“So, I fight very hard to pay as little tax as possible”. “Now it does”, Trump said.
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Stephanopoulos also noted that the IRS has said Trump would be free to release the tax returns when he wants – and that he did release his returns to state officials when he was seeking casino licenses in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Stephanopoulos disputed that statement, saying people can learn quite a bit.
“It didn’t make any difference to me [then], now it does”, Trump replied. It shows cash. It shows cash flows.
On the possibility of releasing returns that are not under IRS scrutiny, Trump said “There’s a link between [those returns] and other things”. I get audited every single year. “I don’t have offshore accounts”.
Hillary Clinton, the leading presidential nominee of the Democrats, has released 15 years of her tax returns while her party rival, Bernie Sanders, only shared his 2014 tax return.
But even this latest excuse doesn’t work, because President Richard Nixon released his tax returns during an audit.
For the New York Times, Maggie Haberman reports on Mr. Trump’s reticence to publish his tax returns. One can assume his tax returns are far more complex than any current or previous presidential candidate. He did not forget to point out the fact that he is worth in excess of $10 billion. “I don’t want it to be secret, but I do want the audit to get finished”. “We’re going to find out”. When is she going to give the missing emails? Trump’s returns would show how active he and his businesses are globally – and would help substantiate the actual size and scope of his operation. We know he’s done his best to avoid paying his fair share of taxes.
“With so much on the line, [this] isn’t going to have much of an effect, although Hillary will try to make it”, Ingraham said to Baier. Such losses can be carried forward up to 20 years on personal taxes. The returns also will nearly surely reveal he’s taken tax dodges that may be legitimate for a real estate professional but will look bad to the vast majority of his supporters.
Editorial: What is Trump hiding?
And, as Trump’s tax attorneys pointed out, the audits apply only to returns after 2008, so Trump could release all the earlier ones. He said that he would release them after the audit is completed.
In a Facebook post Wednesday, Romney said the returns provide the public with information about the candidate’s charitable giving, wealth and other dealings.
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A longtime delegate guru stressed to me in a phone interview Wednesday that the media – at the urging of Trump and the RNC – have badly jumped the gun in dubbing Trump the presumptive nominee.
