Donald Trump is running for president of the United States. His ace in the hole is that he is a shrewd businessman who, even though he’s filed for bankruptcy four times, will do for America what he did for himself—turn millions of dollars of his father’s money into millions of dollars of his own money. The Daily News has a report on how shrewd Donald Trump can be—when the government earmarked special funds for small businesses affected by the attacks in New York City on September 11, 2001:
Trump got $150,000 for his swanky property at 40 Wall Street because the Empire State Development Corporation, run by the state, didn't enforce federal guidelines on what defines a small business. Instead, the state used much looser rules that let The Donald and others including Morgan Stanley and Bank of China take money that was earmarked by Congress to help small business owners in the neighborhood recover after the tragic attacks, a 2006 Daily News expose found.
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That’s a strange thing to do. Trump will argue that $150,000 is nothing! He steals negotiates millions from people every day! But, that’s one of the big problems with allowing someone with no real world experience to run the country. Even if he was being genuine about his positions he still wouldn’t understand what a dollar is worth to a person who wasn’t born wealthy—the overwhelming majority of Americans. Trump’s lack of transparency has less to do with morality, however, than it does with practicality. The fact of the matter is, wealthy people get to stay wealthy because the system is rigged by them for them. If you come from money, it’s hard to throw it away.
Early in his career, Trump struck an agreement with the city to build the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Grand Central Station that would let him avoid paying taxes on the property for 40 years — $60 million in tax savings in the first decade alone, according to reports, and as much as $400 million today.
In exchange, a portion of the hotel's profits were required as payment. But a city audit a few years later said that his company was short-changing New York City by millions.
Imagine you were paid to build a luxury hotel in one of the world’s wealthiest cities, and you wouldn’t have to pay taxes on the property for 40 years???? You have to be a special kind of idiot to not be able to turn a profit with that deal. But on top of all of that, Trump still couldn’t help himself but be a greedy little shit and not pay his unfair share of taxes. Pathetic.
