Exposed: How Trump uses golf courses to dodge millions in taxes

One of the many ways that President Donald Trump has been able to dodge paying his taxes is by using an "environmental easement" for his Trump National Golf Course in Florida. It's saved him $825 million, Forbes reported Monday, "give or take a couple hundred million."

The bombshell expose recalls past reports that Trump was using what's called a "conservation easement," which is an agreement that stops any future development unless it complies with certain strict environmental standards. Typically, the restrictions can be so tight that hardly anything can be built. Keeping the land is a tax write-off. It gives a deduction that reduces taxable income, though it isn't a dollar-for-dollar reduction in your tax bill. For Trump, that means a golf course can remain a functioning, revenue-generating business while becoming a major tax write-off.

Trump is using his presidential power to shield his finances from scrutiny through these kinds of arrangements, the report said.

Appraisers estimate what the property might be worth as housing or another development, then calculate the value of relinquishing that possibility. Forbes questioned both possibilities: whether certain courses genuinely qualify as conservation projects and whether their hypothetical development values are inflated.

According to the report, Trump earned approximately $1.4 billion from his cryptocurrency meme coin and more than $200 million from his real estate empire in 2025. That would mean a projected tax bill of more than $500 million. A conservation easement at his Jupiter, Florida, club could substantially reduce that liability. However, the report notes, the actual amount that Trump is saving isn't publicly available.

It's not unique to the president; he used the same tactic at his Bedminster country club. There he got a $39 million easement deduction. At first, the IRS rejected it. Trump fought it in court and there was a settlement agreement.

"The expected tax savings prompted us to increase our estimate of Trump's fortune by $300 million," the report said.

The Wall Street Journal reported in 2024 that the Blue Monster golf course at Trump National Doral Golf Club made the same move.

"The deal could save him nearly $120 million in taxes at current rates. The tax form and related documents were obtained by The Wall Street Journal through a public-records request to the City of Doral," the report said at the time.

"Now he has something no ordinary taxpayer can claim: power over the government on the other side of the table. The Trump Organization donated the easement in December 2025. A month later, Trump sued the IRS, alleging that the agency failed to protect his tax information during his first term in office. He was both plaintiff and president, suing an agency inside the government he ran. The president brushed aside the obvious conflict of interest.

"Anything I win, I'm giving 100 percent to charity," he claimed.

The public didn't take it well.

"Then came the payoff. In May, one month after the April 15 tax deadline passed, the Justice Department released the settlement of Trump's IRS lawsuit," the report recalled. The agreement created the $1.8 billion slush fund and stated that the IRS will never audit him or any of his children again.

Attorney General Todd Blanche has spent the past several months swearing the slush fund isn't happening, but the judge overseeing the lawsuits didn't buy it, noting that substantial payouts have already come from a different Justice Department fund.

"Blanche told Congress the agreement does not cover the president's 2025 tax returns, but a careful reading of the 'could be pending' language suggests the opposite," said Forbes. "That opens the possibility that Trump, who appears to have gotten an extension on his 2025 taxes, could have pursued the most aggressive tax strategy imaginable over the last few months—believing the IRS could do nothing about it."

An environmental nonprofit conducted a 180-page report saying that it found the "kind of things that excite naturalists—bird species, bat calls, plant varieties—then recorded their discoveries."

"This is larger than anything I’ve seen," said conservation consultant Russell Shay, when speaking with the Journal in 2024.