Trump's Tax Returns

[Moderate Right]

Well, we pretty much know that the House will get Trump's tax returns at some point. The burning question is, what are they going to do with them? Are they going to be kept private in committee or are they going to be released to the full House or what? How much legal rights do the House have in regards to making his tax returns or pieces of information in them public? Can they just willy nilly release any information from them that they want just for political purposes or are they obligated to keep the returns private?

 

[OlNate]

Well, we pretty much know that the House will get Trump's tax returns at some point. The burning question is, what are they going to do with them? Are they going to be kept private in committee or are they going to be released to the full House or what? How much legal rights do the House have in regards to making his tax returns or pieces of information in them public? Can they just willy nilly release any information from them that they want just for political purposes or are they obligated to keep the returns private?

If I had to bet, I'd put my money on a leak....if the findings are damaging. That's the simplest method of getting this information out there. Not judging that one way or the other...it's just my best guess.

What would you think if it turns out Trump is a tax evader? Would you still support him?

 

[Praxas]

Well, we pretty much know that the House will get Trump's tax returns at some point. The burning question is, what are they going to do with them? Are they going to be kept private in committee or are they going to be released to the full House or what? How much legal rights do the House have in regards to making his tax returns or pieces of information in them public? Can they just willy nilly release any information from them that they want just for political purposes or are they obligated to keep the returns private?

The findings will be held privately until the bill passes where a candidate has to disclose their tax returns. Now if something in there contradicts official testimony from Trump has given to Mueller and Congress that he has had no Russian connections (and he actually does) than that finding may be in Mueller's report which the Dems will work to make public.

 

[Mithrae]

If I had to bet, I'd put my money on a leak....if the findings are damaging. That's the simplest method of getting this information out there. Not judging that one way or the other...it's just my best guess.

What would you think if it turns out Trump is a tax evader? Would you still support him?

"Taxation is theft," sooo....

 

[Slavister]

... until the bill passes where a candidate has to disclose their tax returns ...

Why would the bill pass the Senate and not be vetod by Trump? I doubt it will become law while Trump is in the WH.

 

[trouble13]

Well, we pretty much know that the House will get Trump's tax returns at some point. The burning question is, what are they going to do with them? Are they going to be kept private in committee or are they going to be released to the full House or what? How much legal rights do the House have in regards to making his tax returns or pieces of information in them public? Can they just willy nilly release any information from them that they want just for political purposes or are they obligated to keep the returns private?

Trump should classify them as top secret so they can only be viewed in their unredacted form in a supervised room. He should play the same games the fbi is playing with the documents they find potentially embarrassing to them.

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[Lutherf]

Well, we pretty much know that the House will get Trump's tax returns at some point. The burning question is, what are they going to do with them? Are they going to be kept private in committee or are they going to be released to the full House or what? How much legal rights do the House have in regards to making his tax returns or pieces of information in them public? Can they just willy nilly release any information from them that they want just for political purposes or are they obligated to keep the returns private?

Since the motivation tor obtaining the returns is, at present, purely political the administration will object to their release and this will end up in court...where it will be shot down as unconstitutional.

 

[Praxas]

Why would the bill pass the Senate and not be vetod by Trump? I doubt it will become law while Trump is in the WH.

If the senate doesn't pass the bill or override Trump's veto, that will be on them. The GOP will be known as the party that is against transparency.

 

[Praxas]

Since the motivation tor obtaining the returns is, at present, purely political the administration will object to their release and this will end up in court...where it will be shot down as unconstitutional.

It should be important to EVERYONE to find out if a candidate is beholden to a foreign entity. I guess since it is Trump you are against transparency. Typical con.

 

[Lord of Planar]

Well, we pretty much know that the House will get Trump's tax returns at some point. The burning question is, what are they going to do with them? Are they going to be kept private in committee or are they going to be released to the full House or what? How much legal rights do the House have in regards to making his tax returns or pieces of information in them public? Can they just willy nilly release any information from them that they want just for political purposes or are they obligated to keep the returns private?

The demonrats will leak what ever suits them.

 

[Lutherf]

It should be important to EVERYONE to find out if a candidate is beholden to a foreign entity. I guess since it is Trump you are against transparency. Typical con.

A tax return is not where evidence of foreign entanglements is found.

What schedule would you look on for such evidence? What would the evidence look like on that schedule? Can you tell me even one thing that might show up on a tax return which would indicate that the taxpayer is "beholden" to a foreign government?

 

[KLATTU]

If I had to bet, I'd put my money on a leak....if the findings are damaging. That's the simplest method of getting this information out there. Not judging that one way or the other...it's just my best guess.

What would you think if it turns out Trump is a tax evader? Would you still support him?

You mean if he did something illegal?

 

[Lord of Planar]

A tax return is not where evidence of foreign entanglements is found.

What schedule would you look on for such evidence? What would the evidence look like on that schedule? Can you tell me even one thing that might show up on a tax return which would indicate that the taxpayer is "beholden" to a foreign government?

The problem is, with such a large tax return, allegations can be made, and the general public wopn't know better.

 

[OlNate]

"Taxation is theft," sooo....

:lol:

 

[OlNate]

You mean if he did something illegal?

Yeah, sure, we can start there.

 

[Lutherf]

The problem is, with such a large tax return, allegations can be made, and the general public wopn't know better.

The problem is that if the government is allowed to conduct a search of a citizen's private papers without probable cause to conduct that search we may as well not have a 4th Amendment. Furthermore, if the government is allowed to conduct that search for purely political reasons we no longer have a representative government, we have a tyranny.

 

[Slavister]

The demonrats will leak what ever suits them.

