# What is Trump hiding in tax returns? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 13, 2019, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trump-hiding-in-tax-returns/833927 "2019-05-13T23:21:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trump-hiding-in-tax-returns/833927/21 "2019-05-14T21:46:05Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > He’s flat broke and deep in the red, _and_ he’s filthy rich. It’s an unfortunate peculiarity of our economic system that it’s possible to be both at once. His net worth has likely gone up a bit since he became president. But I wonder what his actual net worth was as of 2015 after subtracting debt from assets. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trump-hiding-in-tax-returns/833927/22 "2019-05-15T13:35:47Z")
Big loans, inflated assets, modest annual incomes, little to no charitable giving. The man didn’t bankrupt casinos, defraud people looking for an affordable college degree and fail at selling meat online all as tax dodges. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trump-hiding-in-tax-returns/833927/23 "2019-05-17T14:32:00Z")
It’s also possible he’s not hiding anything specific, and he just likes to pick fights because it plays well with his base. Fighting against the establishment and all that. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trump-hiding-in-tax-returns/833927/24 "2019-05-17T14:39:25Z")
Oh no. He genuinely doesn’t want you to know his actual net worth. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trump-hiding-in-tax-returns/833927/25 "2019-05-17T15:03:23Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > I tend to think at first he did not think he would win so he figured it did not matter if he kept them secret. Then later he figured he better stick with not releasing them. I tend to agree that this is all it is. He had nothing to gain from releasing his tax returns for a job he never expected to get, and so he came up with the “I’m under a routine audit” excuse that played well enough with Republican voters and left it at that. And after he won, well, who cares at that point, he can just keep on not releasing them. We’ve already seen enough of Trump’s returns to know that he sucks at business and doesn’t pay taxes, and that hasn’t hurt him politically (That makes him smart!), so it can’t be that he’s worried people will find out he’s not as rich as he claims. He’ll just say he hid his wealth from the government like all smart people do and Republicans will nod along in agreement. And I’ve said in another thread that there’s not going to be evidence of money laundering, fraud, or Russian interests because none of that tends to show up on tax returns anyway. Tax returns are information that people willingly disclose to the federal government, if there was blatant evidence of crimes he’d already be in jail, so they tend to be as squeaky clean as possible. No, anyone expecting a bombshell is going to be disappointed. Trump is fighting this because he has no incentive to cave. His voters don’t care if he doesn’t and he gets nothing from Democrats if he does. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trump-hiding-in-tax-returns/833927/26 "2019-05-17T15:14:04Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > … so it can’t be that he’s worried people will find out he’s not as rich as he claims. … I disagree, and think his fear really is this simple. (But that’s just my opinion, how can I know.) Anything else that has come out disclosing his poor business skills has been countered by him as being bullshit, lies and fake news. Trump is two dimensionally deep, and he’s lied about his wealth, and his whole shtick is based on this lie. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trump-hiding-in-tax-returns/833927/27 "2019-05-17T15:21:22Z")
If I have ties to Russia banks (like stock,etc) that would be on my tax return. But maybe a guy like Trump has a way to legally hide those ties. ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trump-hiding-in-tax-returns/833927/28 "2019-05-17T17:05:57Z")
I think a big part of it is that Trump thinks to himself, “I’m a big strong powerful man with good hair and big hands. Why should I tell you peasants anything?” ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trump-hiding-in-tax-returns/833927/29 "2019-05-17T17:25:10Z")
Maybe on some level he is hoping that some Democrat will take the Harry Reid approach and lie about having seen the returns. Doesn’t seem to have happened, yet. All we got is _The New York Times_ publishing as shocking new revelations stuff that Trump put into his book. Or maybe just he is sitting back and watching Democrats try to pass laws to exclude Presidential candidates from the ballot if they don’t reveal their returns. Then those laws will be struck down by the Supreme Court (if it gets that far) and Dems will add another layer of egg to their faces. Rule of thumb: when your enemies are removing their shoes and socks, pointing a pistol at their instep, and saying “Ready…aim…” you don’t have to do anything but remind them that the safety is still On. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trump-hiding-in-tax-returns/833927/30 "2019-05-17T18:23:46Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Maybe on some level he is hoping that some Democrat will take the Harry Reid approach and lie about having seen the returns. Doesn’t seem to have happened, yet. All we got is _The New York Times_ publishing as shocking new revelations stuff that Trump put into his book. I haven’t had the privilege yet to read Trump’s entire literary oeuvre. In which book does he (through his ghostwriter) admit to being a billion-dollar loser, and sometimes America’s #1 money-losing taxpayer, over a span of many years while he pretended to be a wildly successful, self-made entrepreneur? Frankly, that sounds out of character for Trump, but I’ll defer to your scholarship on the matter… ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trump-hiding-in-tax-returns/833927/31 "2019-05-17T18:43:38Z")
