But it was far more generous to the wealthy who, like the president, structure their businesses to pay tax on a so-called pass-through basis. The 2017 bill also repealed the “like-kind exchange” rule for all property except, you guessed it, real estate. One might assume that Mr. Trump, as the self-proclaimed “king of debt,” would be hurt financially by such a limit. But in another happy twist for the Trump family, real estate developers can elect out of the limitation entirely. All of this raises the question of whether the president steered the 2017 tax bill and subsequent regulations in directions that personally benefited him and his family.

Source: New York Times May 09, 2019 18:56 UTC