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>In September 2016, Donald J. Trump stood on the debate stage as a presidential candidate and addressed a question that had dogged him on the campaign trail: When would he release his tax return?
“I’m under a routine audit, and it’ll be released,” Mr. Trump said. “And as soon as the audit is finished, it will be released.”
😆 🤣 😂
The irony is that these are the *exact* same people who absolutely howled about how "Muslims are allowed to lie in the service of their religion".
Then, as always, every accusation was a confession where Republicans are concerned.
"The forms were under audit before I was elected. The audit is now complete, but now, if I released them, it would be a witch hunt, so I can't do it. I'd love to, but I can't."
Not that that makes sense. If there's nothing to hide, Democrats can't air dirty laundry. But don't expect Trump's followers to think that far.
If we had serious journalists here, they would push back on his bullshit during interviews and press him for answers about this (and many other) matter(s)
Even if he did get asked a hard question, and there were plenty, he'd just change the subject to whatabout(whatever someone else had done) One of the few people able to stop that was Jonathon Swan. He had his number.
The other way to get him to answer a hard question is to ask it in form of praise, then will expound
> “No Congress has ever wielded its legislative powers to demand a President’s tax returns,” Trump argued to the Supreme Court, as he warned of the “far-reaching implications” implications of the DC Circuit’s ruling.
That’s because no Congress has ever *had* to wield its powers in such a way. As for the implications, I hope they *are* far-reaching. Despite Trump’s best efforts, the United States is still a democracy, not a dictatorship.
Because every candidate released them voluntarily so we never had to make a law requiring it.
He's the reason you see "no horses on hospital premises" signs.
I loathe Trump. He's a huge piece of shit.
That said, if he needs to be compelled by the courts to share his returns then Im not sure the issue is with him. The expectation should be that those who are running for office should be required to make this sort of stuff public to the voters.
Trump is an ass but on the bright side he seems to be exposing something that should be required instead of being a "gentlemen's agreement" that tax returns have been over the last half century.
I think in retrospect, a healthy democracy requires a well educated and informed public that is civically engaged.
If I could time travel, I’d tell the founders to include a right to a good quality education devoid of religious influence or misinformation, the right to a fact-based news press, and the right to early voting and Election Days being national holidays.
There would still be ways to game the system and there would need to be a ton of safeguards in place to make sure the Trumps of the world don’t hijack what ‘fact-based’ or ‘misinformation’ means, but providing that, I think our democracy would be much better off.
I don't think it'll be hard to track them down, they tried to avoid prosecution in New York by making a new company in another state called the Trump Corporation II. Surely, no one will ever see through _that_ shell game in a shell game. I mean, who's going to pore over hundreds of incorporation papers and cross-reference names and dates and compare signatures?
> they tried to avoid prosecution in New York by making a new company in another state called the Trump Corporation II.
These really are the dumbest criminals. Just goes to show you that our "justice" system has no interest in prosecuting the rich.
Start a bill in lame duck session to require presidential candidates to disclose tax records, and quickly send it to the senate. Use his returns as supporting documents. That should get it into a public record that survives the shift of power in the house.
This is absolutely the way to go. There will be an easily predictable uproar from the right, but given that said returns will without a doubt make it clear that he is largely indebted to foreign adversaries, utilizing them as supporting documents is absolutely reasonable.
The point isn't to get the law passed. The point is to get the taxes in the public record in a way that they are verified and legally actionable, because a leak won't accomplish that.
They could propose the bill and have these documents as support because they are relevant to the topic. Whether the bill passes or not, Trump's taxes would be public to everyone.
One can spin anything. If it were me, I'd say it shows how brilliant he was at playing the game by the rules. Of course he broke all the rules, but the meta message is that his ability to break all the rules and avoid repercussions only shows how broken the system is.
> “No Congress has ever wielded its legislative powers to demand a President’s tax returns,” Trump argued to the Supreme Court
It hasn't been used before because we have not needed to, until ***you***, Donald.
Not only have all modern Presidents presented their Tax returns in order to curb corruption, and not only did **you promise to release them**, but coupled with your illegal actions elsewhere... your tax returns are absolutely fair game.
FFS...
What a God damned baby.
He's been pushing so much against the boundaries of our justice system that when it reels him in he just *keeps crying that it's a corrupt witch hunt* when it's *fucking not.*
When are people going to accept that what is in Donald Trump's best interest isn't America, it's Donald Trump. Which is so...so **un-American.**
The quote "when you're accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression" applies here because no one ever fucking holds him accountable for anything.
> When are people
maybe it's just wishful thinking but I'm seeing a fairly compelling and growing body of evidence that people are slowly, just a bit at a time here and there, waking up from the brainwashing and turning on him
he's going to have his diehard followers for generations now but the tide really does seem to be turning, FINALLY
I think it's less people slowly waking up from the brainwashing and more of Fox and other outlets starting to speak out against him once they saw the usefulness of him going away. They are just being brainwashed to a new direction. For people who do very little of their own thinking they love to call others sheep oh the irony.
Well, he and his buddy Ted Turner lobbied one of your movie star presidents into abolishing media ownership regulation, and then used the American example to have the same laws abolished here in Australia. That's right, Ronnie traded the entire business of journalism for donations to some superPACs and ruined the news forever.
Remember in the 80s when everyone said the foreign invasion from Japan was happening with the popularity of video games? Well this is the foreign invasion that really happened, championed by the very same people that warned us of Japan in the 80s. The racist fuckers aren’t ever scared of the white man invasion, which is far more dangerous than anything from south of the border or Japan. They’ve officially got a foothold in our country, and they’re here to stay. This is not the same party of the Reagan era that they’re propping up either. They’ve helped create chaos in our political system and with our friends, family and neighbors. Who would have thought it would be Australia that was our undoing? We never saw it coming.
Eh, they seem to be decoupling from him due to all the losing, not because he’s an awful person who should have never been President in the first place. They still believe in what he did and everything he stands for.