I think you are mistaking what _The New York Times_ said about the book with the book itself. Much the same thing as with Harry Reid - a lie is halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on. The important thing is to control the narrative, if you can. It works less well with Trump, because he doesn’t care. There’s been enough fake news about him that even another Harry Reid lie wouldn’t trigger anything new. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trump-hiding-in-tax-returns/833927/32 "2019-05-17T19:25:28Z")
remember the money he lost was almost certainly money he got from other people, not his own money. Maybe a small part of it was his. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trump-hiding-in-tax-returns/833927/33 "2019-05-17T19:42:39Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > … a lie is halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on. Trump does indeed like to travel. You got us there. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trump-hiding-in-tax-returns/833927/34 "2019-05-17T20:23:44Z")
> [@Tatterdemalion](#): > > I think a big part of it is that Trump thinks to himself, “I’m a big strong powerful man with good hair and big hands. Why should I tell you peasants anything?” That could be part of it. But I think it’s more likely about how, in the Trumpian worldview, there’s no real concept of legal or illegal. Legal is whatever you get away with. Illegal is whatever your haters can use against you. A person like that quickly learns to hide everything and lie about whatever isn’t hidden. I doubt he even knows what he’s hiding or feels ashamed about it. He just knows information about himself can be used about him, so he hides everything. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trump-hiding-in-tax-returns/833927/35 "2019-05-17T20:32:10Z")
duplicate ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trump-hiding-in-tax-returns/833927/36 "2019-05-17T20:55:25Z")
For all their faults, the Republicans would already have the tax returns by now if the shoe were on the other foot. ---
**Author:** ![jshore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@jshore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jshore)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2019, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trump-hiding-in-tax-returns/833927/37 "2019-05-18T02:52:29Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > It works less well with Trump, because he doesn’t care. There’s been enough fake news about him that even another Harry Reid lie wouldn’t trigger anything new. Are you using “fake news” in the sense that Trump uses it, i.e., to mean something that is true but unflattering to him…Or, are you using it in some other sense? ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2019, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trump-hiding-in-tax-returns/833927/38 "2019-05-20T21:45:34Z")
Breaking: Where do we go from here? “A federal judge in Washington D.C. on Monday ruled in favor of the House Oversight Committee’s bid to obtain President Donald Trump’s financial records from his accounting firm. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta also denied Trump’s request to stay his decision pending an appeal.” > **[Judge denies Trump bid to block financial records from Congress](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/judge-denies-trump-bid-block-financial-records-n1007971)** > > The federal court judge ruled in favor of the House Oversight Committee in a decision the president called "crazy." ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2019, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trump-hiding-in-tax-returns/833927/39 "2019-05-20T21:53:00Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Breaking: Where do we go from here? > > “A federal judge in Washington D.C. on Monday ruled in favor of the House Oversight Committee’s bid to obtain President Donald Trump’s financial records from his accounting firm. > U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta also denied Trump’s request to stay his decision pending an appeal.” > > [Federal judge denies Trump bid to block financial records from Congress](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/judge-denies-trump-bid-block-financial-records-n1007971) Looks like the judiciary is getting fed up with Trump’s antics in trying to use them to slow walk what are likely to be inevitable rulings against him. I am particularly gratified that the judge denied Trump’s request for a stay. I hope Mazars acts today. I think they already have the materials ready to go. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2019, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trump-hiding-in-tax-returns/833927/40 "2019-05-20T21:58:04Z")
Here’s a Washington Post article that goes into more detail, I know not everyone will be able to access it: > **[Judge rules against Trump in fight over president’s financial records](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/us-judge-denies-trump-bid-to-quash-house-subpoena-for-years-of-financial-records/2019/05/20/74e45880-7b21-11e9-8bb7-0fc796cf2ec0_story.html?utm_term=.5316b465c5e1)** > > President Trump vowed to appeal the lower-court ruling that his accounting firm must comply with a congressional subpoena. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trump-hiding-in-tax-returns/833927.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trump-hiding-in-tax-returns/833927.md?page=3)