A Palm Beach County, Florida, official has come up with the idea of imposing a special tax on President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, in order to offset costs of the commander-in-chief’s frequent visits to the facility.
According to county stats, locals spend more than $60,000 each day Trump visits the estate, due in part to mandated law enforcement overtime.
But creating a special tax for one citizen on his private home — even when that one citizen might be the president of the United States?
Doesn’t seem constitutional, is all.
From The Hill:
“Trump has visited the resort six times since his inauguration, and is planning to return this weekend to celebrate the Easter holiday. …
“[T]he high cost of Trump’s visits has led County Commissioner Dave Kerner to propose a tax on the resort to cover the costs.
“‘We’re very honored to have the president here, but at the same time, his travel here is such high frequency he’s not visiting Palm Beach County — he’s governing from it,’ Kerner told Money magazine.
“‘Whatever our priorities are, the taxpayers didn’t pay this money to us to protect the president.’
“The resort is already subject to tax breaks because it is incorporated as a club and because Trump surrendered the development rights in 1985.
“The tax isn’t the first proposal to deal with the costs of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago visits.
“Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) who represents Palm Beach, called on Trump last month to either provide federal reimbursements to the local governments incurring increased security costs or cut back his trips to the resort.
“Palm Beach’s mayor also suggested creating higher taxes for residents in early March, saying if the government didn’t help cover costs, local taxpayers would likely have to bear the burden of the added security costs associated with the visits.”
