Kamala Harris keeps assets in tax-advantaged trust, appearing to violate own ethics pledge

Vice President Kamala Harris keeps assets in a tax-advantaged family trust, a move that appears to violate an ethics pledge she and President Biden made on the campaign trail.

According to Harris' financial disclosure form released Monday, she has been a trustee of the KDH/DCE family trust since 2017. The trust's assets "are not reportable," according to the filing, effectively obscuring some of the vice president's holdings from public view.

The trust is inconsistent with Biden and Harris' campaign plan to crack down on such vehicles once in office. Biden and Harris pledged to work with Congress to "eliminate the trust loophole in existing financial disclosure law," and Biden said he would "require that any member of his Administration who is a beneficiary of a discretionary trust disclose all of its holdings."

It is unclear why Harris does not have to adhere to the pledge and report the assets held in the trust. The vice president's office did not respond to a request for comment.

A family trust, or a living trust, provides tax benefits to married couples by allowing them to maximize their federal estate tax exemption and are "ideal for people that own real estate in more than one state and an excellent method of asset protection," according to a California law firm.

While Harris obscures holdings within the trust, some of its assets can be gleaned from public sources from areas in which the vice ... (Read more)

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