Why did Donald Trump really bury his ex-wife Ivana on his golf course?

When Ivana Trump, the ex-wife of US President Donald Trump, was laid to rest on July 20, 2022, at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, many viewed it simply as a family decision. But questions have since been raised about whether her burial site may also serve a strategic tax purpose.

New Jersey law exempts cemetery land from property, income, and sales taxes, a potential financial benefit in a state known for steep property tax rates.

“As a tax researcher, I was skeptical of rumors Trump buried his ex-wife in that sad little plot of dirt on his Bedminster, NJ golf course just for tax breaks. So I checked the NJ tax code & folks…it’s a trifecta of tax avoidance. Property, income & sales tax, all eliminated,” Brooke Harrington, a sociology professor at Dartmouth College, wrote in a since-deleted post on X. She later posted the full tax code, noting that the law does not specify how many burials are required for the exemption to apply.

Ivana Trump, who died at 73 following a fall in her Manhattan home, is the first known person buried at the golf course. Her grave, a simple plot near the first tee, is marked with white flowers and a granite stone.

- Long-standing cemetery plans -

The Trump family trust has previously explored ways to classify parts of its New Jersey properties as cemetery land. Documents revealed by ProPublica show a past attempt to designate a separate property in Hackettstown as a non-profit cemetery company.

Plans for Bedminster date back to at least 2014, when filings proposed two graveyards: a small private family cemetery and a 284-plot commercial one. At the time, local official Robert Holtaway expressed skepticism, saying, “It never made any sense to me. But we don’t question motives. We’re there as a land-use board.”

The Washington Post has also reported that Trump had already designated parts of the golf course as farmland by using mulch from trees, securing additional tax reductions. While New Jersey law limits cemetery tax exemptions to plots under 10 acres, analysts note that “every break counts.”

- Criticism and controversy -

Harrington criticized the simplicity of Ivana Trump’s grave, describing it as “little more than a pauper’s grave,” and accused Trump of disrespecting their three children, Ivanka, Don Jr., and Eric.

Trump has not commented on whether Ivana’s burial has any connection to tax planning. However, his fascination with burial sites at Bedminster is not new. In 2012, NPR reported that he planned to build a grand mausoleum on the property, later scaled down to a family plot.

For now, Ivana rests quietly at Bedminster, but speculation over whether her grave also serves as a financial strategy continues to swirl.