About Bernie's taxes

[BainsBane]

Jane Sanders said she hadn't found time to go home to get their tax returns. Yet she also said the Sanders use Turbo Tax. Turbo Tax stores files digitally, and you can access previous returns. Something doesn't add up.



http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/trackers/2016-04-11/with-all-due-respect-04-11-16

[hellofromreddit]

1. Password written down at home.

It's what I do.

[BainsBane]

2. You can reset passwords

not buying it.

[Sancho]

3. She left the laptop with their taxes in the BVI's on the last visit?

[BainsBane]

4. BVI's?

Not familiar with that acronym.

[DesertRat]

6. British Virgin Islands?

[Sancho]

9. Yep...that's what I meant...

[upaloopa]

5. I don't care about his tax returns. He will not be nominated so it's

soon to be moot.

[BainsBane]

7. I think someone who has been so condemning of others finances

and wages should be expected to produce the request years of tax returns.

He did just earn four Pinocchios in the Washington post for insisting he had already released them. Surely he wants to remedy that.

[yardwork]

50. I see it as part of a pattern of dishonesty while pretending to be pure.

I have no illusions about politicians. I think they're all corrupt narcissists. They're all the kid who said anything to be voted class president.

I'm not interested in cults of personality.

I am deeply suspicious of any politician who tells me that they are different from the rest, better, purer. Bernie holds himself up as some kind of saint. The reality is different.

[Surya Gayatri]

51. So well said. Couldn't agree more.

[yardwork]

52. Thanks.

[Lucinda]

8. You an also access them from anywhere via the IRS website.

[BainsBane]

10. Ooh, thanks for that info, Lucinda.

It is a curious situation.

[JonLeibowitz]

12. Are you sure?

I thought it was Form 4506: https://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Get-Transcript

The IRS makes some mention of viewing previous returns online but the links all point to the one listed above, which doesn't mention how to view returns online.

Furthermore, it appears it can take up to 8 weeks to receive the previous returns, depending on the method one used to file: https://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Transcript-Availability

Could you point to where you request the returns online? I would find this useful personally, even.

[JonLeibowitz]

28. Kicking. See Post #12. It's courteous to back up your claims with links (i.e. evidence)

[JonLeibowitz]

43. Kicking.

[JonLeibowitz]

56. Kicking. :-)

[frylock]

11. The returns likely reside on a local hard drive.

I've been using TT for years. Never once have I uploaded a form to their cloud.

[BainsBane]

16. You don't have to upload them

But someone just pointed out you can retrieve them from the IRS site or sign a form authorizing them to release four years of full returns. Easy Peasy.

[Gomez163]

13. She can sign a Form 4506-T and the IRS will release the last 4 years.

Anyone that fills out a HAMP application signs this form. You would think Bernie would know.

[BainsBane]

15. I hope the Bernie supporters here are taking notes

so they can help their candidate's campaign by encouraging full disclosure. Unless . . . Do you suppose they fear the Sanders are hiding something?

[pantsonfire]

47. Yes they are billionaires! The Clintons are very jealous...n/t

[bettyellen]

18. I am sure they want to review them with someone one last time before releasing them.

[Gomez163]

19. They sign them under penalty of perjury

[bettyellen]

21. but still, they want to be prepared to explain anything odd. I would think.

[Gomez163]

14. You can also go to any IRS service center and get the last four years.

[pat_k]

17. Not online if you use stand-alone software

Perhaps "something is up" but necessarily having remote access is simply not true.

And getting a copy of actual returns, vs. limited transcript that people would probably complain about, takes quite a while.

[BainsBane]

22. As people here have pointed out

There are several ways to access the returns directly from the IRS. Read the responses for the details.

[Gomez163]

20. Releasing the 1040 for 2014 but not the schedules is active concealment

[DURHAM D]

23. She does not know where she left the records because

they have several homes.

[pantsonfire]

48. No no no, she wiped them with a cloth and they disappeared......

[NurseJackie]

24. This doesn't pass the smell test for me.

[DesertRat]

25. I'd imagine they'll want to release them before Thursday's debate?

Certainly the question will come up and Sanders probably won't get away with "my wife handles our taxes" line.

[Cali_Democrat]

26. What are they hiding? nt

[hrmjustin]

27. I wonder if he has an investment in a fossil fuel company.

It is the only thing I can think of.

[libtodeath]

29. This is more important to you then racial obtuseness?

Just sad.

