A look at President Trump’s personal spending
WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - The average round of golf in the US can run you between $20-$1,000.
According to public schedule records, since taking office, President Donald Trump has golfed about one every four days.
According to records from the Government Accountability office, it’s costing the American tax payer about $26 million dollars.
“When you’re talking about playing golf instead of being at the office and sort of not doing the work of the presidency, but getting paid anyhow, I don’t think that’s an incredibly consequential amount of money,” said Maya MacGuineas with the Bi-Partisan Committee for Responsible Federal Budget. “But it certainly sends a signal about how hard one’s working.”
The President of the United States gets paid $400 thousand dollars a year.
President Trump makes a point of donating his salary, usually to a federal agency.
They get $50k in non-taxable allowance, and $100K for travel.
According to an audit by the Government Accountability office, Biden spent $16.5 million in 2022 alone.
But Donald Trump isn’t just spending money, he’s using the office to make money.
“We’ve seen issues with meme coins and other businesses that he or his family are engaged in that may have personal benefits,” said MacGuineas. “I don’t know if they’re illegal. They’re unprecedented in their scale and their scope.”
According to OpenSecrets, President Trump raked in almost $14 million in 2016 by using his own properties - including his golf courses- as President.
Gifts are also a factor, including the $400 million dollar jet from Qatar that’s being outfitted for Airforce 1.
“If you’re going to receive a plane as a gift and you have to go through all the security measures of revamping that plane, that has a high price tag,” said MacGuineas. “I don’t think any of these things are in the same league as the cost of what we’re borrowing, what the government spending when it comes to $7 trillion budget.”
While we don’t know the exact numbers of personal enrichment, since President Trump doesn’t release his taxes, Forbes estimates his personal wealth has doubled in the last year.
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