Trump vows not to release taxes [View all]

[RogerM]

Source: CBS Marketwatch

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday said he won’t release his tax returns, saying there is “nothing to learn from them.”

Read: Trump says he will be first candidate since 1976 not to release tax returns

Tax specialists, however, disagree.

There’s no legal requirement for a presidential candidate to make his or her tax returns public but every major party nominee since 1976 has done so — often well before winning the nomination. The likely Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, has posted 8 years of returns.

Trump boasts that he pays as little in taxes as possible but he’s not showing, or telling, the voters exactly how he does that.

So what could Trump be worried about revealing?

If Trump releases all the detailed schedules, the tax returns could provide information about his use, if any, of tax avoidance strategies including offshore companies and foreign bank accounts in countries that guarantee secrecy. Trump’s name, however, does not come up in the searchable database of the Panama Papers, the name given to the trove of documents taken from a Panamanian law firm that was publicly released.

ack Blum, a former staff attorney with the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who now leads the not-for-profit Tax Justice Network USA, says there are a number of things Trump’s tax returns can show voters that campaign disclosure forms, filed in July 2015, cannot.

“Without question a man involved in as many real estate deals as Donald Trump will have taken full advantages of all the real estate loopholes and tax benefits,” said Blum. “His tax returns will show us how far he pushed the envelope to turn ordinary income into capital gains, defer the payment of tax through ‘like-kind exchanges’ and otherwise create an impenetrable maze for IRS auditors.”

The campaign disclosure forms also provide a range of values for Trump’s various intangible assets that generate an estimated $131.25 million in income for lending his name to hotel and condo developments and products including cologne, mattresses, steaks and energy drinks. Trump’s tax returns could verify the licensing and royalty income he put on his disclosure forms and that he provided to Forbes for its recent 400 richest Americans list.

Trump says his personal brand is worth almost $3.3 billion. Forbes, in its most recent 400 richest Americans list, put a value of the assets that generate royalty and licensing income at approximately $375 million. The magazine says it does not give anyone credit for goodwill associated with their name. Forbes’ editors believe the net worth of rich Americans will already incorporate any value derived from their names. After Forbes spoke with 20 brand experts, anonymously, none of them agreed with Trump’s $3 billion figure. However, none of them thought his brand was worthless, either.

Trump’s tax returns would also provide plenty of information about revenue and expense items that were not on the campaign disclosure forms, including personal mortgages, charitable deductions, unusual tax credits, foreign investments including bank accounts in tax havens, and an overall federal tax rate.

For example, the line on the return associated with Trump’s real estate income could be confusing to non-experts, says Andrew Schmidt, a professor of accounting and tax at North Carolina State University. “Trump’s real estate activities likely generate substantial tax deductions: depreciation, interest, and many other legitimate expenses. That means the amount reported on his return for those activities will look lower than most voters expect,” said Schmidt. “In fact, Trump may even report a tax loss for many of his real estate activities. His supporters may unwittingly equate tax losses with financial reporting losses and question Trump’s overall business acumen, especially if some of Trump’s more prominent properties generate tax losses.”

One asset Trump wasn’t interested in arguing with Forbes about was cash. The Trump team told Forbes to use whatever figure they wanted, perhaps to avoid any discussion of whether he has accounts in Switzerland or other banking secrecy havens.

Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/just-what-controversies-could-trumps-tax-returns-expose-2016-03-21