I suspect Bernie has not released his Schedule A because he

[Gomez163]

may have charitable contributions he doesn't want made public.

[Actor]

1. Oh for cripe sake, can you give ONE example of this?

For either candidate, what could be an example of this?

I cant think of anything, at all.

[Gomez163]

7. You see until he tells us we are going to speculate the hell out of it.

[DesertRat]

32. +1

[BlueCaliDem]

13. Just to remind you, you're in the Hillary Clinton Group.

[still_one]

27. perhaps some organization he doesn't want to be identified with

[DesertFlower]

34. thats very possible.

[spooky3]

39. You don't have to name the recipients when you file.

But it's strange that he reports a nice round number. If you give small contributions to a lot of charities, you probably wouldn't have that.

[still_one]

41. That's true

[KewlKat]

2. did you forget the sarcasm image?

[Gomez163]

20. I'm new here.

[DURHAM D]

3. He has previously stated that he does not believe in charities.

So, I doubt that is it.

[Gomez163]

5. I dont think he has high state taxes or mortgage interest to equal

the $56,377 he claimed so it would either be charity, casualty loss or medical expenses.

[KewlKat]

9. what about church?

[Gomez163]

10. Possibly. The best way to know is to see the Schedule A.

[Rose Siding]

11. Jane's Catholic but he isn't religious.

[Gomez163]

12. He might be claiming a big theft loss. That Hillary stole the primaries.

(Just kidding)

[riversedge]

25. Best comeback yet.!

[still_one]

29. that's it................

[Gomez163]

14. I think its fun to speculate about this usual nerd stuff like tax returns.

NERD ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[spooky3]

40. He claimed $22k in interest and around $15k in RE tax.

[jmowreader]

42. $22k in mortgage interest on a $200k salary is fishy as hell

I did the numbers from his tax return...mortgage lenders get antsy if more than 28 percent of your annual income goes to PITI on housing. He lists $14,843 in taxes and $22,946 in mortgage interest, which comes out to roughly 18 percent of his income on just those two items. I used the Burlington, VT, property tax calculator on the city's website and came out with somewhere around $600,000 worth of house to justify that much property tax - divide between at least two houses. Insurance on $600,000 worth of property is going to push him way over 28 percent, and we haven't even looked at principal.

Like I said in a post earlier tonight, Bernie Sanders is in dire need of an audit. There are WAY too many unanswered questions here.

[spooky3]

43. They own a condo in DC--purchased in 2007 for around $500k

Property tax today probably would be around $5k.

[jmowreader]

44. Oh shit

Wasn't the Mortgage Meltdown of 2007 caused by people earning $165,000 buying half-million-dollar houses? In Military Intelligence we call what Bernie's doing "living beyond your means" and it's grounds for having your clearance suspended until a VERY thorough investigation is completed.

[spooky3]

45. I'm in the metro area--he's fine. In the neighborhood in which he bought, prices are

Now at least as high as in 2007.

If the other house(s) were paid off and/or rented, he was ok. However most people with those incomes at that point in life would have had savings to use for most of the cost.

Wasn't Jane working then? If so they had two incomes and he was eligible for Social Security, so they had enough. He had to live in DC part of the year and a one BR condo is a pretty modest way to go. I guess he could sleep in his office or get a roommate like some of his colleagues.

[jmowreader]

46. He's not fine

This is the tax return he sent up:

https://go.berniesanders.com/page/-/Bernie%20Taxes%20Full.pdf

Income:
Bernie's salary: $156,441
Taxable interest: $11
Taxable dividends: $2
Schedule C income (Jane is reporting her directorship of the Texas Low-Level Nuclear Waste compact as "business income&quot : $4,900
Pension (Jane's from Bennington College?): $4,982
Social Security benefits: $39,281
Total income: $205,617

Itemized deductions:
State income tax: $9,666
Property tax: $14,843
Mortgage interest: $22,946
Total charitable contributions: $8,350
Unreimbursed employee expenses: $4,473
Allowable cut of miscellaneous expenses: $572
Total deductions: $56,377

His debt-to-income ratio is WAY too high, that's one thing.

DC's property tax rate is $0.85 per $100 assessed value. If his DC condo was assessed at $500,000, that's $4,250. By playing with the Burlington tax calculator at https://www.burlingtonvt.gov/CT/propertytaxes/calculate/ it seems he's paying tax on a $425,000 house in Vermont. It's possible - New England property values are completely insane.

The deductions lead me to believe he has income he didn't report on his tax forms.

[spooky3]

47. You're mixing up years. If they bought in 2007 (as the post I referred to claimed he did) then you

need to use the income they had to determine whether you think the debt-to-income ratio (used to determine their qualifying in 2007) was too high. You are using 2014's income.

They bought the condo for around $500K 9 years ago according to an article linked in another post here. If it is in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, which I think it is, he not only has not lost money on it, it probably has INCREASED (perhaps substantially) in value since 2007. In 2007, the Sanderses may have gotten a good deal because values in that neighborhood might have started dipping in 2006. While exurb values bubbled up quite a bit during the big bubble that burst in 2006-8, the tony DC neighborhoods never went up enormously, they didn't crater like those in the exurbs, and since the lowest point, they have crept up pretty steadily. So the assessed value is probably (a lot?) higher than in 2007. I have a DC friend in a different but desirable neighborhood whose house bought in the early 90s and which her family has put little money into, whose house is now worth about 3 times what they paid for it. So the assessed value in 2014 on which the RE taxes are based is probably higher than you are estimating. My estimate of $5K is probably closer to what they actually had to pay in 2014 than is $4250.

