Kudos to the Trump tax experts at the New York Times for digging into the information released by the House Ways and Means Committee and solving a mystery: After declaring negative net income in the previous three years, how did Donald Trump’s income skyrocket to $24 million?
For background: Trump declared negative income in 2015, 2016 and 2017, and paid minimal federal taxes–just $750 those last two years–before showing $24 million in income in 2018 and $4.4 million in 2019. In 2020–his last year in the White House, Trump reported a $4.7 million negative income for the year.
Turns out, he can thank his late father for his one year of reported positive income. In 2018, Trump got a windfall from the sale of a property his father acquired and handed down to his children. Between January 2016 and April 2017, Trump got more than $5 million in revenue from the Starrett City development. He sold the 4% share his father bought in the development, netting a $14 million windfall, accounting for the rise in his income for the year.