New Records Suggest Donald Trump Misled the Public About His Income
Source: Mother Jones
According to his FEC financial disclosure form, which was submitted in May, Trump collected $296 million in "golf related revenue"—a full 42 percent of the income he cited in the debate. But this figure did not take into account the costs of running all his courses and resorts. Most of Trump's businesses, including his golf courses, do not have to publicly disclose how much revenue or profit they yield annually. But there are three exceptions: his two Scottish golf courses and one Irish course. Corporations in the United Kingdom and Ireland must submit public reports that list revenue, expenses, and profit.
Trump's FEC financial form noted that his two Scottish golf courses earned him a combined $23 million in "golf related revenue" last year, with Turnberry pulling in $18.1 million and Aberdeen making $4.8 million. But the public filings the courses submitted in the United Kingdom tell a much different story. Trump's prized course at Turnberry—where he made a much ballyhooed appearance right before the Brexit vote—reported $16.8 million in revenue in 2015 and $18.6 million in expenses. When interest, depreciation, and currency exchange losses are factored in, Trump's Turnberry course lost over $2 million in 2015. And the corporate filings in the United Kingdom show that Trump's Aberdeen course lost about $1.6 million.
That means that Trump's reported income on the FEC financial disclosure forms regarding just these two projects is $26 million more than what they actually made. If these courses are representative of Trump's overall finances—$23 million in "golf related revenue" is really a $3 million loss—his declared $296 million in total "golf related revenue" may well be highly overstated.
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The golfing revenue discrepancies call into question much of what Trump reported in his FEC financial disclosure form. On that filing, $415 million of the $694 million Trump touted at the debate was described as some kind of "revenue." And the rest of that amount was money that also might not take into account the costs of his ventures, such as rent and land sales. Perhaps a large percentage of his reported revenue might have been profit, but the FEC form provides no way to determine that. Trump's income could be dramatically less than what he claimed.
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http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/new-documents-show-trump-misled-about-his-income