[BainsBane]

30. Really?

Are you seriously claiming that Bernie is never racially obtuse? He referred to African Americans in MN (my state) as "smart," in contrast to those in the South who voted for Clinton. He's talked about how the votes in the "confederacy" matter less, and his campaign is based on evoking an ideal past of a time when the non-white male majority was excluded from economic opportunity and equal rights. Then back in 2014 he declared African Americans vote "based on race." You know, because there have been so many black presidents.

There is a reason Clinton gets the great majority of votes of people of color. There is a reason that Bernie cleans up in rural areas and small towns, especially among white independents.

Given that Bernie has made Clinton's finances a central part of his campaign, he should be expected to abide by the most basic standards. Refusing to release taxes may well have cost Romney the election. Now, I understand that Sanders supporters believe he is too important to be held to the standards of mere mortals. I do not share the view that he is more important than other politicians or the people he seeks to represent. I believe he should hold himself to standards he demands of others, and that his or anyone else's failure to do so indicates something quite troubling.

The level of hypocrisy really is unparalleled. Sanders supporters have repeatedly and consistently insulted African American voters as "uninformed," suffering from "Stockholm syndrome," "low information," and operating based on "name recognition" alone. The outcry when Willy T was banned for racism was off the charts. Racial obtuseness wasn't a problem then; rather, it made him highly valued. Now you all claim to care about racial sensitivity while insisting concerns about transparency of your own candidate's taxes is "just sad." I wonder how many times you have demanded Clinton release the transcripts of the Goldman speeches, while you demean efforts to have your own candidate abide by a far more common standard of releasing taxes?

Not only that, he and his wife continue to lie about it, as the four Pinocchios from the Washington Post demonstrate. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/04/12/recidivism-watch-jane-sanders-repeats-bernie-sanderss-four-pinocchio-claim-that-they-released-full-tax-returns/

What is sad is that you all have demonstrated an eagerness to throw aside every issue and have abandoned even the appearance of principle to advance Bernie's campaign.

[libtodeath]

31. Boring

[BainsBane]

38. Politics isn't about entertainment

that you think it should be explains a lot. Clearly you aren't willing to consider even the most obvious of contradictions. Spare me the pretense of moral outrage. It's not remotely convincing.

[Bobbie Jo]

34. This.

All of it.

[apcalc]

54. great response

On another note, I think this site is seriously invaded by trolls.
I actually saw a post this morning about ' sniper fire lie', which reeks of Karl Rove, News Max, Daily Caller etc, very typical Republican post.

[www.ciafront.com]

32. Links to Sanders 1040 and Personal FEC financial statements

WHICH should suffice because they are very comprehensive in regards to his own personal finances.

Here is his 2014 1040, THE LATEST FILING:

http://tinyurl.com/zrvndkp

Here are all his personal financial statements made to the FEC in regards to his career in the Senate. These are filed annually to indicate any conflicts of interest.

https://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/candlook.php?cid=N00000528

If this doesn't satisfy people until such time as either Sanders post more past tax records, then I think you might be being just a little petty.

[George II]

42. Your first link is to merely the first two pages of his Federal and State returns, no details.....

...and certainly NOT comprehensive.

The second link is for the FEC financial filing which, again, has very little other than the required minimum, and assets with HUGE ranges for their assets, e.g., the first TIAA CREF Equity Fund (which is a Wall Street investment, by the way!!) is valued at 50,001 - 100,000. All the other assets have similarly large ranges, hardly "comprehensive" either.

On the other hand, Clinton's released tax returns are dozens of pages each, fully detailed with ALL the Schedules, not just the first two pages.

This is not an unusual request, , nor is it "just a little petty" - it's something that the American people have come to expect of their Presidential candidates. Why is Sanders above all the other candidates?

[mcar]

33. And he's running for President

So he had to know he'd need to release his tax returns. The excuses are quite lame. How did they not have this ready beforehand?

[pantsonfire]

49. Timing...wait for the debate, I've released my Tax Returns, when will you release your transcripts?

[baldguy]

35. Call an intern in Burlington to go pick them up. That's what interns are for.

[pantsonfire]

36. Just wait, it'll be a huge scandal soon....

[George II]

37. They began their campaign more than a year ago. EVERY Presidential candidate is expected...

....to release their tax returns, if not many years at least the last few.

Now, after more than 2/3 of the states have held their primaries/caucuses, they're still not prepared to release the returns, but using a lame excuse that they haven't had time to find them? They had a YEAR to find them.

And what is really troubling is that Sanders, a United States Senator, one of the top 102 elected officials in the country, does his income tax on TurboTax?

This reminds me of the original Saturday Night Live show - NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME.

Scary that this guy wants to be President.

