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After businesswoman Ivana Trump died of blunt impact injuries following a fall down a flight of stairs in her Manhattan home, her ex-husband, former President Donald Trump, had her buried at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in Bedminster, New Jersey.
And it looks like he might have done it for the tax breaks.
After news outlets like Insider reported that the New Jersey state tax code states that any land that is dedicated to cemetery purposes is exempt from all taxes, rates, and assessments, people wondered if Trump family businesses stood to financially benefit from her final resting place.
The story caught the attention of Dartmouth University professor Brooke Harrington, who has researched tax codes extensively.
Sure enough, she found the New Jersey tax code is "a trifecta of tax avoidance," noting burying the ex-Mrs. Trump on the grounds of the golf course would make the business exempt from property, income and sales taxes.
\u201cAs a tax researcher, I was skeptical of rumors Trump buried his ex-wife in that sad little plot of dirt on his Bedminster, NJ golf course just for tax breaks. \n\nSo I checked the NJ tax code & folks...it's a trifecta of tax avoidance. Property, income & sales tax, all eliminated.\u201d— Brooke Harrington (@Brooke Harrington) 1659226181
The New Jersey tax code also states that cemetery companies are also exempt from real estate taxes, rates, and assessments or personal property taxes on their lands.
But it goes even further, exempting them from business taxes, sales taxes, income taxes, and inheritance taxes.
The news angered the Trump family's critics, who suggested the story is further indication of the family's history of greed.
\u201cThere is NO bottom to the depravity of TFG!\n\nBurying Ivana on his Bedminster Golf Course makes this property a "cemetary," & allows TFG to evade taxes on this property!\n\n#DemVoice1 #wtpBLUE\u201d— Just Joan \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Just Joan \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1659354461
\u201cWhew these people are grifters. They tossed her in the dirt like peanut shells\u201d— Vinny Thomas (@Vinny Thomas) 1659294020
\u201cBy burying his ex-wife, Ivana, on his NJ golf course, #Trump avoids ALL State property & income taxes garnered from his Bedminster Golf Club. (May be a lot$, as he just hosted the #Saudi anti-PGA.)\nIvana's died suddenly: did she ever agree to have her body used as a tax dodge?\u201d— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie Garrett) 1659297075
\u201cOnce again TFG screwed over the gov't. \nBy burying his ex-wife on his golf course he can now claim an NJ tax-exempt status for graveyards & avoid paying ANY property, income or sales taxes. \nUsing his ex-wife's death as a tax write-off\nHis kids must be so proud\n#FreshResists\u201d— \ud83c\udf0aSheryl Lynne #MyBodyMyChoice (@\ud83c\udf0aSheryl Lynne #MyBodyMyChoice) 1659299901
\u201cSo you\u2019re allowed to open a golf course in a cemetery?\n\nDoes any Republican have any respect for anything humanitarian at all?\n\nPurely rhetorical. Of course they don\u2019t. Their forebears, the Dixiecrats continue to be slavers, segregationists, misogynist\u2026etc\u2026and so on\u2026\u201d— \ud83e\uddc2 Opa \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@\ud83e\uddc2 Opa \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1659303237
\u201cThe Trump\u2019s burying Ivana in a tiny plot attached to a Trump golf course in order to avail of 3 tax breaks is unbelievable.\u201d— Tony - Pod Guy - Groves (@Tony - Pod Guy - Groves) 1659303709
\u201cReminder that it's okay to be scandalized by misers from New York now.\u201d— Second City Bureaucrat (@Second City Bureaucrat) 1659309333
\u201cOf course trump is such a lowlife he would bury his ex wife at his golf course. FOR A TAX BREAK. #TrumpisaNationalDisgrace #TrumpCrimeFamily #TrumpIsACriminal\u201d— Cal (No DM) Bluewave \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@Cal (No DM) Bluewave \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1659313704
\u201cA perfect Trifecta\u2014bury your ex in a pauper\u2019s grave and avoid paying property, income & sales tax. \n\nIf the family was down with this\u2014imagine what\u2019s it\u2019s gonna be like for each member of the GQP who\u2019s no longer useful\u2026\u201d— \ud83e\uddc1\ud83d\udc9eAdina Conn \u262e\ufe0f\ud83d\udc94 (@\ud83e\uddc1\ud83d\udc9eAdina Conn \u262e\ufe0f\ud83d\udc94) 1659284953
Trump had long considered constructing a mausoleum on the property, and an NPR report from 2012 noted that the proposal, which was later expanded to include a cemetery of more than 1,000 graves, had received considerable pushback from locals.
The news comes after Trump made headlines for using his golf course to host the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf tournament, a move that prompted protests from the families of victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
The news angered many who'd noted that Trump had echoed the opinion of the intelligence community that the Kingfom of Saudi Arabia had backed the Al-Qaeda plot to fly airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.