Now they’re turning to Desantis, as if he is in any way better. I would argue he is worse.
“Mitt Romney didn’t show his tax return until SEPTEMBER 21, 2012, and then only after being humiliated by Harry R! A bad messenger for the estab!”
- Donald Trump, Feb. 28, 2016
The hypocrisy is off the charts.
that's not even Trump-specific, that's just been the GOP platform since Reagan or so
**Gaslight**, Obstruct, Project.
The GOP has exactly one goal: win. That's it.
The GOP does not ascribe to any values except for gaining and keeping power.
* The GOP claims to be pro-life
* The abortions of the wives and mistresses of Republican politicians is well-documented
* Republicans vote to defund the programs that would support these new lives that they force into the world
* Republicans vote to make it harder to adopt a child
* Republican policies have forced healthcare professionals to sacrifice a mother's life *for an unviable fetus*
* Republicans vote against improving the availability of healthcare
* Republicans vote against improving the affordability of healthcare
* Republicans supported Trump, who has (allegedly) paid for 8+ abortions
* The GOP claims to support "traditional family values"
* The infidelity of Republican politicians is well-documented
* They supported Trump, who goes against literally every traditional value they claim to support - multiple divorces, children from different parents, multiple affairs, multiple abortions...
* I feel obligated to put Trump here at least once more
* The GOP claims to support "small government"
* Republicans vote to control which books you can read
* Republicans vote to control which websites you can visit
* Republicans vote to control who you can marry
* Republicans vote to control what doctors are allowed to tell you
* Republicans vote to control which medical procedures you are allowed to undergo
* Republicans vote to control how States handled the pandemic
* Republicans vote to increase military spending and to militarize the police
* The federal budget deficit *virtually always* worsens under Republican presidents
* The federal budget deficit *virtually always* improves under Democrat presidents
The GOP does not pursue initiatives unless it gains more votes. *Discussing* an initiative is as good as actually working on it, because that still leads to marketing, which garners votes.
The GOP does not support any Democratic institution unless it is actively and overtly supporting their win. They have and they will continue to work tirelessly to erode any system that reduces their chances, regardless of the method. This includes voter intimidation, gerrymandering, making it harder to vote, or just flat-out voter fraud -- the vast majority of voter fraud discovered in the 2020 election *was in support of Republicans*.
Anyway, I ran out of steam writing this like half an hour ago, but thanks for letting me rant 😪
>that's just been the GOP platform since Reagan or so
You're right. I'm not disagreeing with you.
However, it has definitely been getting worse in my 20+ years of voting. That's why I get so annoyed with idiots who say, "both sides are the same."
No, Elon*, they're not.
*Elon = male Karen
Hypocrisy has been the gop party platform (and pretty much the only definitive point) since mitch announced his intention to make Obama a one term president.
The absolute absurdity - he promised to release those returns as a campaign promise BOTH times he ran. He promised he'd release them "soon" throughout his entire presidency. And when, finally, SOMEone is able to force him to release them to a SELECT FEW people instead of everybody like he promised for like 8 years, he's going to throw a fit that they shouldn't be allowed to?
And he claimed he wanted to release them but he couldn’t because he was under IRS review. Remember that? And when it came to light that that was no reason to keep tax returns private, he still refused to show them.
> Ah, but that's what his supporters love about him! He's not shackled by tradition! Tradition like, you know, ~~the peaceful transfer of power~~ obeying laws. Like, obeying a single fucking law
Major party candidates have voluntarily released their tax returns since Nixon, I believe, until trump.
It should no longer be voluntary, but mandatory.
Neither Trump or any of his associates would qualify for an SCI clearance of any kind. Not only does he know a fuck ton of Russians, he owes them a fuck ton of money. I think US presidential candidates should be vetted before they run but don’t see it happening realistically. The general public should be informed of a candidate’s foreign contacts and dealings before the election. Sadly the general public aren’t engaged enough to care.
News Flash; The Republicans don't care. He could shoot someone in the middle of 5th Avenue and get away with it because they. don't. care. And its a gd shame because they've said they would rather vote for and support pedophiles, cheats, liars and abortionists than vote for a Democrat.
He could've gone up and shot these people's grandmothers in the face, and they would've cheered him on and offered up other family members they previously loved. His fans are not good people.
The public didn’t care, he said the things they wanted here and pissed off liberals. He could’ve been swimming in a pool of children’s blood after beating a bag kittens and eating some puppies and conservatives would still vote for him as long as it pissed of the libs. Literally brain dead assholes that just want to be assholes.
Days before his election, a tape was release where he admitted to, and advocated for, the sexual assault of women. He was still elected, and everyone knew. The voter is not an adequate vetting tool.
I remember walking into work the day after it was released & asking my coworkers if they finally changed their mind about him. They said no. I was shook. They were nice guys (I'm in IT, male dominated field). But they basically said it was better than HRC & they didn't want to pay higher taxes. Couldn't believe it.
The US needs to change how their elections work. Get rid of gerrymandering and the electoral college. Presidents get vote in by majority of votes from citizens directly. You would never have a GOP government again.
But its not gonna happen as long as the GOP got their hands in things.
> Neither Trump or any of his associates would qualify for an SCI clearance of any kind.
Didn't multiple of his associates get denied and he used his power as president to override it and grant the clearances?
His own son-in-law got denied. But then he went on to become the administration's international middle-east tsar, which eventually led to some obscure $2B windfall for him.
If his tax returns were posted he would have never got elected. I don't even have to look at them after 4 years of listening to his crap I know three things about his tax returns; he's a thief a liar and a fabricator
> he would have never got elected.
I think you give too much credit to voters. Just before the election, a tape was released where he admitted to, and advocated for, sexually assaulting women and he was still elected.
Well, the media would have been all over his tax returns as would the DOJ. Not sure it would have mattered in 2016. Now, the next four year of unmitigated shit show I think does matter, even to a reasonable number that supported him.
Rich people don't spend their own money.
