Trump Insider Says Potential Golf Tax Breaks Are 'F***ing Huge' With $1.2 Billion in Savings on the Table

Donald Trump could shelter an estimated £902 million ($1.2 billion) in taxes by giving away development rights on his golf courses, according to a new Forbes analysis.

Forbes estimates the write-offs could total about £2.4 billion ($3.2 billion), a sum one Trump Organization insider described, with an expletive, as 'huge'.

The strategy relies on conservation easements, Forbes senior editor Dan Alexander reported. Trump donates the development rights to golf courses he continues to operate and claims a charitable deduction for the value of those rights.

The Golf Course Play

Qualifying conservation easement deductions can generally offset up to 50 per cent of a taxpayer's adjusted gross income each year. Unused deductions can be carried forward for up to 15 years but cannot be passed to heirs.

Forbes puts the potential future write-offs at between £1.9 billion ($2.5 billion) and £2.9 billion ($3.8 billion), with a central estimate of £2.4 billion ($3.2 billion). That would shelter an estimated £902 million ($1.2 billion) in taxes.

Asked about the numbers, a Trump Organization insider with knowledge of the company responded with a profanity-laced 'huge', Forbes reported, before adding: 'Huge!'

The magazine called the scheme a possible 'legacy project' that could continue for years. Forbes estimates Trump has already taken about £902 million ($1.2 billion) in easement deductions, saving about £338 million ($450 million) that would otherwise have gone to the Treasury.

Valuing the rights is far from exact. Appraisers estimate a hypothetical developed value by stacking assumptions, Forbes reported. On Trump's first four easements, the claimed values averaged 74 per cent of the land's hypothetical developed value.

Course by Course

Trump made his first easement donation at Bedminster in New Jersey in 2005, after environmentalist Edward Russo proposed the idea.

He has since donated development rights at other courses, including about 184 acres around the Blue Monster course at Doral in Florida, where roughly 480 acres remain. In 2025, the rights to his Jupiter course in Florida were transferred to a Georgia nonprofit.

Potential future sites include Rancho Palos Verdes in California, his course near Washington, Westchester County in New York, Mooresville in North Carolina and Colts Neck in New Jersey.

Bigger Than The Ballroom

The headline on Alexander's piece argues the tax play matters more than Trump's new White House ballroom, which has drawn criticism over its corporate donors.

From 2017 to 2020, he generated an estimated £417 million ($555 million) in operating income but paid just £2.3 million ($3.1 million) in federal taxes, Forbes noted.

The IRS 'started fighting Trump' over the write-offs about 20 years ago, Forbes reported. In May 2026, five months after the Jupiter donation, the government settled Trump's lawsuit against the IRS and Treasury.

The settlement barred the US from examining or prosecuting current tax issues for Trump, his sons Eric and Donald Jr. and the Trump Organization, the AP reported. The Justice Department said it covers existing audits, not future examinations.

Not everyone around Trump is convinced. 'Not everybody in the Trump Organization thinks this is a good idea,' Russo has said, according to Forbes.

The scale of Trump's potential deductions is likely to draw scrutiny from Democrats, who take control of Congress in January and have vowed to investigate the president's business dealings. Trump's spokespeople did not respond to Forbes' requests for comment.