One Question I've Always Had About Trump's Tax Returns.....

[global1]

what has the IRS done to review them? Isn't it the job of the IRS to ferret out fraud in people's tax returns? The IRS has had Trump's filings - personal and business for years. Why haven't they uncovered money laundering, fraud, etc in his filings? Why are we now hanging our hats on Mueller having Trump's returns and finding these inconsistencies?

Hasn't the IRS done its job over the years?

[Hoyt]

1. I think the IRS is more concerned about did he pay taxes on all his income. I'm sure trump

has enough accountants and lawyers working on his that fraud would be hard to prove. Of coursing proving trump did wrong has always been the problem. We know it, but proving it is the problem.

[Louis1895]

2. Trump claims to be under audit...

...but he has never produced any documentation from the IRS to that effect. He has just stonewalled everyone and now no one asks to see his taxes. He could have presented his tax returns from the most recent years that are not under audit but he has refused.

[NCTraveler]

9. Trump has been and will be under audit in some way.

It's no excuse for him not releasing his returns. No excuse at all.

When you are involved in this....

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/TrumpFinancialDisclosure20150722.pdf

You are pretty much always under audit. It's a rightful yet deceptive claim.

[treestar]

3. Being a government entity

they probably take years to process things. Maybe they don't want to appear uneven handed by making Dotard's case special.

[el_bryanto]

4. I dont' work for the IRS so might be wrong

But if i had to guess I'd say it had to do with the Moo to Milk ratio - when you are tax collecting you want to be as effective as possible - while you might think that means that Trump is a tempting target as he has a fair amount of money, he would also almost certainly fight any audit tooth and nail, costing the Auditors more than they would eventually gain. So if your goal is to get the most milk with the minimum moo - Trump is not a good choice.

I could be wrong though

Bryant

[exboyfil]

5. Part of it would involve how the IRS selects

targets. Targeting political opponents is like a third rail. Perception of that happening is what got Lerner in trouble.

[CanonRay]

6. IRS is more interested in dinging wait staff for unreported tips.

[machoneman]

7. Good call.

I've wondered too, knowing all the media reports on Russian dealings, that even the NYS AG's office, always pit bulls on tax issues, didn't come forward as well to charge Trump, his organization and even the kids and in-laws too.

Unless....the FBI WAS on his trail long ago, asked the AG to hold his water, as they went deep into his so, so many shady dealings. To wit, it did take years for the AG to hit up Trump University on charges and get then to settle in court.

Only a guess.............

[BSdetect]

8. The British tax collectors were much tougher

I knew one of them and he told me they shut down businesses that cheated on the VAT tax etc

The IRS seems to be hampered by that BS about not going after drumph as it would cost too much.

But I think it would have been worthwhile to spend the extra amount.

[Lee-Lee]

10. Pretty much everyone with returns like his is automatically audited

But what they are looking for is just tax fraud or errors.

So if he failed to report income or he claimed deduction that were not legal, that would be what they look for.

Now what they don’t look at is deeper. If he says he made $500,000 on a certain deal all they look at is did he report that number accurately and did he pay the right amount of taxes on it.

What they don’t look at is was that deal that made that $500,000 a legal deal, was it from questionable sources, etc.

People seem to think if they get to see his returns they will see all kinds of fraud and evil, but in reality I doubt they will. Even returns like his don’t list all the details of income and the deals behind it, just amounts and totals.

What I do expect they would show is that he’s not nearly as rich or nearly as good a businessman as he hypes himself to be.

Aside from that, I don’t know what they think they will find in them. I