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Trump's Tax Returns

Praxas said:
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.
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He is an international businessman. He has contacts with many different countries, including Russia. We already know that and we already know there is nothing illegal about it.
 
Moderate Right said:
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.
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With all the loopholes in the tax code, the demonrats in congress should blame themselves for helping their rich friends. Now, just because a rich enemy has taken advantage of loopholes... They want blood...
 
Slavister said:
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.
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The far left seem to have a real problem understanding how government works. They live in their own fantasy world.
 
Moderate Right said:
The far left seem to have a real problem understanding how government works. They live in their own fantasy world.
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What does that have to do with my reply that you quoted?
 
Praxas said:
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.
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Just because his returns may show connections to Russia as an international businessman does in no way prove that Trump is beholden to them. How on Earth can a tax return show that someone is beholden to a foreign country? Trump does business in many countries, probably the most in the US. Therefore, Trump must be beholden to the US. Now, if you want to prove beholden, then let's investigate the Clinton Foundation's pay for play schemes. That's where you will find beholden.
 
Moderate Right said:
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?
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They will leak them to the press. It'll be illegal, but that won't matter.
 
Lutherf said:
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?
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The left want to turn over every rock they can for political gain. Apparently they even believe that Mueller can't turn over enough rocks so they're going to find a way to turn over even more.
 
Not sure what people are looking for in Trump's tax returns. It's not like he was taking money from Russians directly. That is funneled through his properties. He's not that stupid.
 
Moderate Right said:
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?
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Don't know the answers to your question. Do you think the president hasn't released them for political purposes?
 
Xelor said:
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.
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The IRS does these things. It is not the job of the House. That's why we have an IRS.
 
Moderate Right said:
Just because his returns may show connections to Russia as an international businessman does in no way prove that Trump is beholden to them. How on Earth can a tax return show that someone is beholden to a foreign country? Trump does business in many countries, probably the most in the US. Therefore, Trump must be beholden to the US. Now, if you want to prove beholden, then let's investigate the Clinton Foundation's pay for play schemes. That's where you will find beholden.
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Last I checked Clinton foundation is going good and is legal while Trump had to shut down his foundation. Never ceases to amaze me the corruption you support with Trump and co. They are the biggest swamp dwellers ever to be in an administration. Trump supporters are either crooks or morons.
 
Moderate Right said:
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?
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I read up on this before. There is a process for demanding the tax returns (no surprise there), and there is a process for making the findings of the returns public, and in each case, the House Ways and Means Committee would have to demonstrate that their request and their public release would meet demands above petty political harassment or embarrassment. And this isn't just some legislative principle or tradition; this is something that's baked in law.

I don't think anybody here really believes that the Ways and Means Committee would have difficulty demonstrating a legitimate demand.
 
Moderate Right said:
The far left seem to have a real problem understanding how government works. They live in their own fantasy world.
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So true. The ignore such legislation when they have the power, but cry when they don't.

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Lord of Planar said:
With all the loopholes in the tax code, the demonrats in congress should blame themselves for helping their rich friends. Now, just because a rich enemy has taken advantage of loopholes... They want blood...
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Yep. We could investigate tax returns from Schumer, Pelosi, Gates, Soros, Warren, Sanders, Clintons, Buffet, Michael Moore, etc and find all kinds of irregularities and others they are beholden to.
 
Airyaman said:
Not sure what people are looking for in Trump's tax returns. It's not like he was taking money from Russians directly. That is funneled through his properties. He's not that stupid.
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People who've thought about this issue for more than a few days have already come to the realization that there isn't going to be some part of his returns where we'll finally see, "1 billion dollar payment from Vladimir Putin in return for destabilization of United States." Rather, we need to see his tax returns to have a better understanding of where his money is coming from and therefore where his personal obligations may lie. As it stands, the best we have is a pretty fuzzy understanding of his business structures that allows us to discern their shapes only by the shadows they cast. It's not enough to see the shapes of the cast shadows, however. We need to see the true nature of the business structure itself, and that will almost certainly be the beginning of the process to understanding the rest of his financial and personal obligations.
 
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To those talking about making disclosure of tax returns a law: I don't think I like that idea much, being obligated to disclose one's personal finances.

On the other hand, I'm pretty sure that Trump is hiding his because he's a tax cheat, and I would like to see that exposed, but his die-hard Trumpanzees will still find ways to defend him, which truly sickens me.

Trump claims he's under audit every year. The only people who get audited every year are the known cheaters. Just sayin'.
 
Airyaman said:
Not sure what people are looking for in Trump's tax returns. It's not like he was taking money from Russians directly. That is funneled through his properties. He's not that stupid.
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The purpose is to turn over every rock on the planet until the find something.
 
Lord of Planar said:
With all the loopholes in the tax code, the demonrats in congress should blame themselves for helping their rich friends. Now, just because a rich enemy has taken advantage of loopholes... They want blood...
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I commend you for getting to the much more important issue, the congressional Democrats showing the double standard.
 
Praxas said:
Last I checked Clinton foundation is going good and is legal while Trump had to shut down his foundation. Never ceases to amaze me the corruption you support with Trump and co. They are the biggest swamp dwellers ever to be in an administration. Trump supporters are either crooks or morons.
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Mueller assured there could be no investigation of the Clinton Foundation by putting a former lawyer for the Clinton Foundation on his staff. Since Mueller knows that would be a conflict of interests, from the get-go Mueller effective announced the Clintons were again fully exempt for all laws and any investigation, including money from Russians.
 
bongsaway said:
Don't know the answers to your question. Do you think the president hasn't released them for political purposes?
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Well, yes. He hasn't released them for political purposes because he knows the left will use information from them for political purposes. Since there is no law requiring him to release his tax returns it shouldn't be legal to get them for political purposes in order to circumvent the law. Trump has done international business, including with Russia and he has been legally using past year losses to pay zero federal income taxes. None of that is illegal but the left want to use it for political purposes. If you want to make a law requiring all candidates and nominees to release tax returns then make the law.
 
Lutherf said:
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?
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Don't you fill out your 1099-FU?

Section One covers Foreign Bribes.
;)
 
Praxas said:
Last I checked Clinton foundation is going good and is legal while Trump had to shut down his foundation. Never ceases to amaze me the corruption you support with Trump and co. They are the biggest swamp dwellers ever to be in an administration. Trump supporters are either crooks or morons.
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The Clinton Foundation is but a shadow of it's former self due to extensive pay for play. They took money from all sorts of shady characters and countries.
 
joko104 said:
Mueller assured there could be no investigation of the Clinton Foundation by putting a former lawyer for the Clinton Foundation on his staff. Since Mueller knows that would be a conflict of interests, from the get-go Mueller effective announced the Clintons were again fully exempt for all laws and any investigation, including money from Russians.
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Nice conspiracy nonsense, however, Mueller isn't the only one that can investigate.
 
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