Trump’s Tax Returns
Every other candidate for the US Presidency has provided the public with their tax returns for almost 50 years. The public has a right to know and needs to know the details of those returns to understand how each individual is conducting their affairs. Trump is the only one not to furnish the last 10 years of US and State tax returns to the public. His argument that the tax returns are in audit and cannot be disclosed is nonsense. Even the IRS indicates that those Trump tax returns can be disclosed to the public.
So what is he hiding. A great deal I suspect. He has already disclosed that he has made $698 million in 2015 so he is happy to let us know that his gross income is substantial and ‘very great’, one of the greatest in the US. This is 14,000 times what the average American makes. But we get no details on where it comes from among his many partnerships and corporations. We just don’t know who he is working with and what holds they have over him.
As to the federal and state income taxes he pays each year, we only know that he paid none in 1995 ( he lost almost $1 billion) and none in the years for those returns furnished to New Jersey to obtain the gaming licenses for his New Jersey Casinos. One thing he is hiding is that he is not paying any US income tax or New York State Income Tax. So in other words, he is not paying one penny to support National Defense and the Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force, and Coast Guard personnel or their equipment that protect us. He is not paying one cent to pay for the Medicare B and D programs that provide seniors with their outpatient and drug benefits. He is not paying one penny to pay for our roads and other infrastructure that he indicates is in such poor shape. The 14,000 average tax payers would be paying $6,000 each and $84,000,000 collectively. If he paid this amount or his fair share which would be substantially higher and others like him paid their fair share, we would have the resources to rebuild these roads and facilities in the past and in the present.
But he says “I am smart” was his comment when he was confronted with this assertion, confirming he paid no US and State Income Taxes. Others have called him a tax genius. He is no such thing. He followed his father into the family business, was given a good stake of money, and inherited all the lucrative tax breaks already available in the US Tax Code for the real estate business. He and his real estate fat cats like the hedge fund managers subsequently gave the Congress monies to increase these tax loop holes. Trump is a manipulator and briber, not a tax genius.
Trump is also hiding his lack of charitable deductions. He does not tithe to his church. Evangelicals note this. He does not give to many other organizations except the Trump Foundation and that is a sham. The Foundation was fined $2,500 by the IRS for paying a bribe of $25,000 to the Attorney General of Florida to stall the review of Trump University. The Foundation also paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay legal settlements for Trump related corporations and partnerships. This is not what most of us consider a charitable purpose, but Trump seems to define everything around himself as most narcissists do. The Foundation should be closed down and the money given to real charitable organizations.
Trump is also hiding his debts and the holders of those debts. We know he is beholden to German and Chinese banks and probably Russian banks. Perhaps that is why Putin and Trump have such a bromance. This lack of transparency in his affairs will put him in an awkward situation when he has to choose between his personal interests and those of the United States of America. Generally, he favors his own personal interests every time.
You have Clinton’s tax returns for the last 20 or 30 years. You know all the warts, all the ways she has conducted herself financially. You know nothing about Trump except that he earns a lot of money and is beholden to a lot of people in the US and other countries. You know he is indebted to the German and Chinese banks (meaning the Chinese government). Given that, you cannot vote for Trump. You must vote for the candidate that has been transparent, Hillary Clinton.
Sam Allen
