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Oh, so Donald Trump wants tax “reform” but he doesn’t want to release his own taxes? Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has some things to say about that:
“It’s going to make tax reform much harder” if Trump doesn’t release his returns, Schumer told reporters Tuesday. Anytime the president proposes something on tax reform, “the average American is going to say, ‘Oh, he’s not doing that because it’s good for me, he’s doing it because it’s good for him.’ So for his own good, he ought to make them public. And the big mystery is why he hasn’t.”
“I think he just has an obligation to come clean. When you clean up the swamp, it’s not keeping things secret and applies to yourself,” Schumer added.
In fact, tax policy isn’t the only area where Trump’s missing tax returns leave a big question mark hanging:
Schumer said that part of the reason Democrats are eager to see Trump’s returns is to determine whether Trump or his family’s business empire have any conflicts of interest with the federal government or foreign powers.
“When China just released those 38 approvals for him a month ago, a natural question to ask is are they doing that because they’re trying to win policy points related to American workers and the American people? No one knows the answer,” he said.
Also, you know, Russia.
We still don’t know what Trump is hiding, and the list of possibilities (and the ways that list could be affecting how Trump governs) is not getting any shorter.
Democrats definitely can’t be complicit in changing tax law in ways that might give Trump hidden benefits, and potentially vulnerable Republicans should be thinking about that, too—if not out of principle (ha, right), then to protect themselves against the moment a year or two down the road when it leaks out just what benefits they voted to give Trump.