master-of-the-universe memoir Trump: The Art of the Deal hit bookstores in 1987, Donald Trump was already in deep financial distress, losing tens of millions of dollars on troubled business deals, according to previously unrevealed figures from his federal income tax returns.
In fact, year after year, 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 IRS 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 IRS information for those years.
Mark Mazur, a former director of research, analysis and statistics at the IRS, said that, far from being considered unreliable, data used to create such transcripts had undergone quality control for decades and had been used to analyze economic trends and set national policy. IRS auditors often refer to the transcripts as “handy” summaries of tax returns, said Mazur, now director of the nonpartisan Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center in Washington.
As the year played out, he borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars to fuel a wave of purchases, acquiring a second casino , a Manhattan hotel , the Mar-a-Lago property in Florida , a New York hospital he intended to replace with an apartment building and an undeveloped expanse of railroad yards on the West Side of Manhattan .
Beyond the $46.1 million loss that his core businesses logged in 1985, Trump’s tax information shows that he carried over $5.6 million in losses from prior years. The IRS data on one-third of high-income tax returns that year lists only three taxpayers with greater losses. In 1989, he bought a shuttle operation from Eastern Airlines for $365 million. It never made a profit, and Trump would soon pump in more than $7 million a month to keep it airborne, New Jersey casino regulators found.Then came the Trump Taj Mahal Hotel and Casino, which opened in April 1990 saddled with more than $800 million in debt, most at very high interest rates.
What a LOOSER!
Yeah, he wrote a book about his comeback in the 90’s.
He already did a documentary on his losses can we pls focus on something relative like how he has managed to create new business & jobs while we struggle to keep businesses here & attract new opportunities
Wow 35 years ago. Well known news. Far left media very sad.
Oh Canada has “billion dollar Boondoggles “ regularly with Canadian’s Tax Payer Money. How about less focus on realDonaldTrump ‘s personal taxes, and more focus on High Canadian Taxation. City, provincial & federal taxes are wiping out Canadians. Low loonie value too.
Er….In the meantime....He's President...and You're not...
Who cares....more interested in Pelosi’s returns
This is not news he talked about it 20 years ago
Not so sure this is such a big deal because it is Trump. Sure he could write off these losses, but how many other wealthy people do the same thing. The rich know how to manipulate the system. Helps to keep them rich.
Who really cares? How’s that investigation into the Trudeau Foundation coming?
Ya win some...Ya lose some!
He was on the wrong reality show. He should have been on The Biggest Loser
I find this rather amusing that there is such media hysteria over this OLD NEWS , look in archives, it's all there. This is another attempt of the Dems and left to try another take down tactic. How the economy is booming is what really matters to the average American I'm sure.
is that the SAME red tie
'...Donald Trump had more than $1-billion in business losses over 10 years...' - twenty years ago. He's currently worth about 3 billion $ - and the US is in the best financial shape in decades. NYT is trash.
What a great success and comeback story!
Is it believable