Tag Archives: IRS

economic news, national news

Yes, Sen.Cruz … we’re interested in this Trump tax story

By JOHN KANELIS / [email protected]

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz — the former Donald Trump critic turned Donald Trump suck-up — tried this morning to speak for millions of Americans regarding the New York Times story on the taxes that Trump did not pay.

The Cruz Missile tried to say that Americans don’t care about the tax story, about reports that Trump didn’t pay federal income taxes for 10 out of 15 years, that the so-called billionaire paid $750 the year he was elected president of the United States.

Americans “don’t care”? Oh, yes we do … senator!

The lengthy NYT story reveals several things about the charlatan/con man/fraudulent president. One of them is that he isn’t nearly as savvy a businessman as he led us to believe he is. Another is that didn’t pay as much in federal tax as your rank-and-file waiter or waitress.

Many of us have been clamoring for years to see Trump’s financial records. We have insisted that the public be able to see how the nation’s chief governmental executive’s finances hold up under public scrutiny. The president’s portfolio happens to be our business. He helps set tax policy and he makes demands on Americans to pay our fair share of taxes. Doesn’t that require a president to pay his fair share as well?

We now know that Donald Trump does nothing of the sort.

He has cheated the government. He has been revealed as many of us have suspected to be a fraud.

Back to Ted Cruz. Senator, this story matters a lot to many millions of Americans. I am just one of them, but I believe there are many others just like me who want to know the whole truth about our president’s financial standing.

national news

The tax return secret is out

By JOHN KANELIS / [email protected]

Now we know — at least partially — why Donald J. Trump has been so intent on keeping his financial records away from public view.

It turns out the man who helps guide federal tax policy that determines how you and I pay in federal taxes didn’t pay any at all for several years in a row.

The New York Times reports that Trump reported income losses that overtook his earnings, allowing him to avoid paying federal taxes.

The Times reports that Trump $750 the year he was elected president but didn’t pay a dime for 10 of the previous 15 years.

How about that? There might be more to come as sleuths get a closer look at those returns.

This shouldn’t even be a story. Trump should have released those returns in keeping with presidential custom going back to 1976. Presidential nominees of both parties have agreed to release their returns just as a show of good faith with voters. Trump has been all over the pea patch on this one: he has promised to release them, then backed away, then promised again, then backed out again.

Now he is suing to keep them private.

How much more is this guy hiding from us? Inquiring minds want — and deserve — to know.

business news, economic news

Tax returns! Let’s see ’em!

OK, it’s time for an admission.

I am fixated by Donald John Trump’s tax returns, his financial record/history and whether he is as crooked as I fear.

Where did I obtain this fixation? From Donald Trump his own self, that’s where!

For as long as I’ve been aware of Trump’s existence — which goes back a good while — this fellow has been bragging his brains out about how rich he is. I’ll say that I detest braggarts. No one who is as rich as Trump says he is has to tell the world about it; nor does anyone as smart as he says he is have to brag about his or her smarts. Yet this clown has been doing so ever since Daddy Trump staked him to his business and got the boy started.

So then he announced the start of his political career. He did so with panache. Along the way to his winning the White House, Trump kept telling us about his immense wealth, his “self-made” success … and he pledged to release his full financial records as soon as the Tax Man completed a “routine audit.”

I’m going to presume that (a) the audit is now done or (b) Trump lied about the audit, given that he never provided a shred of evidence that it was being done.

So, where are the tax returns? He now is fighting like hell to keep them from us.

He is the nation’s highest elected public official. His personal records, by association, become our business. Trump helps set tax policy, he asks Congress to spend our tax money, he is commander in chief of our armed forces, he is our employee.

Trump has fought so hard to keep those records from us that he went to the Supreme Court. Hah! The high court showed him he ain’t the boss, declaring that presidents aren’t immune from prosecution, that even Donald Trump isn’t above the law.

All of this adds up to my fixation with the tax records and Donald Trump’s financial history. I want to know whether he is as rich as he claims to be, whether he has business dealings that might compromise our national security and whether he is a crook.

That’s not too much to ask. Is it?

national news

Once again, about those tax returns

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I guess we can set aside much hope that today’s Supreme Court ruling means we’ll get a look at Donald John Trump’s tax returns prior to the November presidential election.

The court issued a 7-2 ruling that said presidents aren’t above the law, clearing the way for a Manhattan, N.Y., district attorney to pursue Trump’s tax returns.

Why is this a big … deal?

First of all, it means that the DA, Cyrus Vance Jr., will be able to present the returns to a grand jury, which is bound by secrecy provisions under state law. The grand jury is looking into whether Trump violated any crime involving his business holdings.

Eventually the nation will get a look, I suppose. Trump’s team is pretty adept at deception, diversion and delay. I expect the legal eagles working for Trump to employ all the tactics it can to delay this legal proceeding.

That all said, the public deserves a look at those returns.

Trump promised to release them. He made the promise while campaigning for the presidency. He has since choked on the pledge. Presidential candidates dating back to Jimmy Carter have released their tax returns as a matter of routine; it was a post-Watergate reform that became common practice … then along came Donald Trump.