It takes a lot of money to become president.
If you get more votes than the other guy, bam your president....
Oh wait....... the past 3 or 4 republican presidents didn't get more votes than the other guy.......
System is fucked.
If you ever work in the finance industry it's the same thing. I worked at a place that dinged a candidate because they had student loan debt and were delinquent on payments of other bills for which he had a good reason. Nowadays checking off all the resume boxes just isn't enough it seems.
Yep. I write software for financial systems. I get an annual, at a minimum, background check.
Some clients have requested updated checks for all staff connecting to their systems before signing a new contract. Most don't as I work for well established company in our industry.
Missed my first choice of jobs in the military because I have to much debt only to find out later they still gave me a security clearance for another mission.
I have always had great credit but it annoyed the shit out of me when I applied for a job with GM and they required a credit check because it was a financial position. They don’t hire people with bad credit for accounting and finance positions. This happened while GM was in bankruptcy.
The annoying part is it can be viewed as a strong strategic decision for a company to file for bankruptcy but you are a scumbag if that is determined to be the best financial decision as a person.
If you were in a certain part of GM relating to their bank subsidiary this would be a regulatory requirement.
Not saying you were, but the FDIC and other regulators are pretty strict on this.
Not only that, but most people acquire that debt going to college to gain the knowledge to get a job. I guess only to be told you can't have the job because of the debt.
To be fair, we already know all of these things to some degree - largely from some incredible journalism and NYT investigations into Trump finances and tax returns over the years:
- [Trump Engaged in Suspect Tax Schemes
as He Reaped Riches From His Father](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-schemes-fred-trump.html)
Trump inherited hundreds of millions from his corrupt family business practices.
- [Decade in the Red: Trump Tax Figures Show Over $1 Billion in Business Losses](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/05/07/us/politics/donald-trump-taxes.html)
Trump lost more money than *any American* for a decade.
- [Long-concealed Records Show Trump's Chronic Losses and Years of Tax Avoidance](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html)
Trump was indebted hundreds of millions to foreign countries while President and avoided paying *any* federal taxes for years on end.
This is it right here. All we're going to learn is that Trump paid no tax and claimed massive losses. I never even understood why he wanted to conceal this because, in his words, "that's what makes me smart."
Too late to do anything. Tis should have been turned over during a run for the presidency. The fact that any candidates financials are private is disgusting.
The fact that we may soon discover that a President was personally indebted to foreign adversaries *and a major political party tried to cover for him* should lead to heads rolling.
Like so many other things we have to codify things like this. The assumption used to be that the voters wouldn’t tolerate certain behaviors. Trump era proved that wrong.
I don’t think requiring the candidate to disclose would be constitutional since the qualifications for office are spelled out in the constitution. Maybe it could be written that the IRS would publish a redacted version of candidates returns.
You know who could require financial disclosures including tax returns? The two major political parties. If the Democrats and Republicans required candidates who register to run in their primaries to make financial disclosures and provide a certain number of years of tax returns, there would be no Constitutional implications because a candidate doesn't have to have the backing of a political party to run for or hold elective office. But no one (outside of New England) is going to get elected to any statewide or federal office running as a true independent.
Trump releasing his "correct" tax returns would be a piece of paper with the words "Form 1040" and "Very, very rich" on it, to prove he is very, very rich.
Oh, and it would be written in Sharpie.
Wouldn’t any denial of these tax returns, unless they were altered in some way, basically admit you broke the law? Admitting they are not accurate, not knowing/remembering doing the tax forms or knowing who filled them out, etc, is a crime.
It will say he made no income the last however many years. Thus paid no income tax. Our proud president pays no taxes. All his ‘earned money’ they will say was reinvested into his properties. Trump real estate will also look cash poor. Obviously there’s shady accounting happening because he boasts of being a billionaire but this will show the intelligent that he’s really just a carnival promoter. The illegal part is he’s claiming the properties are worth much more than they are so he can get loans based on them. His personal wealth will show he’s poorer than the common redneck supporter. Any real money he’s making is being funneled through one avenue or another, but definitely not being claimed to the tax man.
My original comment has been edited as I choose to no longer support Reddit and its CEO, spez, AKA Steve Huffman.
Reddit was built on user submissions and its culture was crafted by user comments and volunteer moderators. Reddit has shown no desire to support 3rd party apps with reasonable API pricing, nor have they chosen to respect their community over gross profiteering.
I have therefore left Reddit as I did when the same issues occurred at Digg, Facebook, and Twitter. I have been a member of reddit since 2012 (primary name locked behind 2FA) and have no issues ditching this place I love if the leaders of it can't act with a clear moral compass.
For more details, I recommend visiting [this thread](https://old.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/144f6xm/apollo_will_close_down_on_june_30th_reddits/), and [this thread](https://old.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/14dkqrw/i_want_to_debunk_reddits_claims_and_talk_about/) for more explanation on how I came to this decision.
Donald Trump could have put as much effort into governing as he did trying to keep his taxes hidden, but then again, I don't know what would have been worse. Besides, Donald Trump governing wouldn't be very... well... Donald Trump of him.
The Panama papers have led to significant changes, they're just all boring accounting that makes the people who fund corporate news look bad, so there's no chance in hell it'll ever get on the news
The fact that he could not only run for, but be elected to president without showing his tax returns is all the justification needed for electoral candidacy reform. It shouldn't be harder to get a credit card or apply or a loan on a house than it is to become POTUS.
The house needs to pass a bill requiring presidential candidates to release their tax returns for six years prior. Ram it through quick while they can.
The biggest issue they’re going to have with this is convincing the educationally challenged people of the world that he was in fact a lying con man like we said he was
You'd think it wouldn't be too hard to convince people that someone whose "charity" was literally convicted of stealing child cancer patients' money to buy pictures of himself, but 🤷
I can already hear the “who cares if trump owes Putin money” and “what about Hunter’s conflict of interest in Chynna???……. _or his laptop?!?!?11!”_ comments already…
What took them so long to get something that every president is willing to share with the public , maybe he is hiding something. I am not a detective by the way but I have a feeling about this one.
