Donald Trump says he wants to release his tax returns but can’t because he is being audited by the IRS. When asked why he won’t just release returns from previous years, Trump declines to explain and instead nudges his base to question why he is so frequently audited by the federal government. But the odds of being randomly audited every year for a decade is vanishingly small and Trump’s statement that “four or five” years of his tax returns are actively being audited raised even more questions.
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Trump says that the audit is “very routine” because of his personal wealth and complex returns.
The GOP front-runner told CNN that he will “make a determination over the next couple of months” as to whether he will release his tax returns. And, despite Trump’s claims to the contrary, the last Republican nominee Mitt Romney had long since released two years of tax returns by this time in the 2012 cycle. “Romney’s trying to put the brakes on with other would-be endorsers here by suggesting that Trump has liabilities that they don’t know about yet”.
“Well, maybe because of the fact that I’m a strong Christian, and I feel strongly about it and maybe there’s a bias”, Trump said.
But the nature of Trump’s charitable endeavors, his effective tax rate and the underlying profitability of his business operations would all likely loom large.
If Trump has been audited for a dozen years straight, he certainly would be right to think the process isn’t random.
Trump said he was worth $8 billion, a figure he and his accountants later revised to $10 billion when he officially released his personal financial disclosure.
“I’m always audited by the IRS, which I think is very unfair”, Trump said.
“I suppose it could take a little time, but not much”, said Bankman.
The conservative website Hotair said it is possible that Romney wants to discourage Republican congressmen from endorsing Trump in the wake of his landslide caucus win in Nevada.
But another former IRS attorney, Garrett Gregory, does think there could be a potential “ripple effect” for any public figure releasing returns before an audit is complete.
Romney also says he believes Trump has the clearest path to the Republican nomination and that there is “a slimmer and slimmer opening” for his rivals unless the field narrows.
When that time comes, Trump will stand alone among the major Republican candidates in having not yet produced them. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, plan to release their tax returns to the public. “In the real estate world, there’s a lot of sensitivity about that”, he said.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich also will release his tax returns soon, campaign spokesman Chris Schrimpf told McClatchy.
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And Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders made $205,271 in gross income in 2014, according to excerpts from released tax returns.
