donald trumpPlans to build a grandiose family mausoleum with 19-foot stone obelisks on the grounds of his Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, were shot down in 2007 by local officials who found the striking design and out of place with the area.
now there is a single grave in the course — for Ivana Trump, the ex-wife of the former president and mother of his three eldest children. After her funeral on July 20, she was buried not far from the clubhouse and behind the first tee on bare ground with bouquet of flowers and small granite plaque.
The grave appears to come with tax breaks for Trump and his golf course.
New Jersey tax code provides a “graveyard” with a “trifecta of tax evasion,” with exemptions for property, income, and sales taxes, Brooke Harrington, a Dartmouth sociology professor and self-described tax researcher, wrote on Twitter. same. The state does not require a minimum number of graves to qualify as a cemetery, he added.
The tax code says that any land dedicated to cemetery purposes is exempt from all taxes. Cemetery businesses are specifically exempt from paying any real estate taxes or personal property taxes on their land, as well as business taxes, sales taxes, income taxes, and inheritance taxes.
At the New Jersey Law Review Commission, a “cemetery company” is defined as “a person, corporation, association, or other entity that owns or operates a cemetery, informed Business Insider.
It is unclear whether Trump, who celebrity pays almost no federal income taxesit intends to pursue the tax advantages and how much money is at stake.
The business idea of the cemetery has been wandering around for a while in the Trump family.
Trump Family Trust Tax Documents, published by ProPublicashow the trust applied for in 2014 to designate a property in Hackettstown, New Jersey, about 20 miles from the Bedminster golf course, as non-profit cemetery company.
The initial idea for a Trump mausoleum in 2007 went nowhere.
Bedminster’s then-mayor Robert Holtaway argued before the city council that the overblown structure could attract the wrong kind of people, The New Yorker reported. He compared it to a place “in Austria, where a Nazi war criminal was buried” that “became a tourist attraction,” according to the magazine.
Trump suggested that the mausoleum could have versatile uses, such as a wedding venueand over the years presented various other plans for cemeteries on your property.
In 2014, the Trump Organization presented plans to build twin cemeteries in Bedminster, The Washington Post reported. One would be a 284-parcel cemetery that offers graves for sale. The other would include 10 parcels overlooking the first tee for Trump and his family.
“Mr. Trump… specifically chose this property for his final resting place as it is his favorite property,” his company wrote on the plans.
Trump’s parents and brother Fred are buried together at All Faiths Cemetery in Queens, New York.
Ivana Trump, the first person buried in Bedminster, died on July 14 at age 73 at his Manhattan home after a fall down the stairs. his death was declared accidental.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.