Trump's new Palm Beach County tax bills, including Mar-a-Lago's, are up. But by how much?
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Former President Donald Trump’s taxes have jumped 13% over last year for his multiple properties in Palm Beach County, including The Mar-a-Lago Club, according to the 2022 bills mailed Monday by the local tax collector’s office.
The latest taxes on Trump’s 10 properties in the county total about $1.7 million, compared to the $1.5 million he was charged last year. That’s according to an analysis of his bills by the Palm Beach Daily News, the first media outlet to report the former president’s tax obligations in the county for 2022.
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Like thousands of other county taxpayers, Trump watched his property values skyrocket over the past couple of years, thanks to the real estate boom that began shortly after the coronavirus pandemic made local headlines in early 2020.
The latest bills were figured on values set Jan. 1 after real estate sales rode a bullet train in 2021. Across the county, taxable property values rose nearly 15% from 2021 to 2022 to $255.15 billion, according to county Property Appraiser Dorothy Jacks’ office.
Combined, the tax bills mailed to Trump’s property-ownership companies are $196,349 higher than last year’s.
Trump’s final tax bills were significantly less than the estimates released in August, before property values and tax rates were finalized. The August estimates said Trump could be billed a combined $2.16 million for 2022. That would have been a 44% jump from last year.
In Palm Beach, his properties include three houses next door to Mar-a-Lago along with two adjacent empty parcels.
Elsewhere in the county, Trump is taxed for the clubhouse at the Trump International Golf Club near West Palm Beach and all of the Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter.
Trump’s tax bills — and those of every other taxpayer’s — went out as scheduled on Halloween to make the state-imposed deadline of Nov. 1.
“It was business as usual,” county Tax Collector Anne Gannon told the Palm Beach Daily News this week. “There was no impediment to getting our bills out on time.”
The former president’s bills were among 611,768 that landed in the mail this week, according to Gannon’s office. She expects those bills to generate more than $4 billion.
Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach generates a higher tax bill
The Mar-a-Lago Club’s tax bill jumped from $521,698 last year to $547,242 this year, thanks to a $2.76 million increase in its taxable value, which stands at $30.36 million. Mar-a-Lago's value is not based on a traditional reading of real estate values but is instead figured by Jacks’ staff based on an “income approach” formula that capitalizes annual revenue — a standard practice for private clubs. By law, Jack’s office keeps the club’s revenue figures confidential.
Mar-a-Lago’s ocean-to-lake property measures 17.5 acres and is home to the landmarked mansion-turned-club-building, the Beach Club and several outbuildings.
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The new bill for the club includes taxes levied by taxing authorities plus an assessment to help pay for the town’s ongoing project to bury utility lines and fees charged by solid waste authorities.
Tax bills for Trump's other properties in Palm Beach also rose, bringing the grand total in town to about $1.15 million, up from $1 million last year.
Trump’s Palm Beach County properties valued at $110 million in tax rolls
Tax bills in the county are figured starting with a property’s “total market value” before tax caps and any exemptions are figured in to generate the “taxable value.” Although Trump has declared Mar-a-Lago his primary residence, he takes no homestead exemption on the property nor on any of his houses in town.
The Trump-controlled properties in the county have a combined total market value of about $110 million, a hike from about $83.4 million in last year’s tax rolls. Of this year’s total, $91.35 million is taxable, the records show.
In Palm Beach alone this year, the market value of Trump-controlled properties totals $78.26 million, with the total taxable value reduced to $63.06 million.
Almost all of Trump’s individual properties in the county generated higher taxes this year. The taxes due on the clubhouse at International Golf Club, for instance, jumped from $164,180 last year to $185,656 in the new tax rolls.
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It’s the same story at the golf club in Jupiter, where the clubhouse-and-spa building also saw a hike in its tax bill, from $259,179 to $288,124. And taxes due on an outbuilding at the Jupiter property rose from $26,205 last year to $28,849 million in the new tax rolls. But the taxes billed for Trump’s 126 acres of golf-course land dropped slightly from $44,307 in 2021 to $44,272 this year.
Palm Beach County offers discounts for those who pay their taxes early
Trump, like every other taxpayer, could get a discount on the amount demanded by his bills. Those who pay their bills in full in November get a discount of 4%, with the discount decreasing by 1% each month through the end of February. Taxes become delinquent if not paid by April 1.
Gannon said 80% of taxpayers in the county typically pay their bills by the end of November.
For the Trump houses next to Mar-a-Lago, the values used to figure their taxes take into account nearby recent real estate sales and other factors. But under a state law, the taxable value of a non-homesteaded house cannot increase more than 10% from year to year.
The house with the highest market value, at $22.148 million, is an oceanfront home plus a vacant parcel at 1125 S. Ocean Blvd. Combined, they have a market value of $23 million, compared to $15.92 million last year. Their total taxable value is $17.3 million — up from $15.73 million last year — and the new tax bill for both totals $304,446, a hike from $256,679.
The house at 1094 S. Ocean Blvd. has a market value of $17.98 million, but its taxable value is far less — $11.61 million. Its tax bill is $223,615, compared to $173,603 last year. A smaller house at 124 Woodbridge Road has a market value of $6.07 million and taxable value of $3.66 million. It has been taxed this year at $73,030 versus $54,653 last year.
At the golf club near West Palm Beach, only the clubhouse is taxable under longstanding contracts Trump negotiated with the county and the authority that governs the Palm Beach County International Airport. The golf club’s ownership company leases the land for the adjacent golf courses — nearly 275 acres — for more than $1 million a year.
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Tax bills reflect rates and fees set by municipalities, the county, the public school district and other taxing authorities. In all, residential properties in town are taxed at a combined rate of $15.49 per $1,000 of a property's taxable value.
The town of Palm Beach collects about 17.38% of all property taxes paid by property owners on the island, documents show. This year, the Town Council set a property tax rate of $2.69 per $1,000 of taxable value, a 7% reduction from last year’s rate.
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Darrell Hofheinz is a USA TODAY Network of Florida journalist who writes about Palm Beach real estate in his weekly “Beyond the Hedges” column. He welcomes tips about real estate news on the island. Email dhofheinz@pbdailynews.com, call (561) 820-3831 or tweet @PBDN_Hofheinz.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Donald Trump's property tax bills in Palm Beach County see a hike
