California wants to tax Trump anti-persecution fund by 100%

According to Newsom, any California resident who receives funds from the fund may have the funds fully taxed by the state.

“Anyone in California who receives any part of these resources, we want to tax 100% of these amounts,” the governor said.

Newsom’s press office classified Trump’s fund, called the “Anti-Instrumentalization Fund”, which will have more than US$1 billion, as a “shadow fund” in a post on social media. The governor, however, did not say when California intends to start applying the charge.

The fund was announced last week as part of a legal settlement between Trump and the IRS, after the president sued the agency for leaking his tax returns to the press.

Trump defended the creation of the fund and said he gave up “a lot of money” to allow other people to be compensated for being victims of political persecution in the US. In a publication in Truth Social, the American president stated that he could have closed a deal involving the leak of his taxes and the search at Mar-a-Lago, but he preferred to help people who, according to him, were “brutally attacked” by the then government of Joe Biden, from the Democratic Party.

According to the Justice Department, Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and the Trump Organization have agreed to settle lawsuits against the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service. Under the agreement, they will receive a formal apology but no financial payment. Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche admitted in a Congressional hearing that the fund could be used to compensate those convicted of the acts of January 6, 2021, when the Capitol was invaded. Trump pardoned more than 1,500 people linked to the episode last year.

Two police officers who worked in the defense of the Capitol on January 6, 2021 went to US court against the fund, claiming that it could benefit “convicts of violence” in that episode.