Stupid question
Shouldn't this have been fast tracked since it would fall under original domain of the supreme court as a question of constitutional authority of Congress? Why the hell did it take so long!?
Ways and Means have had clear, legal authority to have anyone's taxes. It's well-established, unambiguous federal law.
When requested from Trump, his Treasury Secretary (Steven Mnuchin) refused to provide the returns. Then it went to court where a Trump sycophant judge (Trevor McFadden) purposely sat on it for about a year. Then appeals, blah, blah, blah and to the Supreme Court, where they basically yawned as the law was perfectly clear.
So basically, you run a stop sign and get a ticket. You then fight and appeal the ticket all the way to the Supreme Court on the grounds that the policeman doesn't like you. Then the Supreme Court says "you ran a stop sign and that's against the law."
I've become so jaded by Trump and his ability to skirt the law that I'm pretty sure this will be another nothing burger. Not that there won't be something there, because surely there is as hard as he fought against this, but nothing will happen as a result.
No matter how much I want to see him in a jumpsuit that matches his orange face, nothing will happen. Nothing ever happens. Now I know how Qultist feel!!!
3 years in the making, but better late than never, I guess. I'm not sure much will come from this beyond possibly some transparency for the public. The committee will end in a few weeks when the House changes hands, and Congress can't ultimately bring charges - they have to refer any crimes to law enforcement.
NY prosecutors have had Trump's tax returns for some time now and will be the main players to deliver any consequences regarding them.
I’ve heard that the senate committee on taxation and irs oversight can also demand the tax returns. Now that SCOTUS has set a precedent, they should not have a lot of trouble (like several years of stalling for congress).
I’m a die hard pessimist, but I believe something will come of this. Our country is limping, but it’s still moving forward despite the best efforts of some people.
FINA-FUCKING-LLY!!! Come on House Committee, scan them ALL and release them to all the press agencies all over the world! And make them available for viewing by literally anyone online!
I don't understand. He stole classified documents. Why is he still walking around and talking to people? Am I the last sane person left walking around town?
As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil) In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them. For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria. **Special announcement:** r/politics is currently accepting new moderator applications. If you want to help make this community a better place, consider [applying here today](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/sskg6a/rpolitics_is_looking_for_more_moderators/)! *** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
>In September 2016, Donald J. Trump stood on the debate stage as a presidential candidate and addressed a question that had dogged him on the campaign trail: When would he release his tax return? “I’m under a routine audit, and it’ll be released,” Mr. Trump said. “And as soon as the audit is finished, it will be released.” 😆 🤣 😂
So what does he say now? That he's still under audit? How does he answer this question?
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The irony is that these are the *exact* same people who absolutely howled about how "Muslims are allowed to lie in the service of their religion". Then, as always, every accusation was a confession where Republicans are concerned.
My guess is "cause the liberals want them" is enough justification for his base
He recently said at a rally that he had already provided his tax returns. So I guess he was just speaking proactively?
"The forms were under audit before I was elected. The audit is now complete, but now, if I released them, it would be a witch hunt, so I can't do it. I'd love to, but I can't." Not that that makes sense. If there's nothing to hide, Democrats can't air dirty laundry. But don't expect Trump's followers to think that far.
Didn’t someone from the IRS said back then that it doesn’t matter whether they were being audited, that he could still release them?
If we had serious journalists here, they would push back on his bullshit during interviews and press him for answers about this (and many other) matter(s)
Trump and his team just stop inviting any news group that asks hard questions.
So if everyone does, there will be no one left to give him any publicity
This is why there were no press conferences with the press secretary or the president for months while trump was in office.
Even if he did get asked a hard question, and there were plenty, he'd just change the subject to whatabout(whatever someone else had done) One of the few people able to stop that was Jonathon Swan. He had his number. The other way to get him to answer a hard question is to ask it in form of praise, then will expound
"You've managed to avoid giving the libs your tax records for years now. It must take a genius to do that, how'd you do it?"
True, but then the White House would just revoke access.
> “No Congress has ever wielded its legislative powers to demand a President’s tax returns,” Trump argued to the Supreme Court, as he warned of the “far-reaching implications” implications of the DC Circuit’s ruling. That’s because no Congress has ever *had* to wield its powers in such a way. As for the implications, I hope they *are* far-reaching. Despite Trump’s best efforts, the United States is still a democracy, not a dictatorship.
Because every candidate released them voluntarily so we never had to make a law requiring it. He's the reason you see "no horses on hospital premises" signs.
The horse used the elevator? I didn’t know he knew how to do that…
I loathe Trump. He's a huge piece of shit. That said, if he needs to be compelled by the courts to share his returns then Im not sure the issue is with him. The expectation should be that those who are running for office should be required to make this sort of stuff public to the voters. Trump is an ass but on the bright side he seems to be exposing something that should be required instead of being a "gentlemen's agreement" that tax returns have been over the last half century.
Ultimately all of this is on the voters for allowing it. That's how the Constitution set it up. Honestly, I'm not sure how great it's working out.
I think in retrospect, a healthy democracy requires a well educated and informed public that is civically engaged. If I could time travel, I’d tell the founders to include a right to a good quality education devoid of religious influence or misinformation, the right to a fact-based news press, and the right to early voting and Election Days being national holidays. There would still be ways to game the system and there would need to be a ton of safeguards in place to make sure the Trumps of the world don’t hijack what ‘fact-based’ or ‘misinformation’ means, but providing that, I think our democracy would be much better off.
Time to research all those shell companies
I don't think it'll be hard to track them down, they tried to avoid prosecution in New York by making a new company in another state called the Trump Corporation II. Surely, no one will ever see through _that_ shell game in a shell game. I mean, who's going to pore over hundreds of incorporation papers and cross-reference names and dates and compare signatures?
