Tag Archives: Trump tax returns

Trump tax returns to go public

Republicans blasted the decision to release the returns, warning that the move will usher in a new era of disclosing personal financial documents as a “political weapon.”

What you see in the preceding paragraph comes from The Hill newspaper, quoting Republicans who are critical of a decision to release Donald Trump’s tax returns, turning them over to public inspection.

They are wrong to fear the weaponizing of tax returns.

The U.S. House Ways and Means Committee today voted along party lines to release six years of Trump’s taxes. The ex-president fought their release. He didn’t want to disclose to the public what previous presidents and presidential candidates had done since 1976.

So, what in the world should GOP officials fear now?

House Ways and Means Democrats who voted to release the tax returns now will give the public an inside look at the tax burden — or lack of burden — the one-time president had to bear while he was demanding that you and I pay our taxes.

It’s fair game.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

SCOTUS clears way for Trump tax return

How does the saying go? Oh, I know: Inquiring minds want to know … actually those inquiring minds need to know and have a right to know.

Know what? They have a right to know how much a former president of the United States paid in taxes. They have the right to know how much he gave to charity. They are entitled to know the nature of his business dealings. They also have a right to know whether Donald J. Trump is as wealthy as he claimed to be while running for POTUS in 2016.

The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee to get its hands on Trump’s tax returns. The court didn’t disclose any details of its decision or reveal how the justices voted on it. Now, that begs the question: Does that mean you and I will see them? Not right away.

However, given the sieve quality of Congress, my guess is that we’ll get a peek at them in due course. Maybe soon.

Why is this a big deal? It’s a big deal because Donald Trump made it a big deal in 2015 when he announced his intention to seek the presidency. He rode down the Trump Tower escalator and said, among many things, that he would release the returns as other candidates have done.

Then he backed off. Then he said he would release them when the Internal Revenue Service completed its audit of the returns. We never learned whether the IRS was actually auditing them; Trump never produced any evidence of an audit. The IRS said it couldn’t confirm an audit but said that an audit didn’t preclude someone from releasing the returns.

Then he balked again. He’s been fighting release of the returns ever since.

Many of us want to see the returns. We are entitled to see them. The man worked for us. Trump was our “employee” for four years.

He wants to run for POTUS again. He likely will bellow, blather and boast more about his wealth. I long have known that the truly wealthy among us don’t brag about it. Thus, I am suspicious of Trump’s dubious claims of fabulous wealth.

Let us see for ourselves.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Tax returns … still a viable question?

Hey, whatever in the world of high-powered accounting happened to the cries for Donald J. Trump’s tax returns? You remember that, right?

Many of us wondered why Trump wouldn’t release his returns, as presidents and presidential candidates had done since 1976. Trump at first said he would; then he backed off; then he pledged to release them once the taxman completed his audit; then he backed off … again!

Courts have ruled he had to release them. He continues to resist.

Wait a second, though. We’ve been buried up to here with other sorts of finance-related news involving Trump. The New York attorney general has sued the Trump Organization for $250 million, alleging that Trump falsified his net worth to obtain favorable loans.

And then — of course! — we have a myriad of criminal investigations into Trump’s conduct during the 2020 election and immediately after the election that he lost to President Joe Biden.

I remain one of the millions of curious Americans who wants to know:

  • Whether Donald Trump is as rich as he kept bragging about.
  • How much, if anything, he gave to charitable causes.
  • The extent of his foreign business dealings and whether he does business with despicable tyrants in, say, Russia.

Those are three items. You likely have more issues to resolve with this guy.

Trump has defied conventional presidential wisdom at so many levels. The tax return issue is just one of them.

The issue of the tax returns has been eclipsed, or so it appears, by all those other matters involving Trump, The Big Lie, the insurrection, falsifying assets, conspiracy to commit sedition.

Good grief, all those other matters seem to make Trump’s refusal to disclose his tax returns seem almost … quaint. Actually, though, it isn’t. Trump’s refusal to do what so many previous presidents and candidates for the high office have done speaks mightily of his lack of character.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Turn ’em over, Donald!

Donald J. Trump has just been punched in the gut once again by a federal judge who says the former POTUS cannot keep his income tax returns away from congressional review.

So … does that mean he turns ’em over to Congress? Not just yet, no doubt.

But he damn sure should. I want to see what’s in them, you know?

Trump has been fighting off and on ever since he declared his presidential candidacy in 2015 whether to release the tax returns to public scrutiny, as other candidates have done since 1976. He said he would; then he said he wouldn’t or couldn’t; then he changed his mind again; then he said the Tax Man was auditing them, which means he cannot release them.

A federal judge Tuesday tossed out a lawsuit Trump had filed to keep the tax returns from Congress. He said Congress is entitled to review the returns, despite Trump’s various specious claims.

It’s all baloney. Trump knows it. So do the rest of us.

