“Why not release some older returns not under audit?” said Joe Thorndike, a historian who tracks presidential tax returns and noted that former candidate Jeb Bush released 33 years of filings. Should outside tax experts call attention to what they think are errors or questionable claims, IRS agents may choose to revisit those items in the audit.
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“Everybody” would agree with him that he can’t release them, Trump insisted. “As soon as the audit is done, I love it”. Ted Cruz said he has already released five years of returns – which he did while running for Senate – and would release two more years on Friday. So when asked whether he would make the documents public last night, Trump claimed that the IRS had made it impossible for him to do so.
Earlier this week, Romney himself – who got Trump’s endorsement in 2012 – had predicted that there would be a “bombshell” in Trump’s tax returns.
Trump says that the audit is “very routine” because of his personal wealth and complex returns. Even when he released his 2010 tax return, a two-year income summary and an estimate for 2011, the press was not satisfied.
“You think you get audited for being a strong Christian?”
He continued, “I have to say his justification for not handing over his tax returns, that he is being audited several years, although apparently he doesn’t know how many years he’s being audited for”. He’s implicitly admitting that Trump technically can release his returns, he just won’t because it’s not worth the risk. He has previously suggested to interviewers that his campaign was working on preparing the returns for release and that the process was time-consuming due to their complexity.
WASHINGTON Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is sticking to his new explanation for why he cant yet release copies of his recent tax returns: The IRS is auditing him, as Trump says it has for the last 12 years. The campaign eventually released a declaration stating that he had paid an effective rate of 20.2 percent in federal taxes over the previous 20 years. And if they agree with the criticism, that could cost Trump more money.
But he said Trump’s statement that he “can’t” publicly release his returns is a headscratcher.
“We have good reason to believe that there’s a bombshell in Donald Trump’s taxes”, Romney told Fox News, a network which has done everything within its power to sink Trump’s candidacy – while simultaneously promoting the bid of the “Republican” establishment’s chosen candidate, Marco Rubio.
Cuomo followed up by asking Trump what he meant when he said it may be because of his “religion”.
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Trump said Monday his plan would end “the current tax treatment of carried interest for speculative partnerships that do not grow businesses or create jobs and are not risking their own capital” and pointed specifically to hedge fund managers.