[Armstead]

39. Oh No! ....All those speaking fees and the Cayman Account has been discovered!

[beam me up scottie]

41. Didn't they claim he was being funded by Israel too?

[passiveporcupine]

40. I've used turbo tax and saved my files on my computer and in a file drawer

I've never saved them on-line. Not everyone trusts the cloud or some business to keep their private information.

[jfern]

44. TurboTax has a downloadable version

[bobbobbins01]

45. One thing is pretty clear...

If they're using turbo-tax, they have much to hide. I wonder how many attorneys it takes to do the Clinton's taxes.

[Nye Bevan]

46. "They have much to hide".

Maybe, maybe not. Releasing the returns is the only way we will know for sure.

[yardwork]

53. I found time to do my taxes, but I'm just a little person.

[R B Garr]

60. Yes, and at this point I'm sold on Turbo Tax after all these posts!

Haven't tried it yet, but looks like we've been missing out. Having them online at the ready is a wonderful feature. Surely Jane knows about that...

[handmade34]

55. maybe they don't want to bring up old stuff???

I really don'r care about tax returns and Jane Sanders dealings at Burlington College are old news to me but maybe the tax returns will just bring up questions about her "severance package"... ???

The agenda revealed that the trustees would be discussing the “removal of the president.” Lawyers for Sanders and the college have since reached a settlement that includes her resignation effective in three weeks, the title of President Emeritus and a year-long-paid sabbatical.
Grill described a closed and hostile environment, claiming that Sanders frequently yelled at staff and managed to eliminate anyone who voiced criticism. In the letter, Grill claims that “many concerned voices were forced out by continual abuse and by eventually being offered humiliating and unfair contracts in which they were demoted below people who were, in many cases, less qualified for their positions.”

In the last six years, about 40 people have left the school, Grill estimates, “most (if not all) deeply disillusioned with the institution and its processes, most harboring bitterness and deep regret.” Since word began to circulate that Sanders might be leaving, both bitterness and hope have resurfaced in emails and website comments about the school. Grill believes that it will be “a good deal easier for the devoted and well-qualified instructors and staff at Burlington College to do their good work without Jane Sanders’ obstructions.”

http://vtdigger.wpengine.com/2011/09/27/jane-sanders-resigns-presidency-of-burlington-college-reaches-settlement/

[R B Garr]

59. +1. Good point! This could be the motivation for procrastinating. n/t

[DisgustipatedinCA]

57. Future historians will talk about the day that BainsBane exposed Bernie as a trillionaire.

However, this only applies if one believes in the many (many, many, many, many) worlds theory.

[R B Garr]

58. He really stepped in it tonight with his non-answer to this during the debate.

You could see his obvious playacting with his contrived cutesy stances that his taxes are boring. Translation: he's so pure and clean that he can take his time complying with standard requirements of every candidate. Poor Jane is so busy, they are so busy, so much business, you see.

His stance tonight totally and completely undermined his self-important moral preachings about his attacks on others. He obviously has different standards for himself than he demands of others. What a phony hypocrite.

[BainsBane]

61. At this point it's clear they are hiding something

I expect they may make a lot more money than he's let on.

[PufPuf23]

62. Unfortunate that Jane sanders has been drug into this. Some context.

Posted this in two other threads.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=1743959

(1) The Sanders gross income is likely on the order of 2 or maybe 3 stipends paid to Hillary Clinton for speeches made to banks; the Sanders' fortune is on the order of 1% to 2% of the Clinton family fortune, the vast majority accumulated post Bill Clinton as POTUS. No other former POTUS has increase in wealth like Bill Clinton and no other former POTUS has formed a (family) non-profit with the endowments and breadth of The Clinton Foundation. As SOS, Clinton favored associates with financial / business ambitions and interests with inside knowledge or took their advice (see Blumenthal, Libya). The issue as a campaign item is making a mountain out of a molehill when Clinton has the financial mountains.

(2) Whatever is in the Sanders tax returns would be spun and twisted by the Clinton campaign. The Hillary Clinton campaign is not capable of acting in good faith with a competitor. If I was to advise Sanders, my recommendation would be to hold off on releasing the returns until after nominated as the Democratic POTUS candidate for the general election. Even then, I would recommend only releasing the general and having trusted individuals review and speak to the public (and GOP) on the specifics.

Sanders could have handled the tax return issue more adroitly.

Edit to add two links:

http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/presreturns.nsf/Returns/9900B87E8AE6AF0C85257EB4004E9F66/$file/B_Sanders_2014.pdf

https://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/summary.php?cid=N00000528&year=2014