I have this suspicion we’re going to learn a whole lot more about Trump’s “fortune” than we do now. That isn’t as rich as he claims to be. That he has business dealings with suspicious characters. That he gives practically nothing to charity.

You know. Fun stuff like that.

C’mon, Mr. ex-POTUS. Release ’em!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DA gets Trump tax returns … what now?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

OK, where do we stand now that the Manhattan, N.Y. district attorney has gotten his hands on Donald J. Trump’s tax returns?

DA Cyrus Vance Jr. had been fighting with Trump over those tax returns. He is investigating alleged campaign finance violations and other matters that involve the complexities of Trump’s, um, complex fiscal dealings.

Cyrus Vance: Manhattan DA faces critical decisions in Trump investigation as his time in office runs low (msn.com)

It’s not clear whether the public will get to see these returns. As one American who has been yapping and yammering for them to be released, I want to see them. I want to know if the former president is as rich as he said he is; I want to know if he’s paid his fair share of taxes; I want to know all that I can grasp relating to those returns. I mean, he was the president of the United States and even though I never voted for him, I am a citizen/patriot and I deserve to get a glimpse of my country’s formerly elected president.

Cyrus Vance is serving his final term as Manhattan DA. The word is that he is likely to take his findings to a grand jury soon. The grand jury then would have to decide whether to indict the ex-president, which all by itself is a huge deal.

At least the game of keep-away is over. Trump said he would release the returns. Then he backed away from that. It had been customary for presidential candidates, dating back to 1976, to release their personal financial records. Then came Donald Trump. He tossed that custom into the crapper.

So, I am going to place a measure of faith that Cyrus Vance Jr. will do the right thing with those returns now in his possession.

I’ll be patient.

Let go of ‘Big Lie’

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Donald John Trump just cannot — or will not — let go of the Big Lie.

The U.S. Supreme Court today struck down his attempt to shield eight years worth of tax returns from Manhattan, N.Y., prosecutors who are examining whether he committed campaign finance crimes.

It means that they are now entitled to subpoena those  returns to pore through them in search of potential evidence.

Trump said: “I will fight on, just as I have, for the last five years (even before I was successfully elected), despite all of the election crimes that were committed against me. We will win!”

Election crimes? Are you serious … Donald?

Once more with all due hostility: There were no “election crimes” committed against Trump in the 2020 election. There was no “widespread vote fraud,” no “illegal ballots cast,” nothing that would swing the result.

He is living the Big Lie and is fomenting it among the wild-eyed fanatics who continue to support the former Liar in Chief.

SCOTUS clears way for probe of ex-POTUS

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Let’s admit it: We are a nation of Nosey Neds and Noras. A lot of us  want to know all we can know about the individuals elected to govern us.

Such as their financial condition. It’s only right … right? Yes.

So it is that the U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for the Manhattan prosecutors to subpoena the tax records of a former president of the United States, Donald John Trump, to determine whether he broke any laws.

This is huge deal. I am among those who wants to know more about the former president’s financial dealings.

I want to know if he is as rich as he kept bragging he was; whether he manipulated property valuations to obtain financial favors; whether he broke campaign finance laws when he paid the porn star $130,000 to keep quiet about a sexual encounter — that he says never happened; and whether he has given any money to charity.

Supreme Court refuses Trump effort to block tax return subpoena (msn.com)

This is relevant especially for those who supported Trump during his two bids for the presidency, the second of which he lost bigly to President Biden.

The court didn’t specify any particulars in its decision, nor did any of the justices issue any public dissents from the court ruling.

Yes, I know that Trump is now a private citizen. That doesn’t matter in this instance. He has been all over the pea patch on this tax return matter. He said he would release them, then he back off that promise, then he said he would do so again, then he blocked efforts to reveal them to the public.

He has lied incessantly for as long as he has been a politician … and likely long before that period in his life.

Let’s see the returns. Those of us with inquiring minds want to know the truth — finally.

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?

Once again, about those tax returns

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.

Trump, Barr engage in liar’s contest

This is fantastic!

Attorney General William Barr says he asked Donald Trump to fire Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, so Trump did what he was asked by the AG to do.

You got that?

Wait! Trump said he played no part in Berman’s dismissal; it’s all Barr’s doing, he said.

Who’s telling the truth? Why should we even care to know, given both men’s penchant for lying?

Berman had been asked to resign the SDNY post, but he declined, saying he wanted to stay on the job until the Justice Department found a suitable replacement. However, DOJ or the White House couldn’t wait. So … someone fired Berman.

You see, Berman’s office was eyeball-deep in a probe of Donald Trump’s personal financial matters, including the release of those tax returns that Trump once upon a time pledged to release to the public once he got through what he called a “routine audit.”

Berman is out. The question of the day: Who did the deed?

My guess? Donald Trump told Barr to can the prosecutor. Why? He was getting too close to rooting out the corruption that runs rampant throughout the Trump White House operation.