Monday, August 19, 2019

A New Crony Tax Reduction Gimmick That Will Benefit Jared and Ivanka

President Trump retweeted on Sunday news about his Opportunity Zone program.
The program is about distorting real estate investments in a manner that will allow the president to take a political bow. It will also allow tax breaks for those who get involved. And who knows what  crony benefits are packed into the program and for whom?

But there is one high profile couple who it is obvious will benefit.

The Associated Press reports:
 At an Oval Office gathering earlier this year, President Donald Trump began touting his administration’s new real estate investment program, which offers massive tax breaks to developers who invest in downtrodden American communities. He then turned to one of the plan’s strongest supporters.

"Ivanka, would you like to say something?" Trump asked his daughter. "You've been pushing this very hard."

The Opportunity Zone program promoted by Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner — both senior White House advisers — could also benefit them financially, an Associated Press investigation found...

Kushner holds a big stake in a real estate investment firm, Cadre, that recently announced it is launching a series of Opportunity Zone funds that seek to build major projects under the program from Miami to Los Angeles. Separately, the couple has interests in at least 13 properties held by Kushner's family firm that could qualify for the tax breaks because they are in Opportunity Zones in New Jersey, New York and Maryland — all of which, a study found, were already coming back...

Opportunity Zone funds have also been set up recently by New York-based Normandy Real Estate Partners and Heritage Equity Partners, two firms that have worked with Kushner Cos. on real estate ventures.

They are flocking to what financial analysts say are some of the most generous tax benefits they have ever seen.
I am all for tax cuts but government officials and their families should be the last ones to be able to take advantage of tax cuts. Until, say, the rest of us see a cut in taxes of at least 50%.

-RW



1 comment:

  1. I'm pretty cynical about any government program, but one plus to the Opportunity Zone legislation is it's actually pretty simple-- there are clear lines drawn on the map and a surprisingly reasonable threshold for "substantial improvement." Cadre is a pretty cool platform and has a couple direct competitors, and could be an useful option for people with significant unrealized gains to reset their tax basis in appreciated stocks & bonds (or anything) and avoid a huge tax bill. But you're right, excluding the local benefits from increased investment, the tax break will only directly benefit a small group of relatively wealthy people (including The Mooch).

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