The explosive revelation about Ivanka Trump buried in the president's tax report published by The New York Times
The big revelation in The New York Times report on President Donald Trump's taxes is, obviously, the figures of what he paid. The president disbursed just $ 750 of federal income taxes in both 2016 and 2017. In addition, during 10 of the previous 15, he did not pay these types of obligations. But there is another discovery involving Ivanka Trump, his daughter.
This is a massive revelation, contained in The New York Times report, that does not get enough attention. Trump recorded $ 26 million in unexplained "consulting fees" between 2010 and 2018. Of that figure, nearly 750,000 apparently went to his daughter, Ivanka Trump, according to a disclosure.
The apparent fees of Ivanka Trump
Here's how The New York Times explained the operation (bold is mine):
"Mr. Trump reduced his taxable income by treating a family member as a consultant, and then deducting the fee as a business cost."
"The 'consultants' are not identified in the tax records. But evidence of this arrangement was obtained by comparing confidential tax records with financial disclosures Ivanka Trump made when she joined the White House staff in 2017. Mrs. Ivanka Trump reported receiving payments from a consulting firm for which she was co-owner, for a total of $ 747,622, which exactly equaled the consulting fees claimed as tax deductions by the Trump Organization for hotel projects in Vancouver and Hawaii.
“Mrs. Ivanka Trump had been CEO of Trump companies that received profits and paid consulting fees for both projects. Which means that she appears to have been treated as a consultant on the same hotel arrangements that she helped manage as part of her job in her father's business.
The analysis of what we know
So consider what we know, according to the newspaper report.
1) In at least two deals –– in hotels in Hawaii and Vancouver–– Ivanka Trump seems to have played a double role. For one thing, she has apparently served as a project manager in her capacity as a senior employee of her father's company. And, on the other hand, as a "consultant" for those same projects.
2) In those agreements, the apparent categorization of Ivanka Trump as a "consultant" allowed her father to cancel three-quarters of a million dollars. (The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) allows "consulting fees" to be written off as business expenses.)
Which is actually pretty bad. (The attorney for the Trump Organization did not offer comments or explanations about this operation to The New York Times.)
The tip of the iceberg
But it seems that the newspaper could only find the tip of the iceberg here.
Why? Because Trump recorded the $ 26 million as "consulting fees" between 2010 and 2018, none is assigned to any specific person or entity. (The New York Times calculated the payment of $ 747,622 by comparing an amount reported on Trump's tax returns with the same amount reported by Ivanka Trump on her financial disclosure forms filed when he went to work at the White House in 2017) .
So we don't know who received the other roughly $ 25 million that Trump declared as "consulting fees" during that time. (It's worth noting: The newspaper reports that Trump recorded as "consulting fees" about 20% of all income he earned on projects during that time.)
However, given the apparent payment to Ivanka Trump revealed by The New York Times, it is not far-fetched to wonder if all (or many) of those "consulting fees" went through a similar process. That is, they were paid to one of Trump's children who worked both as manager of these operations for the Trump Organization and as consultants to the projects.
Ivanka Trump has not explained
Upon CNN's request for comment, Ivanka Trump's office directed the petition to the Trump campaign. Campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh attacked the reports as "false" but offered no explanation for the apparent payment.
As of this writing, Ivanka Trump has not commented on the $ 750,000 he appears to have earned in consulting fees. This with respect to the hotel businesses in Hawaii and Vancouver, although the story was known during the Yom Kippur holidays. She also hasn't explained whether it was a practice that she and her father regularly practiced when it came to business deals.
