Tax probe against Trump confirmed
New York, Oct 3: The New York State Tax Department has confirmed it is investigating claims by the New York Times that US President Donald Trump helped his parents dodge millions of dollars in taxes.
The newspaper has alleged that Trump was involved in "dubious tax schemes during the 1990s, including instances of outright fraud", the BBC reported on Wednesday.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders has called the story a "misleading attack". She said the transactions were signed off by the IRS "many decades ago".
Trump, himself has not commented, but his lawyer Charles Harder said in a statement: "There was no fraud or tax evasion by anyone. The facts upon which The New York Times bases its false allegations are extremely inaccurate."
The newspaper said its sources include public documents such as financial disclosure reports, as well as confidential records like bank statements.
It said "more than 200 tax returns from Fred Trump (the president's father), his companies and various Trump partnerships and trusts" were among them.
Unlike past US presidents, Trump has so far refused to release his personal tax returns, so the NYT has not seen the former business tycoon's tax details.
Trump has repeatedly styled himself as a self-made billionaire who got little help from his wealthy father's property empire.
But in a special investigation based on more than 100,000 pages of documents, the New York Times alleged that the president actually received the equivalent of $413 million.
"By age three, Trump was earning $200,000 a year in today's dollars from his father's empire," it states. "He was a millionaire by age eight," the report said.
It also claimed Trump was getting the equivalent of $1 million a year from his father shortly after he graduated from college. That figure had risen to more than $5 million by the time he was in his forties and fifties, it said.
The New york Times reported: "Much of this money came to Trump because he helped his parents dodge taxes. He and his siblings set up a sham corporation to disguise millions of dollars in gifts from their parents."
The paper also alleged that the president "helped his father take improper tax deductions worth millions more". It said he helped cut his parents' tax bill through a strategy that undervalued their property assets by hundreds of millions of dollars.
Addressing the tax evasion claims, Harder said: "President Trump had virtually no involvement whatsoever with these matters."
The lawyer said the affairs "were handled by other Trump family members who were not experts themselves", and who had relied on tax professionals.
The biggest claims in the report include: The president's deceased parents Fred and Mary Trump transferred more than $1 billion to their children.
Tax records show they paid $52.2 million of tax on this -- around five per cent -- rather than the $550m it could have produced, the paper stated.
The president's brother, Robert Trump, said in a family statement that "All appropriate gift and estate tax returns were filed, and the required taxes were paid."
That Trump's claim that he launched himself in business with "a small loan of $1 million" that he had to pay back with interest is inaccurate, the NYT report said, adding that it found Fred Trump loaned his son the equivalent to $140m in today's money -- much of which was not repaid.
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Commercial LPG hike: Delhi restaurant owners warn of higher menu rates, job losses
New Delhi (PTI) A day after a 50 per cent rise in commercial LPG cylinder prices, Delhi's food business, with restaurant owners and street vendors have warned of higher menu rates, financial strain and potential job losses if the trend persists.
The price of commercial LPG was hiked by a steep Rs 993 per 19 kg cylinder, marking the third consecutive monthly hike amid rising global energy prices linked to the West Asia conflict.
For many in the restaurant industry, the spike has been both sudden and steep.
Manpreet Singh, honorary treasurer of the National Restaurant Association of India, said that eateries are already grappling with supply challenges alongside rising costs.
"There is a huge difficulty in getting these cylinders, and black marketing is also increasing in many unregulated sectors," he said, noting that prices that were once around Rs 1,600, often dropping to nearly Rs 1,300 with discounts, have now surged to between Rs 3,000 and Rs 4,000 per cylinder.
He further added that a medium-sized restaurant typically uses between two and five cylinders daily, making the increase particularly burdensome as costs mount.
Singh further said that as costs mount, smaller establishments could struggle to stay afloat. Instead, the association has advised restaurants to shift towards piped natural gas connections through Indraprastha Gas Limited as a more sustainable alternative.
"If this problem continues, PNG is the only long-term solution," he said, adding that temporary measures like coal offer limited relief due to slower cooking times and that it can largely be used only for tandoors.
Echoing similar concerns, Kabir Suri, owner of Mamagoto in Khan Market, said the impact is already visible across the industry. "There has been almost a threefold increase in cylinder prices for restaurants," he said, adding that rising fuel and logistics costs are compounding the pressure.
"If this continues, it will become a significant financial burden, and food prices will inevitably go up. Adding to this burden, higher fuel costs are also affecting logistics and transportation, making a price rise unavoidable. The extent of the impact will vary between small eateries and large chains depending on their scale," he said.
Global oil prices have surged nearly 50 per cent following disruptions in energy supply chains due to the West Asia conflict, pushing up commercial fuel costs and transport expenses.
A West Delhi-based restaurateur said they are trying to manage rising costs while keeping their staff secure. "We are trying to ensure that our staff, from kitchen workers to waiters, are paid on time and do not face immediate hardship," the owner said.
"We are a small restaurant with seating for about 20 to 25 people at a time. But if this continues for long, we will have to take difficult calls. There is only so much we can absorb, and menu prices will have to go up. We hope this does not continue for a longer period," he said.
Another restaurant owner in North Delhi, who did not wish to be named, said operational adjustments alone may not be enough. "We are checking our costs very carefully and trying to cut wherever possible, but if fuel prices remain high, it will eventually affect how we run the business," the owner said.
"Coal helps in tandoor cooking, but it takes more time," the owner further added.
The strain is even more acute among street vendors, many of whom operate on thin margins. A vendor in Saket said he had recently expanded his business, moving from a mobile cart to a rented outlet.
"I have a family to feed and more responsibilities now. Earlier, I managed with a moving cart, but after renting the place, expenses increased," he said. "Whenever cylinders were unavailable, I had to buy them at higher rates in the black market. Now even regular supply is too expensive, and if this continues, we may have to shut down," he added.
In Laxmi Nagar, another vendor said they are struggling to keep the business running. "Sometimes we even used domestic cylinders from home when supply ran out because we had to keep the stall running," he said, adding that rising costs leave little choice but to increase prices or bear losses.
On April 1, the rates of commercial LPG cylinders were hiked by Rs 195.50 per cylinder, followed by a Rs 114.5 hike on March 1, taking the total increase over the past three months to Rs 1,303. With the latest revision, a 19 kg commercial LPG cylinder now costs Rs 3,371.5 in Delhi, up from Rs 2,078.5 earlier.
The prices of domestic LPG cylinders used for household cooking have remained unchanged. They were last increased by Rs 60 per 14.2 kg cylinder on March 7 and currently cost Rs 913 in Delhi.
