Recently – and, in fact, many times in the past – Donald Trump has reminded those who are listening (and those who are not) that his tax returns are something to be admired. He seems very proud of them. Except, if that is the case, why won’t he release them to the public?
Tax returns can be extremely revealing when it comes to a person’s background, and ensuring that they are who they say they are. And that they are doing what they say they are doing, legally speaking. A refusal to show tax returns from someone as high profile as Donald Trump is something that is causing questions, particularly from the Democrats, Republican Donald Trump’s rivals in his quest to become the next president of the United States.
Hilary Clinton, the Democrat’s presidential candidate, has released the past eight years’ worth of returns, making Trump’s inability to do so – for whatever reason – stand out hugely.
And in fact, there is now a bounty on these fabled tax returns. It’s a big one too – $1 million. It has been offered by Moishe Mana, who is one of the Clinton campaign’s main fundraiser. There is also a $5 million ‘reward’ from an anonymous Republican donor.
Those who want to see the tax returns want to know that Trump is a good a businessman as he is claiming to be – especially since he is promising to do the same for the country as he did for his businesses, turning them around and making them profitable. But is he really as good as he says he is? The tax returns will show the truth. If they ever see the light of day.
Trump maintains that there is nothing of interest within the returns, and nothing in his refusal to show them to the world. It is simply that they are with the Internal Revenue Services (the US equivalent to HMRC) being audited. Once the audit is complete, Trump promises he will release them.
But we have no idea how long that will take. And it might not happen before voting day on 8th November.
As for the IRS, they have stated that, even if the returns are under review, Trump is still free to release his tax returns if he wants to.
Interesting.
