President Donald Trump is famous for bragging about his net worth. Publicly, he claims heās worth more than $10 billion. He even sued an author over the issue and lobbied the editors of Forbes about his ranking on their billionaires list.
Yet quietly in another setting, the Trump Organization says the presidentās holdings are worth far less than he has proclaimed. Across the country, the Trump Organization is suing local governments, claiming its owes much less in property taxes than government assessors say because its properties are worth much less than theyāve been valued at. In just one example, the company has asserted that its gleaming waterfront skyscraper in Chicago is worth less than than its assessed value, in part because its retail space is failing and worth less than nothing.
Since becoming president, Trumpās companies have filed at least nine new lawsuits against municipalities in Florida, New York and Illinois, arguing for lower tax bills, ProPublica has found. Some of those lawsuits have been previously reported. At stake is millions of dollars that communities use to fund roads, schools and police departments.