Matt Levine’s Money Stuff: AmEx Sold Some Tax Deductions

Programming note:
Money Stuff will be off for the rest of the week. Have a happy Thanksgiving, and I’ll see you back here on Monday.

Good tax trade

The good tax trade is:

1. You pay me $200.

• 2. You deduct $200 from your taxable income, saving you about $80 in taxes.

• 3. I pay you $150.

• 4. The $150 is not taxable income to you, so you pay no taxes on it.

I make $50 from this trade (the $200 I get in Step 1 minus the $150 I pay in Step 3). You make $30 (the $150 you get ...