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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWaPo: Congress has the power to obtain and release Trumps tax returns
The ability of Congress to disclose confidential tax information was added to the law almost 100 years ago. Since the Civil War, when it began requiring taxpayers to submit private information to the government to comply with the tax laws, Congress has struggled to balance the privacy interests of taxpayers with the publics right to know. Eventually, Congress decided that tax information should remain confidential except in two situations. First, it authorized the president to determine whether any tax information could be disclosed. And, in 1924, it gave the same power to certain congressional committees.
Congresss right to reveal tax information independent of the presidents authority proved extremely important in 1973 and 1974, when President Richard Nixon became entangled in a controversy involving his claim of a sizable charitable deduction for giving his official papers to the National Archives. Nixon initially stonewalled the inquiries, including making his famous statement that I am not a crook. When the pressure increased, he contended correctly that the IRS had already audited the pertinent returns and not ordered any change.
But a leak subsequently revealed that Nixon, despite having income of more than $200,000, had paid about the same amount of tax as families with incomes under $10,000. Outrage at this revelation eventually led Nixon to seek review of his taxes from the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, which delegated the task to its respected nonpartisan staff. The staff ultimately found that Nixon owed almost $500,000 in additional taxes over four years roughly one-half of his net worth at the time. Because of the importance of the matter to the nation, the Joint Committee exercised its authority and voted 9-to-1 (three Republicans joined six Democrats) to release the staff report, including Nixons confidential tax return information, to the public.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/congress-has-the-power-to-obtain-and-release-trumps-tax-returns/2017/02/07/aa53254c-ea63-11e6-80c2-30e57e57e05d_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-e%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.b208fba8c8c1
murielm99
(30,754 posts)tweeted, faxed, read out loud, whatever it takes!
Angry Dragon
(36,693 posts)msongs
(67,433 posts)TimeToGo
(1,366 posts)The republicans would need to feel as if their own positions were in jeopardy. Until then . . .
notdarkyet
(2,226 posts)calimary
(81,418 posts)The entire House has to stand for reelection. And we're well within striking distance of taking over the Senate now.
THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR NOT TURNING OUT TO VOTE - IN DROVES!!! And YES. I'm SHOUTING. Deal with it.
spanone
(135,857 posts)wishstar
(5,271 posts)We already know he wrote off bankruptcies and business losses over 2 or 3 decades reducing his federal and state taxes to zero.
He was already fined for improper Trump Foundation donation to Pam Bondi. He already made $25 million settlement for Trump University fraud. Trump Foundation was already shut down by NY attorney general for not filing or being properly audited for years.
NewJeffCT
(56,828 posts)in Russia, China and/or Saudi Arabia, it could be a huge deal. I mean, he keeps saying he has no dealings with Russia and doesn't know Putin...
TexasBushwhacker
(20,209 posts)and not paying any income tax despite havong lavish lifestyle.
NewJeffCT
(56,828 posts)My guess is that he's going to try to cheat all those foreign banks he's been borrowing from - or else is hoping he gets a percentage of that Russian oil conglomerate when sanctions are lifted as a reward for the Russian hacking & interference.
bucolic_frolic
(43,249 posts)Trump ruins careers as he told us this morning.
NewDealProgressive
(98 posts)The Republicans hate him too but he is their vehicle to implementing the horrors they've been dying to put on us for decades. They'll put up with him as long as he has a pen to sign their agenda into law. That's all they care about.
calimary
(81,418 posts)OR, maybe I should say Welcome BACK to DU. Several people with low post counts here have indicated they're back after the hacking screwed up their account and their passwords.
Doesn't matter. You're here. That's enough. And we need you.
Response to spanone (Original post)
benld74 This message was self-deleted by its author.
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,567 posts)February 7 at 8:06 AM
George K. Yin is a professor of law and taxation at the University of Virginia and a former chief of staff of the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.
[link:https://content.law.virginia.edu/faculty/profile/gy8a/1223683|George K. Yin, Edwin S. Cohen Distinguished Professor of Law and Taxation
for visibility.
