Found a number in his 2019 tax returns that made me pause

I was digging through some public records last night and saw his reported business income for 2019 was something like $446 million. That blew my mind because I always figured the numbers were big but not that big. Has anyone else looked at those old filings and found a specific figure that surprised them?

2 comments

2 Comments

henry_palmer2413d ago

The $446 million figure for 2019 is actually the gross revenue from his business, not his personal income. If you look at the net profit line after all expenses and deductions, it shrinks way down. I've seen his tax summaries shared by other analysts and the actual taxable income was way less than that. Plus from 2019 he had a ton of business costs like equipment, payroll, marketing that cut into that number.

the_uma13d ago

But $446 million in gross revenue still means he was pulling in massive money even after expenses. I get that taxable income is lower, but the scale of his operation was huge from 2017 onward. @henry_palmer24 those tax summaries you mention would need to show detailed deductions to bring it down that much, and I've seen some of those leaked docs too. The thing is, even with equipment and payroll costs, his margins were still high because of his pricing model. I just don't buy that net income was a small fraction of that number given how much he charged per client.