Why do we deserve to see those returns? We need to know whether Trump is as rich as he claims to be; we deserve to know how much he pays in taxes, given that he now has a voice in what we all pay the government; we deserve to know whether he has foreign investments that might interfere with policy decisions, such as whether he deals with Russian oligarchs … right?

I’ve been yammering for those returns since before Trump got elected. They should become part of the public domain if only because they belong to the nation’s leading elected public official. He makes pronouncements and sets policies affecting the public. Therefore, the public deserves to know all about the individual who sits at the top of our government’s chain of command.

We have inched a bit closer to that reality occurring. Although I am not going to hold my breath waiting for it. I’ll just keep yammering for those returns’ release.

business news

How about some ‘transparency,’ Mr. POTUS?

It’s the “t-word,” which means “transparency,” and it is fast becoming the latest overused term in the American political glossary of overused verbiage.

But it’s important. It means a lot to us as we look across the landscape and ponder the upcoming election for, oh, president of the United States.

The presumptive Democratic Party presidential nominee, Joe Biden, is facing allegations of sexual assault from a woman who said Biden attacked her in 1993. Her allegation isn’t holding up all that well upon closer scrutiny. Still, Tara Reade’s accusation needs to be “vetted” carefully, as Biden himself as stated.

He’s calling for transparency. That’s a good thing in my humble view.

Meanwhile, we have Biden’s opponent, the Republican president named Donald J. Trump. He’s got a boatload of accusations leveled against him. Have we vetted those accusations? Have we summoned those women forward to talk to us? No. Trump calls them liars and losers and other hideous names that seek to disparage them.

We need some transparency, Mr. President. He tells us on occasion that he’s the most transparent president in the U.S. history; then again, he’s the most everything in American political history.

He isn’t transparent. He hides, bobs and weaves, dissembles, and does all he can to avoid the kind of scrutiny that goes with holding the highest public office in the world’s most indispensable nation.

Oh, one more thing: those tax returns. Trump said he would release them after they go through a “routine audit.” The Internal Revenue Service said an audit doesn’t prevent anyone from releasing those returns, but Trump still hides behind that dodge.

He now vows to fight to keep them from public view. The Clown in Chief owes it to us. We need to look at this most public man’s books. We deserve to know if he is as rich as he boasts, whether he pays his share of taxes (which he demands of others) and whether there are any foreign influences on his business dealings that might have an impact on his public duties as president.

Transparency, Mr. President? Come clean on all of it.

economic news

Sure thing, Mr. POTUS; keep saying you didn’t insist on the name issue

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The nation’s Liar in Chief revealed his penchant for prevarication once again this week; it occurred at his Wednesday “briefing” at the White House over the coronavirus pandemic.

A reporter asked him about whether his name should appear on the stimulus checks that are coming to millions of Americans.

Donald Trump said oh, no. He had nothing to do with putting his name on those checks. That he had no input on the matter. That was someone else’s call. Some anonymous staffer agreed finally to put “Donald J. Trump” on the memo line on the checks that are coming to us.

I believe that, right? Wrong! The liar who poses as president of the United States cannot tell the truth even if someone were to point a gun at him while he stands on Fifth Avenue. You know what I’m talkin’ about?

Our stimulus payment appears to be coming to us via the Postal Service that Trump might allow to go bankrupt later this year. I learned that by looking at the irs.gov website. It says we’re eligible for payment, but that the Internal Revenue Service doesn’t have sufficient information for us to qualify for direct deposit into our checking account. Whatever.

If it comes to us via snail mail, I am left with a decision to make: Do we deposit the check immediately or do we gaze fondly for days at the Idiot in Chief’s name engraved in the memo line? Well, you know how I feel about him and the notion that he would insist on putting his name on a document in an unprecedented display of ego.

And yet, Donald Trump insists he had nothing to do with putting his name on the check?

Got it. I will wait for the sun to rise in the west tomorrow morning.

business news

Just wondering: Would a Bloomberg nominee release his taxes?

Let’s play a game of “what if?” for just a moment.

What if somehow Michael Bloomberg manages to win the Democratic Party presidential nomination? What if he gets the call to run against Donald John Trump, the self-proclaimed “very stable genius” and the current president of the United States?

Trump at first promised to release his taxes per the custom set beginning with the 1976 election. Then he has backed away. He is fighting efforts to obtain those records.

What if Bloomberg gets the nomination and then releases everything, per what previous nominees of both major parties have done … until Trump came along?

Bloomberg is reportedly the world’s ninth richest person. Trump reportedly is worth, well, a whole lot less than Bloomberg.

Why hasn’t Trump done what he promised to do initially and then reneged on the promise? I have a number of theories.

One is that he ain’t nearly as wealthy as he claims to be. Another is that he doesn’t give hardly anything to charity. Still another is that he has business dealings in Russia that far exceed what he’s admitted to already. A fourth might be that he has paid damn little in taxes. May I try a fifth notion? It could be that he has done a whole bunch of shady deals that could be revealed in a full public scrutiny of his taxes.

