Tag Archives: IRS

national news, political news

Trump makes those records the issue

Health-Care-Records

Consider these four factors …

* Donald J. Trump boasts about his fabulous wealth.

* He questions whether his opponent for the presidency, Democratic nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton, is fit enough for the job she seeks.

* Trump has questioned President Obama’s constitutional eligibility to hold the office he and Clinton want.

* Trump also has asked out loud about whether the president really was an academic star at Harvard University and at Columbia University.

Those four circumstances have created an issue where none should exist. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, won’t release his tax returns to show us that he is as rich as he says he is. Nor will he release his complete medical records to prove, as his doctor said, that he would be the healthiest man ever to serve as president.

Why are these things relevant? They are relevant because Trump made them so!

He’s the one who’s raised the issue. Trump seeks to be the first major-party candidate for president since 1976 to refuse to release his complete tax returns. And he does all this after making other people’s records an issue.

Trump’s supporters say the tax records are irrelevant. They don’t matter. So what if we learn he pays little in taxes? Other Americans do the very same thing, seeking to pay as little in tax as is legally permissible.

OK, fine. Then let’s see just what he pays. Let’s see if he’s as rich as he keeps telling us he is.

The medical records? Those, too, need to be made public. A goofy letter written in the span of five minutes by a physician isn’t enough.

All this stuff matters because Donald Trump has turned our attention to it.

national news, political news

Now … about that doctor’s note

donald health

As long as we’re talking about records — or the lack thereof — let’s visit briefly about that strange doctor’s note Donald J. Trump produced that proclaimed him the most physically fit presidential candidate in world history.

OK, so I exaggerated that description.

Trump pulled this note out in late 2015 to tell us that he is fit as a fiddle. Dr. Harold Bornstein has been the Republican presidential nominee’s physician since 1980. Now we hear that the doc wrote it in five minutes while sitting in a limo that Trump had sent for him.

Some of the language that Dr. Bornstein used to describe Trump’s physical fitness for the presidency seemed, well, a bit unusual and not written in the kind of tone one expects from a medical doctor. It doesn’t read like a clinical analysis.

Trump’s blood pressure is “astonishingly excellent.” His stamina is “extraordinary.”

And get a load of this. According to Politico: “It begins ‘To Whom My Concerns,’ and says that Bornstein’s most recent medical examination of Trump ‘showed only positive results’ — medical terminology that usually indicates confirmation of a certain condition.”

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/donald-trump-doctor-letter-227464#ixzz4IX8HKzAn

Trump said he would produce a “full medical report.” He showed us theĀ letter instead. Here it is:

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/images/uploads/trump_health_record.pdf

It’s worth mentioning here because Trump and his surrogates keep suggesting that Democratic nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton’s health isn’t up to par. A spokeswoman who lacks any medical training has diagnosed dysphasia in Clinton. Former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani has said repeatedly that something is physically wrong with Clinton.

So, here’s what we ought to do.

Let’s all insist that both candidates produce detailed medical reports on their physical condition that do not contain such hysterical and flowery descriptions of the candidates’ well-being.

Trump and his surrogates have started this idiotic questioning of Clinton’s health. Trump also has insisted that Barack Obama isn’t a real American and has questioned the president’s academic record.

It’s time now for Donald Trump to deliver the real goods on his own physical condition.

Oh, and those tax returns, too!

national news, political news

Let’s see the audit letter, Mr. Trump

tax-return-form

Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump has made a lot of noise about several aspects of Barack Obama personal history.

* He demanded to see a birth certificate proving that Barack Sr. and Ann Dunham Obama’s son was born in Hawaii and not in Kenya. The president produced a long-firm birth certificate issued in Honolulu. Trump still isn’t convinced that, yep, Barack Obama is constitutionally qualified to hold the most powerful office in the world.

* He continues to demand to see academic records of young Barack’s college career.

So, how is he dealing with demands that he reveal his tax returns, which has been a custom for major-party presidential nominees dating back to the 1976 campaign?

He refuses. Trump says he is being audited by the Internal Revenue Service; the IRS, though, says a routine audit does not impede someone from releasing the returns.

So, as long as Trump has been making demands of, say, the president of the United StatesĀ to prove certain things about his past, let’s try this one on for size.

Why won’t Trump release a copy of the letter from the IRS informing him of the audit?

No one has seen the letter.

I believe, therefore, it is fair to ask: Is Donald J. Trump really and truly being audited by the IRS?

Well … ?

national news, political news

‘Transparency’ at issue in tax returns

sanford

So help me, I don’t know whether to laugh, scream or get roaring drunk after reading this.

South CarolinaĀ U.S. Rep.Ā Mark Sanford has called on Donald J. Trump to release his tax returns for public scrutiny.

