Trump's tax-dodging schemes only make sense 'if his peer group is criminals': Tax law professor

Daniel Shaviro, the Wayne Perry Professor of Taxation at New York University Law School, has written a lengthy dissection of the tax-dodging schemes employed by President Donald Trump and his family, and he's found that they are far outside the methods used by most rich families to avoid paying taxes.

In his analysis, Shaviro admits that he in the past criticized former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney for some of the tax avoidance methods he used, although he says they were well within the bounds of strategies employed by other wealthy people to reduce their tax exposure.

The schemes used by the Trump family, however, are in a whole other ballpark.

"Consider the discussion of All County Building Supply and Maintenance, using padded bills to transfer millions of dollars from Fred Trump to his children," he writes. "As described in the article, fraud is the only word for it. Likewise, while self-serving, somewhat lowball valuations are nothing new in the estate and gift tax planning field, there is a limit. Reputable taxpayers, advised by reputable firms, don't claim values that are only 5 or 10 percent of the lawful number."

Given that these kinds of tactics -- which also included setting up sham corporations as vehicles to hide money transfers -- are out of bounds for most wealthy taxpayers, how would Shaviro describe the Trump family's pattern of behavior?

In one word: Criminal.

"So if Trump's peer group is very rich people, what the NYT article describes does not appear to be anywhere near 'par for the course,'" he writes. "On the other hand, if his peer group is criminals -- and he has, of course, expressed outrage about Al Capone's being convicted of tax fraud -- then this is indeed the sort of behavior about which one would tend to suspect that they're all doing it."

Read the whole analysis here.