The benefits became part of a suite of tax breaks that have buoyed the real estate industry and the wealthy developers behind it. [Trump personally lobbied Congress to give real estate developers bigger tax breaks]Now the Republican presidential nominee, Trump argues that his business experience would give him the insight to simplify the tax code and eliminate tax breaks. “This tax act was just an absolute catastrophe for the country, for the real estate industry,” Trump said. Though Trump criticized the real estate industry for having “the most pathetic lobby in the history of the United States Congress,” real estate developers, brokers and lenders pressed their agenda in virtually every congressional district. But the disclosure of his big tax loss underlines the ebb and flow of real estate tax breaks that have been a feature of the tax code for more than half a century.

Source: Washington Post October 06, 2016 23:53 UTC