Palm Beach official proposes Mar-a-Lago tax to pay for Trump visits

A Palm Beach County, Fla., official is proposing a special tax to be levied against President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, in order to cover the massive costs of Trump’s frequent visits to the “winter White House.” 

Trump has visited the resort six times since his inauguration, and is planning to return this weekend to celebrate the Easter holiday.

The county spends more than $60,000 a day during those visits for law enforcement overtime — nearly $2 million since inauguration, The Orlando Sentinel reported. 

{mosads}Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told the Sentinel that the county expected Trump’s recent visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping last weekend to top $250,000.

Bradshaw said he is confident the government will reimburse the county for the costs, adding that he had a personal conversation with Trump in February and “he understands.”

However, the high cost of Trump’s visits has led County Commissioner Dave Kerner to propose a tax on the resort to cover the costs.

“We’re very honored to have the president here, but at the same time, his travel here is such high frequency he’s not visiting Palm Beach County — he’s governing from it,” Kerner told Money magazine.

“Whatever our priorities are, the taxpayers didn’t pay this money to us to protect the president.”

The resort is already subject to tax breaks because it is incorporated as a club and because Trump surrendered the development rights in 1985.

The tax isn’t the first proposal to deal with the costs of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago visits.

Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) who represents Palm Beach, called on Trump last month to either provide federal reimbursements to the local governments incurring increased security costs or cut back his trips to the resort.

Palm Beach’s mayor also suggested creating higher taxes for residents in early March, saying if the government didn’t help cover costs, local taxpayers would likely have to bear the burden of the added security costs associated with the visits.