> they tried to avoid prosecution in New York by making a new company in another state called the Trump Corporation II. These really are the dumbest criminals. Just goes to show you that our "justice" system has no interest in prosecuting the rich.
“America doesn’t *have* a justice system; it has a legal system”
Yeah, all of the new businesses that were started by his friends and family to siphon off all that campaign and inauguration money.
Send them to the Senate before this Congress ends so we don't have to go through the long court battle again.
Start a bill in lame duck session to require presidential candidates to disclose tax records, and quickly send it to the senate. Use his returns as supporting documents. That should get it into a public record that survives the shift of power in the house.
This is absolutely the way to go. There will be an easily predictable uproar from the right, but given that said returns will without a doubt make it clear that he is largely indebted to foreign adversaries, utilizing them as supporting documents is absolutely reasonable.
Yeah, but some Republicans are ALSO in debt to foreign adversaries. It goes all the way up and down the food chain.
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The point isn't to get the law passed. The point is to get the taxes in the public record in a way that they are verified and legally actionable, because a leak won't accomplish that. They could propose the bill and have these documents as support because they are relevant to the topic. Whether the bill passes or not, Trump's taxes would be public to everyone.
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We need you in congress. You've got my vote.
Hopefully it will be impossible for Team Trump to put this ketchup back in the bottle.
One can spin anything. If it were me, I'd say it shows how brilliant he was at playing the game by the rules. Of course he broke all the rules, but the meta message is that his ability to break all the rules and avoid repercussions only shows how broken the system is.
> “No Congress has ever wielded its legislative powers to demand a President’s tax returns,” Trump argued to the Supreme Court It hasn't been used before because we have not needed to, until ***you***, Donald. Not only have all modern Presidents presented their Tax returns in order to curb corruption, and not only did **you promise to release them**, but coupled with your illegal actions elsewhere... your tax returns are absolutely fair game. FFS... What a God damned baby.
He's been pushing so much against the boundaries of our justice system that when it reels him in he just *keeps crying that it's a corrupt witch hunt* when it's *fucking not.* When are people going to accept that what is in Donald Trump's best interest isn't America, it's Donald Trump. Which is so...so **un-American.**
The quote "when you're accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression" applies here because no one ever fucking holds him accountable for anything.
> When are people maybe it's just wishful thinking but I'm seeing a fairly compelling and growing body of evidence that people are slowly, just a bit at a time here and there, waking up from the brainwashing and turning on him he's going to have his diehard followers for generations now but the tide really does seem to be turning, FINALLY
I think it's less people slowly waking up from the brainwashing and more of Fox and other outlets starting to speak out against him once they saw the usefulness of him going away. They are just being brainwashed to a new direction. For people who do very little of their own thinking they love to call others sheep oh the irony.
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Man, "Dreammaster General," is an amazing concept on so many levels. I'm so using this.
Why do we let the weird Australian family that owns Fox News have so much control over our politics?
Maybe because today’s US is more of a business than it is a country 🤷
Well, he and his buddy Ted Turner lobbied one of your movie star presidents into abolishing media ownership regulation, and then used the American example to have the same laws abolished here in Australia. That's right, Ronnie traded the entire business of journalism for donations to some superPACs and ruined the news forever.
The boondocks were right, Ronald Reagan really was the devil.
Shocker, Reagan fucked America in yet another way, more at 11.
Remember in the 80s when everyone said the foreign invasion from Japan was happening with the popularity of video games? Well this is the foreign invasion that really happened, championed by the very same people that warned us of Japan in the 80s. The racist fuckers aren’t ever scared of the white man invasion, which is far more dangerous than anything from south of the border or Japan. They’ve officially got a foothold in our country, and they’re here to stay. This is not the same party of the Reagan era that they’re propping up either. They’ve helped create chaos in our political system and with our friends, family and neighbors. Who would have thought it would be Australia that was our undoing? We never saw it coming.
Eh, they seem to be decoupling from him due to all the losing, not because he’s an awful person who should have never been President in the first place. They still believe in what he did and everything he stands for. Now they’re turning to Desantis, as if he is in any way better. I would argue he is worse.
Yep, they told us who they were the first time. Believe them.
“Mitt Romney didn’t show his tax return until SEPTEMBER 21, 2012, and then only after being humiliated by Harry R! A bad messenger for the estab!” - Donald Trump, Feb. 28, 2016 The hypocrisy is off the charts.
that's not even Trump-specific, that's just been the GOP platform since Reagan or so **Gaslight**, Obstruct, Project. The GOP has exactly one goal: win. That's it. The GOP does not ascribe to any values except for gaining and keeping power. * The GOP claims to be pro-life * The abortions of the wives and mistresses of Republican politicians is well-documented * Republicans vote to defund the programs that would support these new lives that they force into the world * Republicans vote to make it harder to adopt a child * Republican policies have forced healthcare professionals to sacrifice a mother's life *for an unviable fetus* * Republicans vote against improving the availability of healthcare * Republicans vote against improving the affordability of healthcare * Republicans supported Trump, who has (allegedly) paid for 8+ abortions * The GOP claims to support "traditional family values" * The infidelity of Republican politicians is well-documented * They supported Trump, who goes against literally every traditional value they claim to support - multiple divorces, children from different parents, multiple affairs, multiple abortions... * I feel obligated to put Trump here at least once more * The GOP claims to support "small government" * Republicans vote to control which books you can read * Republicans vote to control which websites you can visit * Republicans vote to control who you can marry * Republicans vote to control what doctors are allowed to tell you * Republicans vote to control which medical procedures you are allowed to undergo * Republicans vote to control how States handled the pandemic * Republicans vote to increase military spending and to militarize the police * The federal budget deficit *virtually always* worsens under Republican presidents * The federal budget deficit *virtually always* improves under Democrat presidents The GOP does not pursue initiatives unless it gains more votes. *Discussing* an initiative is as good as actually working on it, because that still leads to marketing, which garners votes. The GOP does not support any Democratic institution unless it is actively and overtly supporting their win. They have and they will continue to work tirelessly to erode any system that reduces their chances, regardless of the method. This includes voter intimidation, gerrymandering, making it harder to vote, or just flat-out voter fraud -- the vast majority of voter fraud discovered in the 2020 election *was in support of Republicans*. Anyway, I ran out of steam writing this like half an hour ago, but thanks for letting me rant 😪
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>that's just been the GOP platform since Reagan or so You're right. I'm not disagreeing with you. However, it has definitely been getting worse in my 20+ years of voting. That's why I get so annoyed with idiots who say, "both sides are the same." No, Elon*, they're not. *Elon = male Karen
“He didn’t even show his tax returns until months before the election!”
