Trumps Tax records....
- Thread starter GregV814
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Personally I think every politician entering office should have their full financial profile disclosed to the public, immediately before the primary, and at each and every reelection cycle.
Maybe if people started seeing these maggots turn into millionaires on public service salaries they stop voting for them.
If they can release the records of a private citizen like Trump for the public to scrutinize, why not anyone who seeks an elected position? I smell a grassroots effort in the making. I'm on board. If they want to work for us, why isn't it our business to see if they're honest or not.
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Grumpy
Well-Known Member
Precedence was set when they allowed for Trump's returns to be made public, right?
SamSpade
Well-Known Member
Sure - like MEDICAL records for Biden. Heck - HIS financial records, as of late. Guessing we won't be seeing those, and also guessing he's enough of a crook to have never included them on tax returns.
I do think it's a good practice for financial records of politicians to be disclosed - but with Trump there was one small difference and that is, he was a businessman for decades, and having HIM disclose his financial records would be a sight different from the records of lifelong elected officials. And I am saying that because if the likes of Bloomberg and others knew THEIR business information became public record, they'd never enter. Not because they're crooks - but because they have business competitors who don't ever have to do any such thing.
Most of our buddies in Washington have made small fortunes from speaking engagements and appearances, memoirs - they've never actually run a business and they have nothing to lose with showing their records. I always thought it fascinating that McGovern, many years after he left politics tried to run an inn - and it failed inside two years. He famously quipped that if he'd ever had firsthand knowledge of the hardships small businesses faced as a consequence of regulation, taxes and the minefield of frivolous lawsuits, he'd have done things differently.
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But this opens a huge can of worms - if you can make public someone's private and - normally - legally protected information - because you just don't LIKE them - what's to say it can't be done against anyone?
Apparently nothing of note came out in Trump's tax returns because it got quiet all of a sudden.
kwillia
n/a
I recall several prominent Democratic congressmen who were on record as being delinquent in paying taxes in large amounts and they were allowed to carry on and even were re-elected without issue. It is also known that Trump was formally audited by the IRS on a regular basis prior to him running for office without any criminal offense being identified.
*inmybestHilaryvoice*, "What difference at this point does it make?!?!?!?!"
Seriously, this country is long beyond holding people in power accountable for anything.
Hijinx
Well-Known Member
This country is long beyond holding DEMOCRATS in power accountable for anything.
kwillia
n/a
I hold powerful Republicans accountable for remaining silent and chalk it up to them knowing the mighty will fall on both sides should legitimate investigation and subsequent legal repercussions ensue.
Editorial: Trump's taxes reveal his greed -- and IRS dysfunction
So what did we learn from the thousands of pages of information?
More shocking than the years Trump managed to pay just $750 in taxes, the year he paid none at all or his ongoing business deals with foreign companies while president, is the inaction on the part of the IRS. Since the 1970s, presidential tax return audits are supposed to be automatic and annual.
“The IRS did not even begin auditing Trump’s taxes until 2019,” Noah Bookbinder wrote in the Atlantic, “on the same day the committee began asking the agency about them.”
Alarm sounded.
“That Trump has avoided paying taxes and engaged in questionable practices is hardly new,” Timothy L. O’Brien is senior executive editor of Bloomberg Opinion and author of “TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald” wrote ahead of the release.
While that doesn’t mean his dealings are any less concerning, it does make the revelation that the IRS failed to audit Trump’s returns stand out all the more.
That alone needs investigating.
The IRS doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to going after the rich and powerful. In the agency's defense, dealing with high-powered attorneys requires more resources than going after an ordinary, middle-class taxpayer who probably can't afford an attorney at all. And the IRS budget operated on a starvation diet for years.
Indeed, the agency audits poor families five times more often than it does everyone else, according to a recent analysis of 2021 data from Syracuse University. Of the nearly 9 million residents who reported incomes between $200,000 and $1 million, fewer than 40 individuals had their tax returns audited by the IRS in fiscal year 2021.
Poor people are simply low-hanging fruit, easily intimidated into submission by jargon-laden letters demanding technical information that's often difficult for families to produce, let alone understand. If anyone needed assistance, according to Erin M. Collins, the National Taxpayer Advocate’s recent Congressional report on the agency’s actions, they were often stuck calling an understaffed toll-free number that was rarely answered— even after hours of waiting on hold.
“There is no way to sugarcoat the year 2021 in tax administration: From the perspective of tens of millions of taxpayers, tax administration did not work for them,” the report begins.
This is especially galling knowing just how seldom America’s wealthiest citizens pay their fair share of taxes. Elon Musk paid zero dollars in federal income tax in 2018, something Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg and George Soros can also brag about, per a recent ProPublica investigation.
The Rich And Powerful have a army of accountants and tax lawyers to avoid audits unless their has been some whistle blower reporting a crime, auditing people like Pelosi are not worth the IRS time and effort ....
It's pretty rare for Americans to claim negative income on their taxes like the Trumps did for 4 years between 2015 and 2020
Almost all American taxpayers end up reporting positive income to the Internal Revenue Service each year. That wasn't the case for former president Donald Trump and former first lady Melania Trump in four of the six years between 2015 and 2020.
That's according to tax returns released by the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday.
While adjusted gross income was positive in both 2018 and 2019 as seen in a summary table published on December 21 from The New York Times, that wasn't the case for the other years in this time range.
The tax returns, as well as a previous report prepared by the Joint Committee on Taxation that included the former first couple's adjusted gross income for 2015 to 2020, both highlight just how much income was reported to the IRS by Trump.
In 2020, the total income was -$4,694,058 and adjusted gross income was -$4,795,757. That follows after the tax return for 2019 shows a total income of $4,443,503 and an adjusted gross income of $4,380,714.
What an ignorant supposition ..... Trump is NOT the average American
Another Democrat "Nothing Burger"......the biggest possible stuff is a bunch of May be's, Could be's, might of's, Possibly, we don't know but, etc.. etc, etc,
Like to see Hemi chime in but as usual he will be totally silent.
He'll be found hanged before that. No, that's been done before. They'll find another way for him to suicide himself.
WingsOfGold
Well-Known Member
If one has a crackhead son that can paint the Sistine Chapel I understand completely why he's rich.
WingsOfGold
Well-Known Member
Looks like he had Bernie Sanders do his taxes so it's OK.
Hijinx
Well-Known Member
They couldn't find anything they could prosecute and they didn't find any illegalities so they release them to the public because we are supposed to get pissed off because the man has good tax attorneys.
Let's see how good Nancy's tax attorney's are, let's see her taxes.
Let's see how good Nancy's tax attorney's are, let's see her taxes.
I would even require a complete financial profile to leave office. If you increased your wealth by more than 200% of your salary its an automatic 10 years prison sentence plus forfeiture of all assets. That means barry and moochelle obamao too.