April 10, 2018

Trump Oranization suing localities for lower property taxes

Truth Out -  President Donald Trump is famous for bragging about his net worth. Publicly, he claims he's worth more than $10 billion. He even sued an author over the issue and lobbied the editors of Forbes about his ranking on their billionaires list.

Yet quietly in another setting, the Trump Organization says the president's holdings are worth far less than he has proclaimed. Across the country, the Trump Organization is suing local governments, claiming it owes much less in property taxes than government assessors say because its properties are worth much less than they've been valued at. In just one example, the company has asserted that its gleaming waterfront skyscraper in Chicago is worth less than its assessed value, in part because its retail space is failing and worth less than nothing.

Since becoming president, Trump's companies have filed at least nine new lawsuits against municipalities in Florida, New York and Illinois, arguing for lower tax bills ...

No president in modern times has owned a business involved in legal battles with local governments. "The idea that the president would have these interests and then those companies would sue localities is really a dangerous precedent," says Larry Noble, of the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center. T

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