Quote from a mailbag:
“One reader took issue with our In the Works rating for Trump’s promise not to take a salary. We noted that at the White House press briefing on April 3, press secretary Sean Spicer announced that Trump would be donating his full first-quarter, pre-tax earnings of $78,333 to the National Park Service.
The reader wrote, “There is a difference between taking no salary and taking a salary and donating it to charity. The difference is that he gets a tax deduction for his donation. As such he, does profit from his presidential salary. In addition, the government is still out the amount of his salary plus the tax deduction. As such, the U.S. government will lose more than if he just pocketed his entire salary.”
