The word secretly in the headline should be in euphemistic quotes because anyone with reasonably good vision can tell that the show’s Washington, D.C. backdrops of late are green screens — and not very good ones at that. As Page Six notes, despite the feeble attempts to show hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski reporting from two different locations in the nation’s capital, the couple is actually sitting side by side. But the show is no longer broadcast out of New York as it has been traditionally. Instead the set MSNBC is using is located in a house the couple owns in Jupiter, Fla.
So why the attempts at deception? A followup Page Six article explains that the Scarboroughs, who currently live in Connecticut, are availing themselves of a tax dodge, which requires them to spend a certain amount of their time at their Florida residence in order to derive any financial benefit.
The whole thing is perfectly legal — just hypocritical. When the Trump tax plan was first announced in December 2017, Joe Scarborough told his “Morning Joe” audience:
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
Millennials, you just had $1.5 trillion stolen from you. Past Congresses have stolen $20 trillion from you, and over the next ten years, they’re going to steal another $10 trillion from you. And they’re going to die, and then you’re going to be left holding the bill.
Republicans who claim to care about the debt are voting to steal $1.5 trillion from millennials, the very people who, 48 percent are saying, ‘no, we don’t like the Republican Party.’
So how much do the Scarboroughs stand to steal from millennials if they make the move to Jupiter permanent?
By moving to Florida, he’d reduce his tax burden by roughly $550,000. Scarborough reportedly makes $8 million a year and would pay 6.99-percent state income tax in Connecticut, while there’s no state income tax in Florida, the Post’s Josh Kosman reports. To qualify as a Florida resident, he’d need to be there 183 days a year.
An insider added that while the show suffers in quality from the couple’s makeshift Florida set, that NBC News boss Andy Lack allows it since he’s close with Scarborough, even though others at the network are not fans of the plan.
