Yes We will see the Orange Thugs Tax Returns. Interview David Cay Johnston

[tomhagen]

Last edited Mon Mar 18, 2019, 09:24 AM - Edit history (2)

[djacq]

1. Should've NEVER came down that escalator.

[crazytown]

2. I thought this was about Bernie

He is doing us no favours dragging things out.

[OnDoutside]

3. It is inconceivable that ANY candidate for the Democratic Party nomination refuses to release 10

years of Tax Returns, after what happened with Trump. Anyone doing so should be dogged every inch of the way, relentlessly. They will clearly have something to hide.

[marble falls]

4. I think he is embarassed by his wealth that he feels he is too much for a socialist ...

I bet it isn't all that much and he did noting illegal.

[louis c]

5. Then show 'em

[marble falls]

6. If he hopes to gain my support again, he'll do it before he has no choice.

[lark]

13. If so, then why not just release them?

We can suspect many things, but the truth will only be revealed if/when he decides to stop hiding in the shadows, concealing his finances. I bet he doesn't release his taxes as transparency doesn't seem to be anything he cares about.

[elleng]

15. Joke, right,

or just woke on the wrong side of the bed.

[crazytown]

16. Title originally: We will see the tax returns.

I was not snarking.

[elleng]

17. Thanks

[watoos]

7. Not according to Steve Mnuchin.

[NewJeffCT]

8. Don't expect the tax returns

to tell the entire story -

Most likely, they're extremely complex and it will be very easy to confuse even relatively smart people when discussing the tax returns.

1) There is a difference between tax returns for Donald Trump the person and financial statements for the Trump organization
2) Most likely, there are shell corporations within shell corporations within shell corporations that have been set up to hide income in foreign countries - a Russian nesting doll of tax shelters. Some of it may be legal, but much of it dubiously legal at best. However, it will be easy to obfuscate when discussing on the TV news. How many news anchors are experts in tax law? I'm guessing almost none.
3) The biggest story that may stick is that he's not making nearly as much money as he claims and is not nearly as wealthy.

[MadDAsHell]

9. Part of the challenge is we have allowed the creation of such a complex system.

I know tax reform isn't typically a high priority for us, but if we could simplify the system to the point that the average American could actually understand what they were looking at when viewing another person's tax return, that would go along way.

[watoos]

11. The idea that no one will be able to understand Trump's tax returns,

is Trump's argument for not showing them. Of course tax experts will be able to understand Trump's returns, he never figured that they would ever be audited or looked at.

[erronis]

20. Totally agree. They practiced obfuscation so they can't be traced/held accountable.

I think we (including our IC/DoJ) are much smarter than these mob/thugs/lawyers.

Put the data out there and let some very smart people within and outside of the gov't apply some super-smart harvesting techniques. I think there will be a lot more interesting/suspicious/criminal activities disclosed.

[watoos]

10. I disagree,

his tax returns will show how much money he got from Putin and it won't be hard to find.

Trump is regretting the day he ran for president, he had it made. He borrowed money, built casinos, declared bankruptcy on the casinos, declared the loss on his taxes so that he never had to pay taxes for 10 - 12 years, and to make matters worse, he never paid back the loan to the bank. Nice gig.

Trump bought a house in Florida for 45 million dollars, no one ever moved in, sold it to a Russian for 95 million dollars, no one ever moved in. They ended up bulldozing it over I believe.

Same thing with his Trump tower in Baku, Azerbaijan, only Ivanka's name is on that tower. It was built in the bad side of town, no one ever moved in, there isn't even an access road to it, and some of that laundered money went to the Iranian military.

Whatever money Trump has made, he did it laundering money for mobs and by conning people.

[NewJeffCT]

12. I highly doubt it will be that easy

there will be shell corporations in small country tax havens in the Caribbean and/or eastern Europe/the Mediterranean and they will say, "this bank" or "that bank" was known to be used by Russian oligarchs to launder money, but there will be enough of a grey area that Trump will be able to deny he personally used that bank and/or country to launder money and many will believe him.

[murielm99]

14. Then keep him tied up in hearings for the next two years.

Televise the hearings. Make him sit for an eleven hour grilling with no bathroom break. Publicize his every obfuscation and temper tantrum.

[tomhagen]

18. Make his hearing Pay per view. By my calculations it would cover the National Debt.

[erronis]

19. "The single most important thing is to see how much money he got from the Kremlin" - the russian

oligarchs are essentially a criminal gang led by putin."