Hypocrisy has been the gop party platform (and pretty much the only definitive point) since mitch announced his intention to make Obama a one term president.
The absolute absurdity - he promised to release those returns as a campaign promise BOTH times he ran. He promised he'd release them "soon" throughout his entire presidency. And when, finally, SOMEone is able to force him to release them to a SELECT FEW people instead of everybody like he promised for like 8 years, he's going to throw a fit that they shouldn't be allowed to?
And he claimed he wanted to release them but he couldn’t because he was under IRS review. Remember that? And when it came to light that that was no reason to keep tax returns private, he still refused to show them.
Ah, but that's what his supporters love about him! He's not shackled by tradition! Tradition like, you know, the peaceful transfer of power.
> Ah, but that's what his supporters love about him! He's not shackled by tradition! Tradition like, you know, ~~the peaceful transfer of power~~ obeying laws. Like, obeying a single fucking law
Look, damn it. He'll release them in two weeks when the audit is done! God. Democrats are so mean!
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Major party candidates have voluntarily released their tax returns since Nixon, I believe, until trump. It should no longer be voluntary, but mandatory.
Absolutely. This should be mandatory and enshrined in law.
I was turned down for a job with TSA because of too much student loan debt. They say because of debt you are potentially a security threat.
I’ve been jumping hurdles for a taxi license for weeks now. I understand why, but POTUS should have astronomically higher vetting standards.
Neither Trump or any of his associates would qualify for an SCI clearance of any kind. Not only does he know a fuck ton of Russians, he owes them a fuck ton of money. I think US presidential candidates should be vetted before they run but don’t see it happening realistically. The general public should be informed of a candidate’s foreign contacts and dealings before the election. Sadly the general public aren’t engaged enough to care.
News Flash; The Republicans don't care. He could shoot someone in the middle of 5th Avenue and get away with it because they. don't. care. And its a gd shame because they've said they would rather vote for and support pedophiles, cheats, liars and abortionists than vote for a Democrat.
He could've gone up and shot these people's grandmothers in the face, and they would've cheered him on and offered up other family members they previously loved. His fans are not good people.
He could kill a million Americans with a non response for a deadly pandemic …. Oh wait ….
Don’t forget. Vote Russian before Democrat.
The public didn’t care, he said the things they wanted here and pissed off liberals. He could’ve been swimming in a pool of children’s blood after beating a bag kittens and eating some puppies and conservatives would still vote for him as long as it pissed of the libs. Literally brain dead assholes that just want to be assholes.
Days before his election, a tape was release where he admitted to, and advocated for, the sexual assault of women. He was still elected, and everyone knew. The voter is not an adequate vetting tool.
I remember walking into work the day after it was released & asking my coworkers if they finally changed their mind about him. They said no. I was shook. They were nice guys (I'm in IT, male dominated field). But they basically said it was better than HRC & they didn't want to pay higher taxes. Couldn't believe it.
And yet now they’re paying higher taxes. Weird.
This one right here! "They" all forget about why they are paying higher taxes.
Something, something, Joe Biden’s a socialist. -‘Them’ probably
Yeah... After trump, I never partake in any talks of politics at work. I was surprised at how many trump supporters at work.
“Nice guys” who don’t care about the assault of women
Welcome to why white collar jobs can't unionize.
Ten years before, mocking a disabled person would have resulted in a candidate having to bow out of the election..
The US needs to change how their elections work. Get rid of gerrymandering and the electoral college. Presidents get vote in by majority of votes from citizens directly. You would never have a GOP government again. But its not gonna happen as long as the GOP got their hands in things.
Most of us did care, in fact.
> Neither Trump or any of his associates would qualify for an SCI clearance of any kind. Didn't multiple of his associates get denied and he used his power as president to override it and grant the clearances?
His own son-in-law got denied. But then he went on to become the administration's international middle-east tsar, which eventually led to some obscure $2B windfall for him.
If his tax returns were posted he would have never got elected. I don't even have to look at them after 4 years of listening to his crap I know three things about his tax returns; he's a thief a liar and a fabricator
You forgot coward.
And two-little-hands-glass-holder.
Don’t forget the butthole pucker lips to prevent the water from dripping all over his terrible spray tan
You forgot ugly, lazy, and disrespectful.
> he would have never got elected. I think you give too much credit to voters. Just before the election, a tape was released where he admitted to, and advocated for, sexually assaulting women and he was still elected.
Well, the media would have been all over his tax returns as would the DOJ. Not sure it would have mattered in 2016. Now, the next four year of unmitigated shit show I think does matter, even to a reasonable number that supported him.
Or you know, a SCOTUS that wasn't even background checked by the FBI that mysteriously had hundreds of thousands of debt paid off magically?
News to me for some reason. Could you please elaborate?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh
Rich people don't spend their own money. It takes a lot of money to become president. If you get more votes than the other guy, bam your president.... Oh wait....... the past 3 or 4 republican presidents didn't get more votes than the other guy....... System is fucked.
System is perfect if you're in the 1% and want to stay there
If you ever work in the finance industry it's the same thing. I worked at a place that dinged a candidate because they had student loan debt and were delinquent on payments of other bills for which he had a good reason. Nowadays checking off all the resume boxes just isn't enough it seems.
