Trump personally lobbied Congress to give real estate developers bigger tax breaks
In 1986, President Ronald Reagan and Congress came together to pass a landmark tax reform bill that streamlined tax brackets, cut rates, closed loopholes and eliminated tax breaks. Reagan declared it “a sweeping victory for fairness.”
Donald Trump, however, wanted the loopholes and tax breaks back. In testimony before a House Budget Committee task force in November 1991, Trump called the 1986 tax reform legislation an “absolute catastrophe” that had pushed the real estate business into an “absolute depression.”
To fix the situation, Trump advocated a combination of higher tax rates for the rich and the restoration of special exemptions for real estate investment. Together, they would incentivize people seeking to lower their tax bills to invest in real estate. Trump called for accelerated depreciation of property and rules that encouraged certain investors to seek out “passive losses” that could offset their other income and slash their steep tax bills. Trump cited wealthy dentists as the typical investor he hoped to attract.
The benefits became part of a suite of tax breaks that have buoyed the real estate industry and the wealthy developers behind it. The recent revelation that Trump had accumulated $916 million in net operating losses in a 1995 tax filing is a reminder that he, like others in the real estate business, have long defended and exploited targeted exemptions. There is, however, no way of knowing which provisions Trump was taking advantage of.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/10/06/trump-personally-lobbied-to-give-real-estate-developers-bigger-tax-breaks/?wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1
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