Here’s part of what Sanford wrote in an op-ed: ā€œTo him, demands that he release his tax returns are just a ploy by his opponents and enemies to undermine his campaign. But that obstinacy will have consequences.Ā Not releasing his tax returns would hurt transparency in our democratic process, and particularly in how voters evaluate the men and women vying to be our leaders. Whether he wins or loses, that is something our country cannot afford.ā€

You need to consider a phrase in this passage, the part about Trump’s failure to release his tax returns would “hurt transparency in our democratic process.”

Here’s the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/opinion/i-support-you-donald-trump-now-release-your-tax-returns.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-right-region&region=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region&_r=1

What makes this so damn hilarious is that it comes from a fellow Republican, Sanford, who — while he was governor of South Carolina — instructed his staff to lie about his whereabouts while he was cavorting in Argentina with a woman who was not his wife.

Do you remember the infamous “hiking the Appalachian Trail” dodge his staffers used toĀ deceive the publicĀ over his whereabouts?

Transparency, Rep. Sanford? Did you, of all people, really say that?

business news, national news, political news

Pence pledges to release tax returns … and Trump?

tax-return-form

Mike Pence isn’t exactly “going rogue,” to borrow a phrase coined eight years ago by another candidate for vice president, former half-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

But the Indiana governor — and the Republicans’ nominee for vice president — is saying something his running mate isn’t saying.

He plans to release his personal tax returns before Election Day.

It’s a departure — and a welcomed one at that — from the refusal by GOP presidential nominee Donald J. Trump to release his tax returns.

Pence assures us it will be a quick read once they returns become known. I believe him.

Trump’s returns — which also should be released for public review — seem to present some issues for the GOP presidential nominee.

Is Trump as rich as he boasts? Has he given anything to charity? Has he paid his “fair share” of income tax, or any at all?

I welcome Gov. Pence’s decision to release his returns.

I do not, though, expectĀ Gov. PenceĀ to talk his running mate into following suit.

business news, national news, political news

Tax returns, Mr. Trump … tax returns

hillary

Hillary Rodham Clinton and her Democratic running mate, Tim Kaine, have released their tax returns.

Now it’s time for Donald Trump and his running Republican running mate, MIke Pence, to do the same.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/clinton-releases-2015-tax-return-prods-trump-to-do-the-same/ar-BBvyxbS?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

This issue will not go away. Nor should it as long as Trump continues to hide behind some kind of phony excuse about the Internal Revenue Service audit.

IRS officials say an audit doesn’t prevent someone from releasing returns to the public.

Here’s an interesting twist to the Trump refusal to do what other presidential candidates have been doing since 1976: it’s that he has been insisting that President Obama release his academic records at Harvard; he bitched about the president’s birth, insisting that he release his birth certificate to prove he actually was born in the United States.

Now, with the focus on his own tax returns — and his continuing boasts aboutĀ how rich and successful he has been — Trump refuses to let us all in on what should be public knowledge.

How much is he really worth? How much has he given to charity? How much does he pay in taxes? What is the nature of his foreign investments?

We’ve seen Hillary Clinton’s returns. She and her husband made a lot of money this past year. They also paid a significant portion in taxes. They gave to charity, although most of that charitable giving went to their foundation.

It’s your turn, Donald Trump.

business news, national news, political news

About those tax returns, Mr. Trump

3 Comments

tax-return-form

Let’s revisitĀ an issue that seems to have re-entered the debate over Donald J. Trump’s presidential candidacy.

Tax returns.

The Democrats’ vice-presidential nominee, Tim Kaine, brought the issue up again Wednesday night while accepting his party’s nomination. He asked out loud and in front of the nation why the GOP nominee won’t follow custom and release his tax returns.

He wondered — again out loud — whether Trump is hiding anything from the public whose votes he is seeking.

There’s no law requiring presidential and vice-presidential nominees to reveal their tax returns to the public. It has become a custom since the 1976 election between President Ford and former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter.

For four decades, candidates have released this information for public review.

Kaine and others have wondered many things about Trump’s personal financial information.

*Ā Is he as rich as he says he is? I mean, he boasts constantly about his vast wealth.

*Ā Is he giving sufficient amounts of his income to charity?

*Ā Is he — as Sen. Kaine wondered — paying his “fair share of taxes”?

* Are there some foreign investments that need careful scrutiny? Hasn’t the candidate vowed to “put America first”?

* Does the real estate mogul have some connection with Russia, which has become a serious discussion point in recent days?

Trump has said he can’t release his returns because of an on-going audit. Internal Revenue Service officials say an audit does not preclude someone from releasing his or her returns.

Who’s lying here? I tend to believe the IRS version of what’s allowed and what is not.

