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2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumVox - Two experts say Donald Trump should be investigated for criminal tax evasion
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/10/31/13474280/trump-foundation-criminal-chargesDonald Trump has, for years, served as president of a charitable foundation that, though named after himself, is not financed with contributions made out of his own pocket. Instead, contributions mostly seem to come from a range of Trumps business partners, allowing him to parlay celebrity into securing credit for charity work.
And much of the foundations spending doesnt really fit the traditional conception of philanthropy at all. Some of the money seems to flow back into Trumps pockets through his businesses, while other funds are used to punish his political enemies or try to gain new friends in the conservative movement.
At times the level of self-dealing becomes downright comical. It spent $20,000 on a portrait of Donald Trump, for example, and $12,000 on buying Trump an autographed Tim Tebow helmet. When Trump's Mar-a-Lago club racked up $120,000 in fines from the town of Palm Beach, Florida for violating a local ordinance regarding the height of flagpoles, Trump eventually settled the dispute by agreeing to a $100,000 donation to a veterans' charity and then had his foundation rather than the club pay the tab. The largest gift the foundation ever made was a $264,631 bequest that was used to renovate a fountain outside the windows of Trumps Plaza Hotel. Hes also used the charity for some surprisingly small-time frauds.
Various aspects of this almost certainly violate the laws governing charities (hes already been sanctioned by the state of New York), but several experts are also raising the question of whether Trump is guilty of criminal tax evasion. This is a difficult charge to prove, but the law requires the government to demonstrate knowledge and intent which means that scofflaws can often get off by pleading ignorance. But both Philip Hackney, a former IRS attorney now working as a professor of tax law, and Adam Chodorow, a tax law professor at Arizona State University, have written that the elements exist to at least begin an investigation.
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Vox - Two experts say Donald Trump should be investigated for criminal tax evasion (Original Post)
TomCADem
Oct 2016
OP
BlueCaliDem
(15,438 posts)1. No! No! NO! Because - EVEEL-EMAILZZZZZZ!!!!111 eom
jmowreader
(50,528 posts)2. They forgot the golf tournament thing
Trump held one of those "ace our hardest hole, win $1 million" contests, but had his crew set up the hole so it was shorter than the contract with the vendor called for. When someone made the hole and the vendor refused to pay, Trump settled by having his foundation make a donation to the player's favorite charity.