I saw an interview with a Trump supporter who was under the impression that when Trump becomes president, he will give this man (personally), money to start a business. Not reduce his taxes. Not make it easier to start a business. No. He thinks that Trump will give him, personally, a bunch of money.
Without Trump’s tax returns it is impossible to answer this question. The best you can hope for is informed speculation.
This leads credence to the theory that Trump never expected to get this far; His plan was to come in second in the primaries, and use this to improve his brand and get more money flowing to his businesses.
I pretty much assumed he had the amended returns filled out and ready to go in the mail the day after the election, win or lose.
I would be extremely surprised to find that he hadn’t. Not that we would ever know, as there is no reason for him to ever release his tax returns again.
Wouldn’t Romney have been expected to release his returns again if he ran for a second term? It’s possible he had the amended return ready to go in the event that he lost. As you say, we’ll never know.
It could well be a dodge, since apparently the IRS is auditing him for several years.
After the VP debate during the post-game analysis on CNN, that little pisher Eric Trump was given about 15 minutes of sit-down airtime to yammer on defending his dear old dad. He was insisting that daddy would release the tax returns after the audit, and then changed the subject to Clinton’s emails.
At that point, to my astonishment, Wolf Blitzer asked, “Why doesn’t your father release the 2002 - 2009 returns? The IRS has said they’re no longer under audit, and even his attorneys acknowledged that.” Eric looked stymied and after blinking a few times said that he didn’t know anything about that, but again, why isn’t Clinton releasing the 33,000 emails…
Blitzer, even more astonishingly, countered with the question that I haven’t heard anyone else ask Trump directly, and what Kaine should’ve said during the debate (and I hope to God Clinton does on Sunday):
“Well, if it’s up to negotiation, then this really isn’t about the audit at all, is it?”
Trump Lite deflected somehow, but I swear to God, I wanted to leap through the screen and kiss Blitzer on the mouth, which is a phrase I never thought I’d utter.
Why isn’t the Clinton campaign hammering this home? Why aren’t more journalists pointing out this contradiction? It’s so damn frustrating!
(BTW, one may well ask, did anyone from the Clinton/Kaine campaign have as lengthy a sit-down interview last night? To which the answer is a big “nope.” One of the reporters caught John Podesta on the fly while everyone was milling about in the hall, but it lasted for about five minutes and that was it.)
I’m not sure, is it standard practice to release returns while running for your second term? (I ask this because I honestly don’t know, and google isn’t cooperative).
It seems unnecessary, as your returns pre-office are already out there, and everyone knows where you’ve been working the last four years, and what your compensation would be. The only reason to release for the second term would be to show that you hadn’t amended any returns from the first time you ran, which is something I wouldn’t think would have come up all that often.
It is possible that the public would have demanded to see the returns to see if they had been amended, but I don’t know if it would have as much weight as the first time around.
I vaguely think that President’s traditionally release their tax returns each year. Not a legal requirement, but good PR to show that they aren’t pulling in bribes, making shady investments, etc.
My tax software has a review of things that might get you audited, and I suspect making tens of million of bucks and claiming you owe 0 in taxes is right up there.
TDS had a problem finding people who would say really stupid things on camera. Then they discovered Trump rallies. Now it is easy.
And the loopholes he is proposing to close do not include the one he used. So there goes that argument.
Frankly, if he becomes president, I hope he can explain why the hell should I pay taxes, if he won’t.
And I don’t just mean flap his lips and let noise come out.
This. I get that people will want to minimize their tax burden, but for a man living in luxury (by anyone’s definition) to pay nothing.… NOTHING?!?!?:mad::mad::mad:
Oh really? So Hillary and Bill had “deductions” but Trump had “dodges”? Puh-leeeze.
As for the rest of your argument (contrasting skill so businessmen with politicians), that’s a complete straw man for the topic at hand-- who paid more taxes. But still, it’s not something I would argue with you about. I pretty much agree. However, I am certain that Bill and Hill took advantage of every tax deception they legally could, and if for some reason they didn’t, then I’d consider them to be stupid.
They are not auditing him for what he did 1995, which is clearly what the OP is referencing.
Actually, since he took a NOL forward, they could audit that.
I don’t know about the US but here in the UK even children pay taxes if they earn enough. (Yes, I’m greatly simplifying.)
Well maybe he paid squillions in tax before 1995? I don’t know, so I’m asking. We know he took a huge loss in 1995 but suppose he paid $2B in tax in 1994?
To me this is the more interesting question to ask Trump: “Nobody is saying what you did is illegal, but do you personally think it is right that the laws allowed you to pay nothing in income tax during this time period?”