Trump’s campaign is based in large part on his business acumen. He says he wants to do for the country what he’s done in private business. If that’s his major selling point, well, it seems to me that the public has a right to examine precisely what he has done in his business life.

The public also has the right to determine whether the income he has earned and the taxes he has paid match up the way they should — and must — for all the rest of us.

The nominee has said he’s “on your side.” Let’s see for ourselves.

national news, political news

Let ‘tradition’ stand regarding tax returns

trumpdonald_030116victoryspeech_getty

Call me a traditionalist.

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, wants Congress to enact legislation that requires presidential candidates to release their tax returns for public inspection.

With all due respect to my home boy, I think the bill is an overreach.

Wyden is responding to presumptive Republican presidential frontrunner Donald J. Trump’s refusal to release his returns. Trump contends his returns are under audit by the Internal Revenue Service, to which the IRS has responded “so what?”; an audit doesn’t preclude the release of the returns.

http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/281194-dem-senator-offers-bill-to-require-candidates-to-release-tax-returns

The tradition has been for presidential candidates to release their returns. They’ve been doing it since 1976, the first election after the Watergate constitutional crisis that forced President Nixon to resign.

My own sense is that tradition ought to stand.

I believe candidates’ refusal to release those returns give voters a key gauge of their character. It gives voters a chance to determine a candidate’s trustworthiness. It enables voters to use such refusal as a measuring stick as to whether the candidate deserves their ballot-box endorsement.

To be sure, Wyden has a dog in this fight. He has endorsed Democratic frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton, who in turn has been blasting Trump to smithereens over his refusal to release his tax returns.

I get Sen. Wyden’s bias.

I also believe “tradition” ought to stand as a de facto rule. Let the presidential candidates decide whether to comply … and thenĀ let voters decide on the correctness of their refusal.

 

 

national news, political news

Tax matters become our business

2 Comments

13firstdraft-trump1-tmagArticle

You’re running for president of the United States.

It’s a grueling event. It has required candidates to do things they dislike doing, but they do them anyway.

One of those things is to reveal to the public they intend to govern how much they pay in taxes to the federal government. Presidential candidates have been doing it since 1976. It’s not required by law; candidates just do it. Some do so more willingly than others.

So, when a media representative asks the candidate about his or her tax rate, how much they pay in taxes, how is the candidate supposed to respond?

Donald J. Trump got that question this morning from George Stephanopoulos on ABC-TV’s “Good Morning America.” Trump’s response? “It’s none of your business.”

Well, actually it is.

The man now presumed to be theĀ Republican Party’s next presidential nominee is throwing out tax plans left and right. He’s back-tracking, switching his views, telling us what he intends to do — before he changes his mind — about how much money he wants the rest of us to pay in taxes.

Trump has been less-than-forthcoming on his tax returns. He won’t release them for public review, contending that the Internal Revenue Service is in the midst of an audit. IRS officials respond with, “So what?” He still can release the returns.

Trump won’t do it.

Then he tells a network news anchor that the information is “none of your business.”

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/05/13/donald-trump-on-his-tax-rate-its-none-of-your-business/?_r=0

It is absolutely our business to know how much a man who wants to be president pays in taxes to the government — our government, the one financed by American taxpayers.

Of course, the president doesn’t set tax policy by himself — or herself. Tax legislation originates in the House of Representatives. As the saying goes, “The president proposes, Congress disposes.”

Still, if a president is going to propose tax policy to Congress — which might then become law that has a direct impact on every American’sĀ household income — then the public has a right to know whether the presidential candidate is paying his or her fair share.

Who determines what is fair? We do.

 

business news, national news, political news

Release the tax returns already!

tax-return-form

Here’s how you give birth to rumor.

You refuse to do something that others in your position have done for decades. You then offer lame excuses for the refusal, which then start to breed gossip around the country about the alleged real reasons for the refusal.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump is refusing to release his tax returns. He says the Internal Revenue Service is in the midst of an audit; the IRS responds that an audit does not preclude someone from releasing the returns.

Other candidates for the presidency have routinely released their returns for public review. It’s part of the examination process to which the public is entitled as they consider who should become the nation’s head of state and government and commander in chief.

Trump should release the returns. Now.

I am not going to weigh in on what’s been said by those who think Trump might be hiding something. Such allegations have come from, say, 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

This might seem like a diversion. It really isn’t.

The refusal to comply what’s been customary among presidential candidates speaks to the character of the candidate.

Recall that Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders balked initially at releasing his returns, and he faced questions from an inquiring public. He said his wife prepared them and he described the findings as “boring.” He finally did.

Trump has been bellowing for decades about his immense wealth. He’s boasted about what a “world-class businessman” he’s been.

Well, OK. Let’s open up the books and let the public see for itself.

The world is chock full of equally world-class certified public accountants and tax lawyers who can parse the details for us.