Unlike Republicans? Or Trump?

We know White House is leaking due to incompetence left and right, but I would guess they are just as eager to leak on purpose when it suits them.

 

[Slavister]

The problem is, with such a large tax return, allegations can be made, and the general public wopn't know better.

That's what Trump does anyway - he makes allegations all the time and apparently the general public does not know any better even for pretty obvious things.

 

[joko104]

Requiring tax returns would equate to outlawing any person in business from running for president again. No person in business could remain in business if their tax returns are made publicly available to their competition.

For all the howling for Trump's tax return, I have not seen one member of the forum post their tax return. From this, I suppose we should conclude everyone on the forum is either a criminal or a Russian agent with something to hide?

 

[Xelor]

Well, we pretty much know that the House will get Trump's tax returns at some point. The burning question is, what are they going to do with them? Are they going to be kept private in committee or are they going to be released to the full House or what? How much legal rights do the House have in regards to making his tax returns or pieces of information in them public? Can they just willy nilly release any information from them that they want just for political purposes or are they obligated to keep the returns private?

Red:
That's easy. They're going to forward them to forensic accountants and/or tax accountants and wait to see what irregularities those professionals identify. It may be the committee members needn't do that because they may be able to obtain the IRS' audit workpapers pertaining to the returns.


Blue:
The "either/or" conditions you've stated aren't the operative ones in evaluating whether a House committee can release Trump's returns or information from them.

• Bar for release
  • As for whether a House committee's members can release the returns to the full House or public in general, pretty much, yes, because all that's needed is (1) a reason (it doesn't even have to be a good one) that pertains to raison d'etre the committee that discloses the returns and (2) that the returns were obtained pursuant to 26 U.S. Code § 6103(f). Given all the public acrimony re: Trump and Russia/Putin, Trump's inveterate lying, Trump and the emoluments clause, Trump and shell companies, and the 40+ year precedent of POTUS' disclosing their tax returns, several committees can find a reason to publicly disclose Trump's returns. For instance, "to assuage public concern" regarding any of the assertions Trump has publicly made about all sorts of things pertaining to his personal business operations. (It's worth noting that it's conceivable that not only Trump's individual return(s), but also the various Trump Organization information returns could be released.)
• "Willy nilly"
  • No, House members cannot "willy nilly" release Trump's returns. They must have a reason of some sort to release them. They cannot just say, "Oh, we got them. Here, general public, have a look-see."
• For political purposes
  • There is no proscription against there being a political benefit deriving from releasing a taxpayer's federal income tax return if that return is released for a reason that furthers an interest a given committee exists to address or abet. Can the return be released exclusively for political purposes? No. But we're talking about Congress, thus even the least imaginative member in the House can come up with a reason that'd pass muster; consequently, whether Trump's returns be released is effectively a normatively "nihil obstat" matter the members of one of three House committees have sole imprimatur to decide.

 

[joko104]

Trump should classify them as top secret so they can only be viewed in their unredacted form in a supervised room. He should play the same games the fbi is playing with the documents they find potentially embarrassing to them.

All he has to say is his tax returns are part of any investigation and therefore of course absolutely can not be released because as the FBI has said hundreds of times, Congress may not see anything if it is part of any investigation.

 

[KLATTU]

Yeah, sure, we can start there.

I'd say he'd be in a heap of trouble.

Now if his tax accountant took full advantage of the tax code to lower his tax liability, the phony left ingorami won't like it, but his supporters won't care.

 

[danarhea]

If I had to bet, I'd put my money on a leak....if the findings are damaging. That's the simplest method of getting this information out there. Not judging that one way or the other...it's just my best guess.

What would you think if it turns out Trump is a tax evader? Would you still support him?

I don't think tax evasion is the deal here. It's money laundering for organized crime syndicates.

 

[Moderate Right]

If I had to bet, I'd put my money on a leak....if the findings are damaging. That's the simplest method of getting this information out there. Not judging that one way or the other...it's just my best guess.

What would you think if it turns out Trump is a tax evader? Would you still support him?

If Trump is a tax evader then the IRS will already be after him. That's THEIR job, not the House's. Just because Trump may have legally paid zero in federal taxes doesn't mean he is a tax evader. Trump knows the left will do anything to have political leverage against him so he may not want his tax returns released for that reason, such as he legally paid zero in taxes, he has offshore money accounts, he made business dealings as an international businessman with Russia, he gave no money to charity, etc. And, when you get tax returns as complicated as Trump's, there could be many areas where his tax people interpreted the tax laws one way and maybe the IRS interpreted them in another way. That's very common and doesn't mean that Trump is a dirty tax cheat. To use this info for political gain is just plain wrong and we should all be very afraid of the implications of this. There is no law saying Trump has to make his returns public. Therefore, the House should not be making his tax returns or info from them public for purely political gain.

Voters voted for him knowing that he hadn't released his tax returns and voters can also not vote for him in 2020 if they feel this info is important in their voting decision. I suspect that it is not actually important to them because Trump is the kind of guy where you already know if you support him or not. I reject your question because if Trump is a tax evader then we have an agency (the IRS) whose job it is to collect the money owed or send Trump all the way to jail if necessary. It isn't the House's job.

 

[Lord of Planar]

The problem is that if the government is allowed to conduct a search of a citizen's private papers without probable cause to conduct that search we may as well not have a 4th Amendment. Furthermore, if the government is allowed to conduct that search for purely political reasons we no longer have a representative government, we have a tyranny.

Well now. You don't expect the demorats to follow the law do you? That's why they would have to leak it. They would be breaking the law to begin with. I thought this was a given.