http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/donald-trump-money-net-worth-223662
NEW YORK Donald Trump claims a net worth of more than $10 billion and an income of $557 million. But he appears to get there only by overvaluing properties and ignoring his expenses.
POLITICO spoke with more than a dozen financial experts and Trumps fellow multimillionaires about the presumptive Republican nominees financial statement. Their conclusion: The real estate magnates bottom line what he actually puts in his own pocket could be much lower than he suggests. Some financial analysts said this, and a very low tax rate, is why Trump wont release his tax returns.
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I know Donald, Ive known him a long time, and it gets under his skin if you start writing about the reasons he wont disclose his returns, said one prominent hedge fund manager who declined to be identified by name so as not to draw Trumps ire. You would see that he doesnt have the money that he claims to have and hes not paying much of anything in taxes.
Trump is certainly wealthy. But in a campaign where the New Yorker has portrayed himself as the biggest, the richest, the classiest and the best at everything, disclosing that he is less rich than he lets on could be damaging. And it is a line of attack Democrats are already using and hope to pound away on until November.
The case against Trumps accounting of his wealth: His businesses apparently generate a lot of revenue but may not put much cash in his pocket; He assigns himself a net worth that is impossible to verify and may be based in part on fantasy; And he is selling assets and increasing debt in ways that suggest a man scrambling for ready cash.
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