He may or may not have income not reported and I totally agree an audit is needed, because other things don't add up to me either. Maybe most of their savings are in 401ks or equivalent so they don't have to be reported. But I would think that there is more in taxable accounts, e.g., savings over the years, any buy-out that Jane got from Burlington College that they saved. Of course, if they have spent all their money on real estate, they wouldn't have much in savings. But I totally agree with you that the numbers look strange.

[spooky3]

48. here's the link showing that he paid $489000 for the DC condo in 2007:

https://sandersguideblog.wordpress.com/2016/03/07/sanders-finances-bring-a-shovel/

You have to scroll down a long way to see the photo and info. Two other properties are also shown and described.

[IamMab]

6. My bet is that he doesn't want to show that he donates nothing.

That or his itemized deductions are highly questionable for him to be taking, if still legal. Maybe he's utilizing a tax loophole he's criticized.

[SharonClark]

4. Bingo!

[radical noodle]

8. It might be even more likely

that he hasn't done anything for charity at all... nothing for all those poor folks he talks about all the time. And he probably does have a list of investments that might be revealing.

[taught_me_patience]

15. I suspect his schedule d

Shows. - sold 500 gs $50,000

[4now]

16. Makes me wonder what he is trying to hide.

It could be more then one thing that he is trying to cover-up.

[Gomez163]

17. FRIDAY NEWS DUMP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[4now]

22. I heard that BS was going to release his hidden tax returns today

But I haven't seen anything but excuses yet.

[Thinkingabout]

18. He could be paying tuitions or health care premiums.

[egalitegirl]

21. Possible because he may not want to brag about donating money

This is possible because he may be humble and may not want to be seen as someone who brags about donating money to charity.

According to https://www.looktothestars.org/celebrity/bernie-sanders he gave nearly 23,000 dollars in 2011 to Addison County Parent Child Center.

[Gomez163]

23. He might have a big carry forward from charitable contributions

from a prior year.

[4now]

24. That is the best excuse that I have heard today

I am still laughing.

[Thinkingabout]

26. Maybe tax havens, it will be hard to say rich people should pay their taxes and he does

Exactly what he claims about others.

[MattP]

28. So a 1040 is now a full tax return?

From 1 year wtf

[enid602]

30. Goodwill

Maybe he donated some 'gently used' suits to Goodwill.

[KK9]

31. I don't know...

I'm not sure what I expect to see on the Sanders' tax return, but there IS something there, or they'd just release the whole thing. We're not talking big bucks, so what's the big deal? The "release" today is the same thing that's been hanging out there for a while. They think we're all stupid, and, apparently, many are.

My gut is telling me that Jane is playing it a bit fast and loose with the tax return, it's not like she's never done that with money before. They own (or owned) rental property, there'd be a schedule E if they still owned rental property and a schedule D if the sold it. Their itemized deductions are kind of out of whack for income level, so I'd be interested to see what those are. It's not the amount of money, the Clintons money dwarfs theirs, it's a matter of honesty and due diligence.

What makes me most angry is what I call the "don't worry your pretty little head about it" attitude about his whole campaign, not just taxes (though that is kind of my thing). It happens over and over and this tax return BS is just the latest bit.

I'm an "unenrolled" voter in MA. I'm liberal and I vote Democrat about 95% of the time, but I'm not into party politics. I'd be his target voter, but he pisses me off sooooo much! I'm thoroughly convinced that he thinks I'm a idiot, though he has never met me.

"Don't worry your pretty little head about it", I've been on the receiving end of that attitude for as long as I can remember.... At 53 now, my head is no longer as "pretty" as it used to be, but it still works too well to be talked down to and assumed I don't understand, or want to hear about, details. I live for details and number crunching (I'm female, imagine that!). I'm a geek in many ways .

Unenrolled, liberal, geeks, for Hillary!

[DemonGoddess]

35. Love your post!

I do think there's something that's going to be not quite right. For example, the tax percentage is low, and the deductions are nearly a 1/4 of his income. That's fishy.

[DesertFlower]

33. interesting thought.

[DemonGoddess]

36. So, there's now a pdf

of 7 pages, and it's missing referenced schedules, so you still don't get the whole picture.

[KK9]

37. 7 pages

Do you have a link? The one I've seen so far is only 4 pages? I'd be interested to see any bit more.

I've got to say that he (they, including Jane) probably never really intended to mount a serious run for the Presidency if they don't have this together. We're at about the same income level, I do our taxes. I'm pretty confident that I do them correctly, but if I, or my husband, were going to run for office (any office, let alone a national office), I'd spring for a tax attorney to make sure everything was 100% and unassailable. Even at low six figures. Anything less would be thoroughly unprofessional.

[DemonGoddess]

38. I'm hoping I can get the link to work

[link:https://go.berniesanders.com/page/-/Bernie%20Taxes%20Full.pdf|