The returns are the golden key; they will show the truth of the Russian connection, then the house of cards should fall.
More_Cowbell
(2,191 posts)That would embarrass Trump and maybe make a few of his supporters rethink all his claims of being a great businessperson. The rest of us would be wondering how he's been maintaining his lavish lifestyle with foreign loans.
tblue37
(65,477 posts)operation.
NewJeffCT
(56,828 posts)already showed people that. most people pointed out the billion dollar loss 20 years ago as a big loss in a great economy.
However, to me as a person in accounting, the real revelation was that over time, he did not make a huge amount of money. Once your gains have exceeded your losses, you can no longer claim that loss against your income.
So, if Trump lost $1 billion in 1995, he can only offset his his future income by $1 billion in total. Once he goes past that $1 billion in income, it's gone forever as a claim against his income.
IF Trump had turned it around and gained $1 billion in 1996, he would be able to offset that entire gain of $1 billion with the 1995 loss of $1 billion and claim zero income and no taxes
heck, if he had two good years in 1996 and 1997 and made $800 million in total, he would only have $200 million of loss remaining to claim.
Since Trump has paid no taxes in 20 years, it means that his entire income the past 20 years has not exceeded $1 billion. $1 billion over 20 years is $50 million/year. While that's fantastic compared to you and me, it puts him in line with a well paid pro athlete or movie star, and not anywhere close to an elite hedge fund manager or a real business tycoon.
calimary
(81,418 posts)And I'd say the same as above - adding Welcome BACK to DU!
Perhaps what the returns might wind up being is the straw that finally breaks the camel's back. Can you imagine the scrum when reporters finally get their hands on all those papers! Can you imagine the questions? It might be just enough to get us to critical mass, and for the public at large and enough CONS on Capitol Hill finally to reach their breaking point. The last straw. "Okay, well this is just one step too far." Or "I've now seen more than I can stomach - this is just too much and it cannot stand." Or "well, that's it, gang. It's now officially gone past the point of no return. This has finally crossed the line. There's no way to get around this." And ultimately "Folks, we can't let this go on. It's time. Time to cut our losses before he takes us all down with him or gets us all killed. We're gonna have to get rid of this guy."
His many apologists and cover-providers may be able to stomach, or shrug off, or spin, or make excuses for, or look the other way, for only just so long. But at the rate we're going, there's gonna come a time where too much has happened, and he's fucked up too much, or he's crossed the line more than anybody is able to justify, and we'll finally get rid of him.
And hopefully by then, when the dreaded Christofascist Mike Pence takes over, it'll be far enough into the current four-year term that he won't have enough time to do much damage.
malaise
(269,144 posts)Truth will out
spanone
(135,857 posts)SunSeeker
(51,637 posts)tblue37
(65,477 posts)obstacle to accomplishing their wish list, they will use his accumulated criminal or unconstitutional actions or his evident mental unfitness to remove him and install a more compliant and controllable Pence.
LaydeeBug
(10,291 posts)and I don't see it happening.
MrPurple
(985 posts)I doubt that enough R members of the House would sign off on doing this.
ElementaryPenguin
(7,800 posts)TODAY - before the dictatorship is entrenched!!!
lark
(23,138 posts)The deal is they don't put drumpf in jail and he signs off on all their bills. Now if he thwarts Ryan on Medicare, Medicaid or SS, the deal could be off and R's might do this out of pure spite since they will already have the cabinet and SCOTUS nominations they want
0rganism
(23,962 posts)i won't hold my breath
BadgerMom
(2,771 posts)slumcamper
(1,606 posts)Call GOP congresspeople and use vernacular disguise as a right-wing hickbilly and see how it goes.
If GOP sheep received a few million calls from people imploring, "Hmmm, I wonder what that fella makes? Just how rich is he? Let's see the tax returns? LET'S GIT 'ER DONE!"
Would it carry more persuasive weight than a liberal "elitist" going off with a litany of facts?