For the first time in 25 years, Donald Trump is off the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans. The former-president’s net worth is $2.5 billion, so he’s doing fine, but he’s $400 million short of making the list — and down $600 million since the start of the pandemic due to his portfolio largely being made up of empty big-city properties.
Of course, it’s his own dang fault that he tumbled off the list.
If he paid the maximum possible capital gains tax — 23.8% to the federal government, plus 8.8% to the New York State authorities on every penny he owned — that would have shaved about $1.1 billion off his fortune, leaving him with $2.4 billion on the first day of his presidency. But what would have appeared to be a huge sacrifice at first could have turned into a lucrative realignment. By plowing that $2.4 billion in an index fund tracking the S&P 500, for example, Trump’s fortune would have ballooned to $4.5 billion by now, leaving him 80% richer than he is today. His refusal to divest, in other words, cost him $2 billion.
This is not going to sit well with Trump, who once lied his way onto the Forbes 400 (the fascinating story involves an alter ego named “John Barron,” because even his fake names aren’t subtle). Trump was in the top half of the ranking every year from 1997 to 2016, but he started to tumble during his presidency and now he’s entirely off it. At least there was one repercussion for his bungled administration…
The Forbes 400 is topped by Jeff Bezos ($201 billion), Elon Musk ($190.5 billion), Mark Zuckerberg ($134.5 billion, although that may have dropped after yesterday), Bill Gates ($134 billion), and Larry Page ($123 billion). You can find the full ranking here.
(Via Forbes)