With the election of Donald Trump to his second presidential term on November 5, his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach is expected to once again make headlines around the world, not just as the president-elect’s primary home when he’s away of Washington, DC, but also as a lavish location for official meetings and social gatherings.
But as exalted as Mar-a-Lago’s status is, the club also plays a less glamorous role: Like other Palm Beach County properties, property taxes help keep state coffers full.
Mar-a-Lago — which covers 17.5 ocean-to-lake acres with Trump’s landmark mansion-turned-clubhouse — is one of nine Trump-controlled properties in the county to be taxed by 2024, according to a Palm Beach Daily News analysis of recently released data.
And thanks in part to rising property values, tax bills on all of Trump’s properties in the county have soared this year. Their tax bills total $2.04 million, up about 11.5% from $1.83 million in 2023.
The county tax office met a state-imposed deadline when it sent the new bills to every eligible taxpayer on Halloween — five days before Election Day.
Mar-a-Lago’s latest tax bill was $703,364, a 17.4% increase from last year, when the bill was about $100,000 less. The new bill includes approximately $78,700 in assessments that will help fund the City of Palm Beach’s ongoing project to bury utility lines; and to pay for solid waste disposal.
As with all taxpayers, Trump’s bills were calculated based on property values determined by the county’s Property Appraiser’s Office on Jan. 1 of this year.
In addition to Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s taxable properties include three houses next to the club and an adjacent vacant lot; the Trump International Golf Club clubhouse near West Palm Beach; and the properties that make up Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter.
Combined, these properties have a “total market value” of approximately $145 million, according to the Property Appraiser’s office. The total market value is the starting point for calculating taxes before any exemptions or so-called tax limits are applied.
Last year, the total market value of Trump’s properties in the county was about $124 million.
The money generated by Trump’s properties — and thousands of other taxable parcels in the county — is collected by Tax Collector Anne Gannon’s office.
Those revenues are then “distributed to Palm Beach County taxing authorities to fund critical county and municipal public services such as the school district, fire department, libraries, parks and agricultural districts,” according to a statement on Gannon’s website. “Proceeds also fund local children’s services and the health care district.”
Mar-a-Lago’s tax bill was derived from its so-called “taxable value” of $36.74 million, although the Property Appraiser’s office assigned a higher “total market value” to the club of $49.15 million, compared to $37 million last year.
The values for Mar-a-Lago on the tax rolls are much lower than many real estate observers say the property would be worth if it were sold on the open market without the legal burdens that today require the property to be used solely as a private club . .
To determine Mar-a-Lago’s value for tax purposes, the office of real estate appraiser Dorothy Jacks uses a standard formula known as the “income approach.” Basically, the formula “capitalizes” the net operating income that the club reports each year to the property appraiser’s office. Jacks staff then arrives at Mar-a-Lago’s value by estimating the club’s revenues and expenses, which by law must be kept confidential, although financial disclosure laws during Trump’s first presidential term restricted that information made public.
The county’s assessed value of Mar-a-Lago figured prominently in a civil lawsuit that culminated last year in New York City. Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that Trump and his company, The Trump Organization, were liable for fraud after they consistently deceived banks, insurance companies and other entities by vastly overvaluing his properties, including the private club in Palm Beach.
Engoron based his valuation of the club on provincial Property Appraiser valuations dating back several years, from $18 million in 2011 to $27.6 million in 2021.
Trump, on the other hand, has variously claimed that Mar-a-Lago is worth at least $420 million and perhaps as much as $1.5 billion.
MAR-A-LAGO RATING: How much is Trump’s Mar-a-Lago actually worth? It depends who you ask
Engoron ultimately ordered Trump to pay fines of more than $450 million, although that payment will remain suspended while the verdict is appealed. An appeal hearing took place in September, when several judges expressed skepticism about the size of the verdict and the overall merits of the case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James against Trump and other defendants in 2022.
For Trump’s two golf clubs in the county, the same revenue approach used for tax purposes at Mar-a-Lago is combined with other standard commercial assessment formulas to calculate values.
At Trump International Golf Club near West Palm Beach, only the clubhouse is taxable under long-term contracts Trump negotiated with the county and the authority that runs Palm Beach International Airport.
Trump International’s title company leases the golf course property — about 275 acres — for more than $1 million a year. But it owns the clubhouse, which is taxed at $209,152 for 2024, based on its taxable value of about $12.58 million.
Trump regularly plays golf at Trump International, where an alleged assassination attempt took place in September by a man who authorities say planned to shoot the former president through a hedge with a rifle. One suspect, Ryan Rout, was arrested and charged before entering a plea of not guilty.
At Trump’s golf club in Jupiter, taxes billed this year for the club’s multiple packages totaled $395,486. The taxable value of the clubhouse is approximately $17 million, while the value of the golf course and a service building totals approximately $4.34 million.
In March, the Trump Organization announced it would build a $15 million office complex on land it already owns at the Jupiter Golf Club, which several Trump-related companies use as their business address at 110 Night Hawk Drive.
Back in Palm Beach, the three Trump-controlled homes next to Mar-a-Lago and the adjacent vacant lot have a total taxable value of about $39.67 million and generated tax bills totaling about $728,353, according to the latest tax assessments.
In total, Trump’s properties in the city have a total market value of $110.22 million, according to the Property Appraiser’s office.
According to a statement from Gannon’s office, Trump’s properties were among 617,860 tax bills sent to property owners for the new tax rolls. These bills totaled “more than $6.2 billion,” the statement said.
Trump, like every other taxpayer in the county, is eligible for a reduction in the amount claimed on his bills. Those who pay their bills in full in November will receive a 4% discount, with the discount decreasing by 1% each month through the end of February 2025, Gannon’s office said. Taxes become delinquent if not paid by April 1.
dhofheinz@pbdailynews.com
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Darrell Hofheinz is a USA TODAY Network of Florida journalist who writes about Palm Beach real estate in his weekly column “Beyond the Hedges.” 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: Trump’s taxes rise for Mar-a-Lago and other Palm Beach County properties
