https://lawandcrime.com/high-profil...urce=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf Trump Org Allegedly Paid Bribes to Lower Property Taxes, Sued NYC When Others Got Lower Rates https://www.propublica.org/article/trumps-company-paid-bribes-to-reduce-property-taxes-assessors-say Trump’s Company Paid Bribes to Reduce Property Taxes, Assessors Say Five former city employees and a former Trump Organization employee say the company used middlemen to pay New York City tax assessors to lower building assessments and pay less taxes in the 1980s and 1990s. The Trump Organization paid bribes, through middlemen, to New York City tax assessors to lower its property tax bills for several Manhattan buildings in the 1980s and 1990s, according to five former tax assessors and city employees as well as a former Trump Organization employee. Two of the five city employees said they personally took bribes to lower the assessment on a Trump property; the other three said they had indirect knowledge of the payments. The city employees were among 18 indicted in 2002 for taking bribes in exchange for lowering the valuations of properties, which in turn reduced the taxes owed for the buildings. All of the 18 eventually pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Manhattan except for one, who died before his case was resolved.
and to get your buildings built you had to pay the mafia 1 percent. to get your garbaged dumped in Greenwhich you had to pay the mafia. if you lived in a nice area some of your neighbors probably learned to deal with the corruption. and to get goods your business needed you had to pay big "christmas" gifts to the gate keeper of those goods .. That is how NY worked. My parents had a family friend who loved to regale us with stories when he came over. He told stories about he became a millionaire as a distributor of a product. When he was starting out as a salesman for this simple but necessary commodity, as he was gaining market share (through desire and hard work), all of a sudden the flow of his product slowed down. Shit would not show up on time. It was killing him with his new accounts. He learned he had to grease the skids. He said to himself if he has to give "Christmas gifts he would give large ones. The more he greased the more he became the man. Started his own distributorship. Later other friends and competitors came to him with their problems. (as suggested by the guys in the greased supply chain.) They were so loyal to their payments from this guy he became like the godfather to everyone in the area he controlled. Big companies sales guys had to pay homage to this guy if they wanted their product to be delivered on time. His ambition was just to make a good living, but to make it in New York in many industries you had to pay to play. by the way.... to even get buildings built you had to pay off so many city officials it was known to be almost impossible. (unless you had the connections.) That is why so many big construction companies had italian last names... the mafia kept the corruption organized. It was a competitive advantage.
LOL you've never schmoozed your assessor? My last assessment was a kid showing up and me giving him a cold beer and explaining that the closest comp was 65 miles away and showing him a few comps online. Its standard operating procedure.