Speculation is rife on social media about former U.S. President Donald Trump's attempt at saving taxes following the burial of his first wife his Golf club in Bedminster. Ivana Trump was buried near the first hole of Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
73-year-old Ivana Trump died last month after she fell at her home in New York City's Manhattan. The grave carries a wreath of white flowers and an engraved granite stone.
Will Trump Save on Hefty Taxes
The Guardian reported that the New Jersey's tax code exempts cemetery land from all taxes, rates, and assessments. Claiming that Ivana's grave will be potentially advantageous for the former President in a state where property and land taxes are exorbitantly high, the outlet claimed that the Trump family trust had earlier pursued to designate a nearby property in Hackettstown, New Jersey, as a non-profit cemetery company.
It was also reported that tax code in New Jersey not only exempts cemetery companies from real estate taxes, rates, and assessments or personal property taxes, but also from business taxes, sales taxes, income taxes, and inheritance taxes.
In a tweet, Brooke Harrington, a professor of sociology at Dartmouth college in New Hampshire, wrote, "As 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. So I checked the NJ tax code & folks...it's a trifecta of tax avoidance. Property, income & sales tax, all eliminated."
Is the Grave Fake, Social Media Reacts
Although it isn't still clear if the Golf course would have additional graves, social media was quick to react to the recent development. Many even suspected that Ivana's grave at the Bedminster golf course is fake.
"The Trump kids are okay with the Saudi trampling on her grave. Trump physically attacked Ivana when she was alive, but this is the ultimate humiliation and degradation of her in her death!" tweeted a user.
"Knowing how grossed out Donald Trump is by bodies, it wouldn't be surprising at all to discover that Ivana's grave is fake and her corpse buried elsewhere— just so the Trump crime family could get a tax break," wrote another.
"We now discover Ivana was cremated. So it begs the question, "why did Trump dig a large grave for Ivana's ashes?" Is it just another scam to create a fake "graveyard" to get tax exemption status for his golf course or did he bury something other than Ivana's ashes in that plot?" read a tweet.