Taxpayers in ex-President Donald Trump’s former “home state” of New York are taking the old real estate “mogul” straight to task after he brutally screwed several public schools in the area out of more than half a million dollars in tax fees after he was successful in effectively forcing the school districts to subsidize his golf course in the area through… You guessed it… More shady ass tax cuts.
A bombshell new report from The Daily Beast reveals the shady scheme Trump used to essentially force New York public schools in the area to foot most of the tax bill for his Trump National Golf Club Westchester, opening their article with:
Former President Donald Trump and his business empire always fight aggressively to come out on top—and this time, the sucker on the other end of the deal is a public school district.”
“For seven years, the Trump National Golf Club Westchester just north of New York City battled with the local government to lower its property tax bill—while simultaneously inflating its value elsewhere by millions,” The Beast reported. “Then in August, emboldened by another golf club’s victory in court, the Trump club pressured locals to strike a deal and cut its assessed value by a third.”
The report goes on to note that the former president’s golf club can now claim that it has overpaid in taxes, and it will essentially force local governments and entities to fork over the cash he’s skipping out on. All in all, The Beast reports that local entities in the area will be “stuck paying fat refund checks worth about $850,000.” However, the three schools in the Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District — an elementary school, middle, and high school — took the hardest hit of them all, with a tax tab worth $588,155.12.
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One local official who was personally involved in the entire process spoke with the publication under the condition of anonymity and revealed that the school won’t actually be making any cuts, but rather sending the bill down the line to the individuals who live in the area.
“This is freaking annoying that a scoundrel won’t pay taxes. My taxes are higher because his taxes are lower,” the unnamed source who was disallowed from speaking publicly told the outlet.
The report notes that, depending on their property values, taxpayers in the area are bound to feel the hit, as their tax bills are expected to raise about $245, on average.
Local tax assessor for the town of Ossining, Fernando Gonzalez, said, “It’s significant in the sense that this has to be made up by all the other residents that pay taxes, and most of them would not have approved a golf course that they would eventually have to subsidize.”
One Briarcliff Manor homeowner, Marie Chalita, told The Daily Beast, “Anything Trump-related is despicable and/or corrupt,” going on to add that she is “not happy about paying it.”
The report notes, “The massive tax refund would have been enough to pay up to 10 new teachers’ salaries, according to numbers listed in a recent union labor contract.”
It’s pathetic, it’s disgusting, and it’s exactly what we’d expect from the likes of Donald Trump.
You can read the full report from The Daily Beast here.
Featured image via screen capture