Bloomberg is far from a sure thing in the still-developing Democratic primary contest. He’s getting beaten up by his primary rivals, not to mention Trump, who’s already hung a disparaging nickname on the former New York City mayor.

If he gets the party nomination, my hope is that he releases his taxes, as other nominees have done. It won’t shame Trump into doing the right thing. However, it would stand in stark relief against the game of fiscal hide-and-seek that Trump is playing.

Voters then can make their own judgment on who appears to be keeping some important information from public view.

national news

Trump takes it all back: Now he wants to hide tax returns from us

Donald Trump once said he would release his tax returns once the Internal Revenue Service completed what he called a “routine audit.”

Then he equivocated.

Oh, and then he said he would do what he promised to do in the first place.

Then he walked it back again.

Now he is digging in even more deeply. Manhattan (N.Y.) District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. subpoenaed Trump’s tax returns as part of the DA’s probe into the hush money payment Trump made to the porn star who said she had a fling with the future president. Trump denied the fling, but paid her the money to keep her quiet. About what? Go figure, man.

A judge ruled that the DA’s request is valid. Then the U.S. Supreme Court put a hold on the release. Now the president is asking the high court to void the demand. He doesn’t want to do what he promised to do way back when he was running for the presidency.

Does this mean that Trump’s initial promise was as empty as most of the platitudes that fly out of his mouth?

I am one of those Americans who wants to see the returns. The president asks Congress to set tax policy, which means you and I have every right to know whether the president is paying his fair share of taxes. It’s been the custom of presidents and presidential candidates to release personal tax returns; the custom dates to 1976.

That’s why I have been yammering for those returns. I’ll keep yammering until we see ’em.

I feel the need to remind Donald Trump that he works for us. We are the bosses. Not him! I am one of those bosses who demands to see what I now believe my “employee” is hiding from me.

If it’s all above board, there shouldn’t be a reason in the world for Trump to ask the Supreme Court to intervene on his behalf. Isn’t that how it should work?

business news

Nothing to hide? Turn the tax returns over, Mr. POTUS

Donald J. Trump tells us he has “nothing to hide.” He brags about his wealth. He tells us he has the “best mind” that has resulted in unparalleled business acumen.

He once promised to release his tax returns. He said they were under a “routine audit” which prevented him from releasing them for public review. Now he is digging in. He is fighting the release of those returns. Oh, but wait! He has “nothing to hide.”

A federal appeals court has ruled that Trump must release his returns to the Manhattan (N.Y.) district attorney’s office, which is examining Trump’s hush money payment to porn queen Stormy Daniels, who alleges she got 130 grand from Trump to keep quiet about a fling she says she had with the future president … who said the event never occurred. Go figure, you know.

The president is going to fight it. He’s going to take it to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is populated by a slim conservative majority among its nine members. Will they side with him? Will they even hear the case?

I just keep wondering why someone with “nothing to hide” is working so damn hard to keep these returns away from public view.

I know I am just one American. However, I don’t think I’m alone in believing that Donald Trump should reveal those returns in the interest of full transparency. I mean, didn’t he promise that, too, when he got elected president of the United States?

If you’ve got “nothing to hide,” then turn the returns over to the DA who is well within his legal authority to demand them.

business news

Tax returns: Are they going to be released … finally?

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance has invoked the legal power of his office to seek to obtain something that has been on the minds of millions of Americans since the moment Donald Trump announced his campaign for the presidency of the United States.

Vance has subpoenaed Trump’s tax returns. Yep, he’s on the hunt for information relating to that hush money payment Trump made to a porn star to keep her quiet about a fling that Trump says never happened.

Stephanie Clifford, aka Stormy Daniels, is back in the news. 

Clifford said she and Trump had a one-night tumble in 2006 in a hotel room. Trump said it didn’t happen, but he paid her 130 grand to keep quiet about it anyway. Go figure.

Vance wants to see Trump’s tax returns over the past eight years to find out the details of how the payment was made and whether the president violated campaign finance laws to make it.

Well now. How do you think this will turn out?

I happen to one American who believes I have a right to know about the president’s finances. I want to know whether he’s as rich as he says he is. I want to know whether he has profited from his high office. I want to know how much he has given to charity. I want to know the kinds of things Americans have known about past presidents and presidential candidates dating back more than four decades.

You see, Trump once promised he would reveal his taxes. Then he changed his mind. Then he said he would do so again. Then he backtracked again. He contends the Internal Revenue Service is auditing his taxes; the audit bans him from releasing the returns, he said. The IRS said, um, no … the audit does no such thing.

Donald Trump has lied and dissembled over the tax returns.

Vance reportedly informed the president’s accounting firm(s) of his desire to see the returns. Trump no doubt will fight it like hell, which I guess is his right.

The liar in chief, though, promised full transparency regarding his tax returns. He has failed to deliver on that promise, just as he has failed to “make America great again.”

Count me as an American who wants DA Cyrus Vance to get his hands on the tax returns. While he’s at it, he can let the country know what they contain.