By Jonathan Bautz

How the President uses loopholes and a dead ex-wife to save millions.

The goat symbolises many things, from sacrifice and demonic forces to fertility and sexuality. More recently, it has become an acronym: the Greatest Of All Time. Donald Trump may symbolise all these things to different people. However, he may also have created an entirely new significance for the goat, something not usually associated with it: tax evasion.

Goats

In Trump National Golf Club, Bedminster, the President owns 8 goats and 113 acres of hay. Because the property has goats and hay, Trump can take advantage of a New Jersey tax loophole: properties with ‘no less than five acres of farmland actively devoted to an agricultural or horticultural use’ and which generate at least $1,000 in annual income from farming get tax exemptions.

According to Business Insider, if Trump’s ‘farm’ were taxed at standard rate, his tax bill would increase by about $199,000 each year. As he has been using this loophole for more than two decades, the total amount Trump has saved is in the region of $5m.

Graveyards

Goats are not the President’s only method of tax evasion. The other is stranger: Trump’s ex-wife Ivana is buried on his land near the Bedminster golf course that is home to his goats. Trump has created a family cemetery there, while also making plans for a larger graveyard with 284 plots for sale to members of the golf club.

Trump’s motivation for laying his ex-wife to rest there may not be entirely romantic, particularly as Ivana never mentioned Bedminster. According to tax researcher Brooke Harrington, cemeteries are ‘a trifecta of tax avoidance. Property, income & sales tax, all eliminated’. It is unclear how much of the land is classified as cemetery, but even if it is only a section, hundreds of thousands of dollars may be avoided.

Should we judge Trump for decreasing his tax bill?

Trump may have motives beyond tax for the choice of Ivana’s burial place. He has often spoken warmly about Bedminster and wants to be laid to rest there himself. In 2007 Trump created plans for a mausoleum for himself and his family there. Trump’s actions show a concern with his legacy. His desire to establish a family cemetery suggests that his motivation may be sentimental rather than financial – or both.

Although Trump is undoubtedly exploiting a loophole by having his land classed as farmland, he is not the only landowner to do this. northjersey.com reports 35,000 Jersey landowners benefitting from the loophole. In his position, most people would take advantage of a perfectly legal loophole.

However, Trump is no longer simply a North Jersey landowner. He is the President, setting rules, including on tax, for all Americans. The methods mentioned in this article are Trump’s most prominent tax avoidance schemes, but he has more. While they follow the letter of the law, they go against its spirit and therefore reveal Trump’s contempt for the law. As President, Trump should set an example by following laws instead of assuming they do not apply to him.