Booming the headlines for the past few days, every American by now if aware of the federal government’s $2 trillion economic rescue package. The bill includes financial aid for individuals and industries that are struggling to survive the coronavirus pandemic.

Little did we notice, this also includes a potential bonus for America’s wealthiest real estate investors.

The Republicans placed an easy-to-overlook Provision on Page 203 of the 880-page bill. This provision permits wealthy investors to leverage the Losses generated by real estate to minimize their taxes on profits from things like investments in the stock market. The estimated cost of the change over ten years is $170 billion.

Under the existing tax laws, when real investor incurs losses from gradually pinning down the value of their properties, this process widely is known as depreciation, they can utilize some of those losses to offset other taxes. The result is that investors can have the benefits from big tax breaks stemming from on-paper losses, even if they relish substantial cash profits in the real world.

But the utilization of these losses was restricted by the 2017 tax-cut package. The losses could be put to use to secure the first $500,000 of a married couple’s non-business income, such as capital gains from investments. Any leftover losses got pushed over to future years.

The Stimulus bill uplifts that restriction for the next three years. Undoubtedly, a blessing for couples with more than $500,000 in annual capital gains or income from sources other than their business.

This provision is the second-biggest tax giveaway in the $2 trillion stimulus package, and the cost analysis also includes the effect of some minor technical updates to the tax law. Further, industries like oil and gas and commodities trading, also benefit from this provision. A distinct provision in the stimulus bill, which relieves restrictions on losses that people can carry over from previous years, would make the tax break even more profitable.

In 2018, The Times published that Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, didn’t pay his income taxes for years because of paper losses. Kushner generated these losses by depreciating his companies’ properties, despite his significant wealth and earnings from other sources.

Trump has also summarized significant losses on his tax return. Parts of a 1995 tax return published by The Times revealed nearly $916 million in damages, which could have sanctioned him to dodge paying any federal income taxes for roughly two decades.

The 2017 law restrained both men’s facilities from reaping tax savings through only-on-paper losses; now, with those boundaries likely to be elevated, Trump and Kushner, as well as other wealthy real estate developers, have the potential to score significant tax savings.

The Senate unanimously passed the $2 trillion aid package late Wednesday. The House is looking forward to voting on the measure Friday to deal with the economic damage wrought by the pandemic, establishing it as the most significant fiscal stimulus package in modern American history!