“I
bought Tim Tebow's jersey and helmet at auction for a good cause- fighting
breast cancer,” Donald Trump tweeted in January 2012.
But
as is so often the case with Trump and charity donations, the reality is more complicated.
Donald
Trump the individual did not buy the Tebow gear.
The
Donald J. Trump Foundation did, and while Trump founded the foundation and is
its president, “at the time of the auction, Trump
had given none of his own money to the foundation for three years running.”
Afterward,
three experts on tax law questioned whether Trump had violated IRS rules
against "self-dealing" — which are designed to keep nonprofit
officials from using their charities to help themselves.
Those rules ban the "furnishing of goods" by private foundations — like Trump's — to their own officers.
If
the rule is broken, the person who breaks it must notify the IRS and may have
to pay a tax penalty. There could also be penalties for signing a tax return
that failed to mention the violation.
In
2012, the tax return for
Trump's foundation checked the boxes for "no," it did not break
the self-dealing rule.
Trump’s
supporters may not care—may even be excited—if he isn’t paying his own personal
taxes.
Avoiding
taxes would be very on-brand for Trump.
But
using a charity to buy himself football memorabilia he could theoretically
afford without even noticing?
That
seems like it would cross the line from “crafty man who doesn’t let the
government get its hands on his money to provide valuable services” to plain
old tacky and tawdry.
Not
to mention, Tim Tebow did not turn out to be the sort of winner Trump likes to
link himself with.