There isn't any need for fake <td>
s. Make use of border-spacing
instead. Apply it like this:
HTML:
<table>
<tr>
<td>First Column</td>
<td>Second Column</td>
<td>Third Column</td>
</tr>
</table>
CSS:
table {
border-collapse: separate;
border-spacing: 50px 0;
}
td {
padding: 10px 0;
}
See it in action.