It’s actually quite a relief that no one at the IRS has leaked Donald Trump’s taxes. The FBI, favorite agency of the right, turns out to be filled with faux patriots ready to spill the beans in exchange for a lukewarm Bud Light, but in the rest of government, there are actually people who take their oath seriously.
Why doesn’t Donald Trump release his taxes himself? Take your pick. There’s almost no excuse he hasn't given.
There’s the ever-popular “I’m being audited … so I can’t.” Which isn’t true.
The back-up plan of “I don’t think anybody cares.” Which isn’t true.
The one nearest to Trump’s heart: “It’s none of your business.” Which also isn’t true.
Drew Harwell has compiled a handy list of Donald Trump tax excuses for The Washington Post. It doesn’t include the possibility of triggering a kaiju attack, or random bouts of crippling constipation, but it hits pretty much everything else.
My favorite is probably Rudy’s argument that they can’t be released, because people are really interested in seeing them.
Rudy Giuliani, Trump surrogate: “The way all of you are treating this is a very good indication of why someone might not want to release their tax returns.”
Harwell’s handy reference guide also includes all the things we might learn if Trump did release his taxes, and a nice run down of all the things Trump has said about other people’s taxes.
“You do have a problem because half of the people don’t pay any tax. And when he’s talking about that he’s talking about people that aren’t also working, that are not contributing to this society. And it’s a problem. But we have 50 percent. It just hit the 50 percent mark. Fifty percent of the people are paying no tax.”
And some of them say they’re billionaires.
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More Trump sayings on taxes ...
2012: Tweet: @BarackObama who wants to raise all our taxes, only pays 20.5% on $790k salary. Do as I say not as I do.
That’s 20.5 percent more that Trump pays.
2015: Corporate executives “get away with murder” by using deductions to lower tax bills: “They make a fortune. They pay no tax. It’s ridiculous, okay?”
Yes. On this point, it’s easy to agree with Trump.