“There’s probably no special interest that’s more favored by the existing tax code than real estate,” said Steven M. Rosenthal, a real estate tax lawyer and senior fellow at the centrist Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. So has the influential Real Estate Roundtable, whose board includes several of Mr. Trump’s fellow New York developers. After the last major overhaul of the tax code, in 1986 — under a Republican president, Ronald Reagan, and a Democratic Congress — it was a Democrat, Bill Clinton, who signed legislation that restored lost real estate tax breaks seven years later. More than in just about any industry, real estate investors use leverage — borrowed money — to enhance returns. Tax experts broadly agree that the interest deduction is untenable if the code also allows immediate expensing.

Source: New York Times April 22, 2017 17:26 UTC