An expert witness called by Donald Trump's legal team gave testimony in the New York fraud trial Tuesday explaining that the valuations of a property can be "wildly different" due to projections.
ABC News noted Judge Arthur Engoron listened intently as accountant Jason Flemmons was asked not about Mar-a-Lago's assessment, but another unnamed property.
It goes back to Trump's fury over the assessment of Mar-a-Lago being between $18 million and $37.4 million. Trump has spent the past few weeks ranting about the Palm Beach property being worth over $1 billion.
So, defense attorney Jesus Suarez talked about a hypothetical assessment that was cited at $18 million, but the value was closer to $500 million during a "sales approach."
Flemmons said that, taking into consideration revenue streams, the property could be given "wildly different values" on Trump's personal financial statement and on the county assessor's ledger.
"It would not be unusual to have a value in the hundreds of millions using projected cash receipts," Flemmons said.
It means that projected income could be used to determine value.
"Tax assessed values are typically on the lower end of the spectrum," Flemmons said.
In Trump's case, Mar-a-Lago's assessment was based on the Palm Beach County tax assessor, who looks only at the property available that can be taxed.
Becky Robinson, the tax assessor’s spokesperson, told the Associated Press that the method the office uses has to do with the difficulty in finding comparable properties. So few private clubs are sold or built, the report explained, so it's difficult to set a tax rate off of other properties. "Mar-a-Lago’s property tax bill will be $602,000 this year," according to the records AP cited.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) has sent a letter to the assessor's office saying that if Trump says the value of Mar-a-Lago was closer to $1 billion, then he should be taxed in keeping with that value.
Trump listed Mar-a-Lago's value between $426 million and $612 million on his financial statements.
"I am trying to get to the order of magnitude we are talking about here," Engoron explained. "What is the highest value you have ever seen legitimately placed on such a property?"
Flemmons couldn't give an example.
