The president’s tax returns, promised to be released during his campaign and under seemingly perpetual audit, are a vital piece of information that the American public needs to have, especially before the 2020 election. There is no question that the president’s business entanglements (yes, the same ones he promised to give up) continue to raise series issues touching on the Emoluments Clause, conflicts of interest and more. We begin today’s roundup with William Saletan at Slate:
Candidates for president should release their taxes regardless of public opinion, because every voter has the right to know whether the country’s most powerful officeholder has financial conflicts of interest. Trump’s vast holdings and his shady business history make that concern all the more apt. But for now, let’s stick to a simpler question: Is it true that voters gave Trump a mandate to hide his tax returns? No, it’s false. Every poll shows that Americans think he should release his returns—and that if he doesn’t, Congress should pry the returns from him.
Matthew Yglesias at Vox explains why the timing of Judge Maryanne Trump Barry’s retirement is such a big deal:
The key is that last fall, the New York Times published a bombshell investigation of Donald and Maryanne Trump’s father Fred Trump’s finances that appeared to reveal, among other things, that he illegally evaded taxes in transferring much of his wealth to his children — including both Donald and Maryanne. [...] Now, according to Russ Buettner and Susan Craig of the New York Times, Barry has retired, which renders the [judicial ethics] investigation moot. Their reporting indicates that this all actually happened in February. The complaint was filed in October, and then on February 1, a court official notified the people who filed the complaint that it was “receiving the full attention” of investigators. Ten days later, Barry filed her paperwork to resign.
And it certainly raises questions of whether she and her brother might have something to hide.
Fred Trump evidently managed to slip these shenanigans past the investigators at the IRS, and in more recent years, the IRS enforcement budget has been cut to the bone. It makes a lot of sense for a wealthy and unscrupulous person to take a calculated risk and just break the rules. But if those returns were to be disclosed today, they would obviously attract a ton of attention from the media and various outside experts, and Maryanne Trump wouldn’t be able to avoid accountability by quietly retiring.
In Illinois, a bill is making its way through the General Assembly to require presidential candidates to disclose their tax returns in order to gain ballot access:
Illinois lawmakers moved forward a bill that would require presidential candidates — including Donald Trump — release their tax returns to appear on the state's 2020 ballot.
The state senate passed legislation on Thursday requiring people running for president or vice president release five years of their most recent tax returns to the Illinois secretary of state. [...]
Besides Illinois, 17 other states by 2017 had introduced bills aiming to require presidential candidates release tax returns, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Tax expert and professor Edward J. McCaffery at CNN:
[H]is tax returns might be more complex than most, as Trump's staged photographs in tax times past aim to show us. But Trump reportedly gets others to do the hard work of filling out the forms --
evidence suggests he personally does not pay much attention to tax details. Perhaps he never developed the habit since he admitted that for years he
avoided paying federal income taxes.
Such wealth-without-taxation runs in the family. Son-in-law Jared Kushner is a proud member of the no-tax club,
documents suggest. And now, faced with a clear statute mandating that the IRS turn over requested tax returns to Congress so that perhaps we can all see what's really been going on, our
President is fighting the black letter law tooth and nail. The battle is likely to wind its way to the courts, where Trump can use public funds to defend his not-quite-legitimate right to privacy.
As for the rest of us this tax season? We have, quite simply, nowhere to hide.
Kathryn Kranhold at The Center for Public Integrity reminds us that some of the planet’s wealthiest companies pay no tax at all:
At least 60 companies reported that their 2018 federal tax rates amounted to effectively zero, or even less than zero, on income earned on U.S. operations, according to an analysis released today by the Washington, D.C.-based think tank, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The number is more than twice as many as ITEP found roughly, per year, on average in an earlier, multi-year analysis before the new tax law went into effect.
Among them are household names like technology giant Amazon.com Inc. and entertainment streaming service Netflix Inc., in addition to global oil giant Chevron Corp., pharmaceutical manufacturer Eli Lilly & Co., and farming and commercial equipment manufacturer Deere & Co.
On a final note, at The Daily Beast, David Cay Johnston points out the the law requiring Secretary of the Treasury Mnuchin to disclose Trump’s taxes to Congress is straightforward:
Trump...claims that "the law is 100 percent on my side."
The exact opposite is true.
Under Section 6103 of our tax code, Treasury officials “shall” turn over the tax returns “upon written request” of the chair of either congressional tax committee or the federal employee who runs Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation. No request has ever been refused, a host of former congressional tax aides tell me.
There is, however, a law requiring every federal “employee” who touches the tax system to do their duty or be removed from office.
The crystal-clear language of this law applies to Trump, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Mnuchin and Rettig, federal employees all.