Trump club is in tax break zone, but is unlikely to benefit
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump’s company owns a golf club in an Opportunity Zone offering developers massive tax breaks, but experts say it is unlikely it could take advantage of them.
The Trump National Golf Club outside Philadelphia is in one of the nation’s nearly 9,000 high-poverty areas offering the breaks to spur investment, create jobs and lift incomes. But the federal law that set up the program bans “sin businesses” from benefiting, and specifically cites golf courses and country clubs along with massage parlours and racetracks in a list of examples.
The 365-acre course in the southern New Jersey town of Pine Hill includes an 18-hole course framed by maple and pine trees, putting greens and a 43,000-square-foot clubhouse rented for weddings and other events.
Census data suggests that areas nearby are indeed struggling, with nearly a fifth of residents living in poverty and median household incomes, at $38,000, half that of New Jersey as a whole.