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Not to defend Trump in the slightest, but it was my understanding that the President isn't actually required to release his taxes; it's just a tradition that literally every other presidential candidate has conformed to. You know, to show that they're trustworthy, which is why Trump never released his.
Yep, Trump showed how much of the government actually runs on norms and traditions instead of actual laws. Even some of the laws that he did break (like the Presidential Records Act) don't actually specify penalties because Congress assumed it wasn't necessary.
The funny thing is, his tax returns were fairly unremarkable. I'm a cpa and my background is largely with high and ultra high net worth individuals and their businesses, so people like trump are my bread and butter. I reviewed his returns when they first leaked and honestly nothing jumped out at me as particularly noteworthy or interesting at all. All I can speculate is that he's just a stubborn asshole and simply didn't want to release them.
I always thought the big "issue" people were expecting wasnt that the tax returns were going to show anything illegal or noteworthy, but rather they would instead just show that he is worth way less than he goes around claiming.
There was a lot of speculation about that but I'm not sure if there's any consensus. Individual tax returns only show income, and business returns only show book values (not fair market value which would help determine wealth). He had pretty big net operating loss carryovers from previous years which essentially zeroed out his income for a few years, so it's hard to say. I feel like I remember looking for foreign account disclosures but didn't see them in the returns, which would be at least one set of FMV numbers to go with. It's been a while since I looked though. Overall I walked away being disappointed so I'll stick with my original assessment, maybe I take another look later today though.
He did also promise he would do it but then refused to follow through
And his plan for healthcare reform is going to be released ~~next month too~~ any time now.
If you're running for President, you either disclose your tax returns or you don't run. The tradition is there for a reason. I fully support jury nullification for this Littlejohn guy.
How come everyones tax returns are not public? Would solve a lot of problems.
People's financials are private.
Why should you know what charities I donate to, how much I make in a year, whether I'm paying child support, whether my wages are being garnished, how many houses I own, etc?
Even setting aside the whole "none of that is ever your business unless there's a very good reason" bit, having someone's financials available like an open book is so rife with possibilities to abuse/discriminate I can't even begin to imagine all the ways it would be used in a negative fashion.
That's a load of bullshit. I can look up my neighbours taxes in 30 seconds where I live and it doesn't seem to hurt anyone. Americans are just fucking scared into submission by conmen and other parasites who don't want their frauds and tax evasion in the open.
I see, so you're assuming that the only difference between your unnamed non-US system, laws, tax code, and culture is that your tax info is publicly available? If it works for you, it must work for everyone, and Americans are just dumb? Got it. If only Americans had such wise and worldly problem solvers.
I can tell by your reply that your mind is already made up so whatever.