Yet Another Trump-Enriching Tax Break

***For Immediate Release***

Yet Another Trump-Enriching Tax Break

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee, released the following statement regarding the latest proposed tax break being promoted by the Trump Administration, which enriches Trump:

"While so many families struggle to keep food on the table, Republicans are considering yet another tax break to write off vintage wine and pricey filets after golf and before a show at a Trump resort. This represents yet another Trump self-enrichment effort, not genuine pandemic relief, not the direct assistance some independent restaurants need nor even something that the National Restaurant Association has requested. This is only the latest example of a tax provision tailor-made to benefit the Trump family finding its way into major tax legislation."

Meals and entertainment deduction. Since 1986, recognizing the potential for abuse, Congress has enacted limits on the ability to write-off meals and entertainment as a business expense. Non-meal entertainment expenses cannot be deducted, but 50 percent of business meals can be. Trump reportedly seeks to restore as much as the pre-1986 100 percent deduction for meals and entertainment, giving corporate executives the potential to once again write-off everything from sports skyboxes to night club entertainment.

Millionaire's tax giveaway for net operating losses. The CARES Act included a $135 billion provision whose cost exceeded all of the assistance given to hospitals but had little connection to combatting the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout. According to reports, beneficiaries of the tax giveaways may include President Trump, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and "real estate investors in President Trump's inner circle." Secretary Mnuchin has declined to deny that this provision was promoted to benefit Trump.

Last-minute break snuck into 2017 Trump tax law. Republicans created a new tax break in their 2017 law that will primarily benefit wealthy individuals who report pass-through business income. In an attempt to include at least limited guardrails, there was a provision to prevent businesses with few employees from benefiting. But just before the final legislation passed, a narrow provision not found in either the House or Senate bill was inserted that was tailor made for real estate developers like Trump, allowing pass-through business owners with few employees, but a lot of real estate holdings to benefit.

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