Donald Trump has been accused of burying first wife Ivana at his New Jersey golf club to exploit state tax exemptions on cemeteries.
Trump’s Bedminster Golf Course Is A Non Profit Cemetery, Now That Ivana’s Buried At First Hole.
“As a ‘cemetery’ Bedminster pays no taxes & can’t be seized in a judgment,” the post’s caption reads in part.
In New Jersey, cemetery organizations can qualify for a tax deduction and stipulations, but must be totally dedicated to the cemetery industry. Cemeteries organizations must also register as a nonprofit to qualify for tax exemptions.
The Trump Family Trust did receive authorization for a cemetery company on the property, Newsweek reported. However, the New Jersey State Cemetery Board approved a private cemetery that would only apply to a 5,700-square-foot parcel of the property, rendering that amount of land as potentially tax-exempt, according to the outlet.
“It is extremely unlikely that the golf course would ever be qualified as a cemetery company, ” Thomas Olson a New Jersey-based attorney, told Check Your Fact via phone. “Note, to be a cemetery company it has to be devoted to and intended to be used for a cemetery and for cemetery purposes, neither of which is happening there.”
Olson explained that there is a statute “that says, land that is used for a burial ground might be subject to an exemption, but even somehow, if that would apply, it would only apply to the very, very small area that the graveside takes up.”
The New Jersey Cemetery Act of 2003 does provide a broad range of tax exemptions for cemetery companies. These businesses are exempt from sale for collection of judgments, and cemetery trust funds and income are exempt from tax and sale or seizure for collection of judgments against the cemetery company.