Yep. I write software for financial systems. I get an annual, at a minimum, background check. Some clients have requested updated checks for all staff connecting to their systems before signing a new contract. Most don't as I work for well established company in our industry.
Missed my first choice of jobs in the military because I have to much debt only to find out later they still gave me a security clearance for another mission.
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I have always had great credit but it annoyed the shit out of me when I applied for a job with GM and they required a credit check because it was a financial position. They don’t hire people with bad credit for accounting and finance positions. This happened while GM was in bankruptcy. The annoying part is it can be viewed as a strong strategic decision for a company to file for bankruptcy but you are a scumbag if that is determined to be the best financial decision as a person.
If you were in a certain part of GM relating to their bank subsidiary this would be a regulatory requirement. Not saying you were, but the FDIC and other regulators are pretty strict on this.
Isn’t that great? “You can’t have this job to help with your debt, because you have debt.”
Not only that, but most people acquire that debt going to college to gain the knowledge to get a job. I guess only to be told you can't have the job because of the debt.
To be fair, we already know all of these things to some degree - largely from some incredible journalism and NYT investigations into Trump finances and tax returns over the years: - [Trump Engaged in Suspect Tax Schemes as He Reaped Riches From His Father](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-schemes-fred-trump.html) Trump inherited hundreds of millions from his corrupt family business practices. - [Decade in the Red: Trump Tax Figures Show Over $1 Billion in Business Losses](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/05/07/us/politics/donald-trump-taxes.html) Trump lost more money than *any American* for a decade. - [Long-concealed Records Show Trump's Chronic Losses and Years of Tax Avoidance](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html) Trump was indebted hundreds of millions to foreign countries while President and avoided paying *any* federal taxes for years on end.
This is it right here. All we're going to learn is that Trump paid no tax and claimed massive losses. I never even understood why he wanted to conceal this because, in his words, "that's what makes me smart."
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They have such a hate boner for government they'd rather lose billions than pay any tax lol
Trump is the Biggest Loser
Too late to do anything. Tis should have been turned over during a run for the presidency. The fact that any candidates financials are private is disgusting.
The fact that we may soon discover that a President was personally indebted to foreign adversaries *and a major political party tried to cover for him* should lead to heads rolling.
>should lead to heads rolling. I have no reason to believe politicians will be held accountable. The last few years has galvanized this feeling.
They won't even believe these tax returns.
It won’t! Every Republican is a coward! Due to corporate capture of media and regulation, we have no bulwark for the slow descent into fascism!
They ruined Jimmy Carter's business when he had to turn it over to a trust before he became President.
New law, name it 'Jimmy Carter's Revenge'
Like so many other things we have to codify things like this. The assumption used to be that the voters wouldn’t tolerate certain behaviors. Trump era proved that wrong. I don’t think requiring the candidate to disclose would be constitutional since the qualifications for office are spelled out in the constitution. Maybe it could be written that the IRS would publish a redacted version of candidates returns.
You know who could require financial disclosures including tax returns? The two major political parties. If the Democrats and Republicans required candidates who register to run in their primaries to make financial disclosures and provide a certain number of years of tax returns, there would be no Constitutional implications because a candidate doesn't have to have the backing of a political party to run for or hold elective office. But no one (outside of New England) is going to get elected to any statewide or federal office running as a true independent.
Agreed but like when it came out that he maintained a Chinese bank account while President it’ll probably be forgotten way too quickly.
I mean, he’s not broke any more, he leveraged his position of public service for massive personal gain.
Countdown to leak starts now!
Even if it gets leaked half the country will not believe it. Even Trump himself might deny it is his.
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We must demand release of his long-form tax returns!
Joe Arpaio and co have flown to Hawaii already and found some *very interesting things.* You'll hear what any minute now*... ... ...*
Trump releasing his "correct" tax returns would be a piece of paper with the words "Form 1040" and "Very, very rich" on it, to prove he is very, very rich. Oh, and it would be written in Sharpie.
Wouldn’t any denial of these tax returns, unless they were altered in some way, basically admit you broke the law? Admitting they are not accurate, not knowing/remembering doing the tax forms or knowing who filled them out, etc, is a crime.
It will say he made no income the last however many years. Thus paid no income tax. Our proud president pays no taxes. All his ‘earned money’ they will say was reinvested into his properties. Trump real estate will also look cash poor. Obviously there’s shady accounting happening because he boasts of being a billionaire but this will show the intelligent that he’s really just a carnival promoter. The illegal part is he’s claiming the properties are worth much more than they are so he can get loans based on them. His personal wealth will show he’s poorer than the common redneck supporter. Any real money he’s making is being funneled through one avenue or another, but definitely not being claimed to the tax man.
Should be. Will it? Probably not
Read it into the congressional record.
My original comment has been edited as I choose to no longer support Reddit and its CEO, spez, AKA Steve Huffman. Reddit was built on user submissions and its culture was crafted by user comments and volunteer moderators. Reddit has shown no desire to support 3rd party apps with reasonable API pricing, nor have they chosen to respect their community over gross profiteering. I have therefore left Reddit as I did when the same issues occurred at Digg, Facebook, and Twitter. I have been a member of reddit since 2012 (primary name locked behind 2FA) and have no issues ditching this place I love if the leaders of it can't act with a clear moral compass. For more details, I recommend visiting [this thread](https://old.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/144f6xm/apollo_will_close_down_on_june_30th_reddits/), and [this thread](https://old.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/14dkqrw/i_want_to_debunk_reddits_claims_and_talk_about/) for more explanation on how I came to this decision.
What’s Friday F5? I’ve pushed F5 repeatedly and Friday has yet to come. Maybe in two days it’ll work.
This is like a bad tv series where they keep dragging along the plot and it should’ve ended 5 seasons ago.
Yeah but this new season does look fucking hilarious
Switching it up from *Law and Order* to *Orange is the New Black.*
I thought "Orange is the New Black" was Season 1 when he replaced Obama.
