(10-16-2019 11:16 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(10-16-2019 10:39 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  Do you think it would be out of character for Trump to try and game the system to over-value and under-value his properties based on what is beneficial to him?

I don't think it would be out of character for any human being who owns real estate, in large or small quantities. I am guessing you rent. I am guessing FBO has a home, and nothing else. I wonder if FBO would sell his house at the tax value.

Real estate has a range of value, not a set value. You can report within this range and still be honest. That is one reason banks want independent appraisals on loans backed by real estate. I ran into this problem just yesterday.

If you have a piece of property valued in the $40-60M range, you put the 60 on the statements to the bank, and the 40 on statements to the Tax Board. Standard procedure. Now, if you put $150M on the statement to the bank, that is fraud. But the actual value of the property is not set until a deal is made and closed. The value of a property is whatever a willing buyer and a willing seller agree upon. Until then estimates vary, and one may choose the estimates that are most beneficial to you. I will guarantee you any member of Congress who owns real estate does the same. I bet Oelosi would not sell her SF house for the value on the tax rolls.

I have been saying since the git-go that this is the reason, and a good one, that Trump does not and should not release his tax returns. Remember, the original reason was to show his Russian ties that would explain why he is beholden to Putin. But over the years it has evolved into a childish whine of "WHY can't I see your tax returns?"

In this thread we have already seen two instances of people misunderstanding because they want to misunderstand.

I am going to presume these documents have passed IRS audits, bank audits, property tax audits, and all the other audits that financial records are subject to.

This

The value of 'unique' parcels of land or art or intellectual property or even a business is based on formulas with assumptions. Unlike most traditional residential real-estate, where there are only relatively minor differences between your home and the 200 that surround you... there are potentially HUGE differences in businesses, art and unique parcels. All you have to do is look at stock prices where some companies are trading at 2 x book while others are trading at 200 x book. A lot of it is based on 'guesses'. That's not (generally) fraud... but I'm sure if Trump is valuing Mar-A-Lago at $1mm/acre and someone else is valuing THEIR property at 500k/acre, plenty of anti-Trump people would call that fraud... and that's mostly what people are looking for.

Is it fraud to value a book by former President Obama at $20mm and for State Senator Obama at $200,000? If Obama makes $100,000 per speech and Bush makes $50k and Clinton 25k, is that fraud by any of them?

If the IRS, bank auditors and state and city tax boards didn't find fraud, a bunch of Senators sure won't.... but that's not their goal. Their goal is to find VOTES... and EVERYONE knows it.