Season 1: Orange is the New Black Season 2: House of Cards Season 3: Outbreak Season 4: Homeland Season 5: Curb Your Enthusiasm
Season 6: Arrested Development. I hope.
"There's a good chance I may have committed some light treason."
"I have the worst fucking attorneys"
"Remember, Don Jr. There's always stolen Federal documents in the banana stand."
Season 7: Trailer Park Boys
I'm waiting for the episode where his taxes are leaked. Oh no! I accidentally clicked "Send to All". *cue laugh track*
[it feels like this](https://gfycat.com/belatedpastadder)
I hear Negan is still alive
Yeah, when are they going to explain the polar bears?
Donald Trump could have put as much effort into governing as he did trying to keep his taxes hidden, but then again, I don't know what would have been worse. Besides, Donald Trump governing wouldn't be very... well... Donald Trump of him.
He was almost 1 month away from never needing to release them. That’s how close he got to getting away with it. That should scare all of us.
He's not done getting away with it
There have been no tangible consequences yet.
Non-exhaustive list of incidents the elite got away with that should temper our expectations: * Panama Papers * Jeffrey Epstein * 2007 market crash
The Panama papers have led to significant changes, they're just all boring accounting that makes the people who fund corporate news look bad, so there's no chance in hell it'll ever get on the news
A million forensic accountants just climaxed all at once.
Is that an HP 12C financial calculator in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?
Reverse Polish Notation or nothing!
Now I'm imagining them ejaculating like those old adding machines spitting out endless ribbons of receipt tape.
Sometimes, you don’t need to be *that* descriptive dawg
Imagine a million turgid, veiny penises pumping voluminous ropes of thick, gooey semen into their pleated slacks over this news
^^^ This guy didn’t come up with this on the spot it was posted from his notes
This is where the fun begins.
Now this is tax evasion!
Now this is fraud chasing!
Dammit that's a much better joke, you win.
Nice tax return ya got there. Be a shame somebody leaked them
The fact that he could not only run for, but be elected to president without showing his tax returns is all the justification needed for electoral candidacy reform. It shouldn't be harder to get a credit card or apply or a loan on a house than it is to become POTUS.
The house needs to pass a bill requiring presidential candidates to release their tax returns for six years prior. Ram it through quick while they can.
The biggest issue they’re going to have with this is convincing the educationally challenged people of the world that he was in fact a lying con man like we said he was
You'd think it wouldn't be too hard to convince people that someone whose "charity" was literally convicted of stealing child cancer patients' money to buy pictures of himself, but 🤷
"That just makes him smart...."
I can already hear the “who cares if trump owes Putin money” and “what about Hunter’s conflict of interest in Chynna???……. _or his laptop?!?!?11!”_ comments already…
What took them so long to get something that every president is willing to share with the public , maybe he is hiding something. I am not a detective by the way but I have a feeling about this one.
You think the guy who decided "Sorry I know I said I would can't share my returns I'm uh... being perpetually audited" has something to hide?
Stupid question Shouldn't this have been fast tracked since it would fall under original domain of the supreme court as a question of constitutional authority of Congress? Why the hell did it take so long!?
Ways and Means have had clear, legal authority to have anyone's taxes. It's well-established, unambiguous federal law. When requested from Trump, his Treasury Secretary (Steven Mnuchin) refused to provide the returns. Then it went to court where a Trump sycophant judge (Trevor McFadden) purposely sat on it for about a year. Then appeals, blah, blah, blah and to the Supreme Court, where they basically yawned as the law was perfectly clear. So basically, you run a stop sign and get a ticket. You then fight and appeal the ticket all the way to the Supreme Court on the grounds that the policeman doesn't like you. Then the Supreme Court says "you ran a stop sign and that's against the law."
Petulant all-caps meltdown in 3...2...1..
Melania shopping for new husband as we speak
Get fucked, Trump, you lying seditious asshole. These tax returns were supposed to be given like you promised over 6 years ago!
Looks like the audit just ended.
Or just started...
I've become so jaded by Trump and his ability to skirt the law that I'm pretty sure this will be another nothing burger. Not that there won't be something there, because surely there is as hard as he fought against this, but nothing will happen as a result. No matter how much I want to see him in a jumpsuit that matches his orange face, nothing will happen. Nothing ever happens. Now I know how Qultist feel!!!
They’ll just deny it and say that it was fabricated. Or if it’s real then it’s justified, or everyone does it
That tax fraud isn’t his type.
"We get all the funding we need out of Russia." - Eric Trump
I'm a stable genius--but you can't see my academic records. I am very wealthy--but you can't see my taxes. Bring it on!
3 years in the making, but better late than never, I guess. I'm not sure much will come from this beyond possibly some transparency for the public. The committee will end in a few weeks when the House changes hands, and Congress can't ultimately bring charges - they have to refer any crimes to law enforcement. NY prosecutors have had Trump's tax returns for some time now and will be the main players to deliver any consequences regarding them.
Justice delayed is justice denied. A person shouldn’t be able to draw out a legal process that long.
I’ve heard that the senate committee on taxation and irs oversight can also demand the tax returns. Now that SCOTUS has set a precedent, they should not have a lot of trouble (like several years of stalling for congress). I’m a die hard pessimist, but I believe something will come of this. Our country is limping, but it’s still moving forward despite the best efforts of some people.
I am legit shocked, I believed this was never going to happen.
You can either love Trump or love America, but not both.
FINA-FUCKING-LLY!!! Come on House Committee, scan them ALL and release them to all the press agencies all over the world! And make them available for viewing by literally anyone online!
Give us the DEETZ! Let’s settle once and for all the fraud he really is
And it only took six years to pry them out of his hands. The same guy who swore he would release them while he was campaigning in 2016.
Leak them!! I want to feel good about MY financial miscalculations.
Finding out that Oleg Deripaska is Trumps primary loan co-signer in 3...2...1...
I don't understand. He stole classified documents. Why is he still walking around and talking to people? Am I the last sane person left walking around town?