"2nd) Who gives a rat's backside what Buffet would be happy to do regarding his tax returns? This is the same guy that has paid as little taxes as possible, famously even lower than his secretary (without telling the public that it is because of HOW he earns his money while he calls for higher taxes for the wealthy and demonize Repubs because he has a smaller tax liability than his secretary - insert the very meaning of dishonesty here ). Buffet is not running for the office of President so what he would do with his tax returns doesn't mean a darn thing in this discussion."
I think Buffet's point was that he is also under audit, and has no problem releasing his returns if Trump will do the same. And while it is true that Buffet paid a lower tax rate than his secretary, at least he was willing to admit to it. We don't even know whether Trump has been paying any taxes at all.
"Trump has people working very hard on his, or his businesses, behalf to include every legal deduction available. Don't we, as either self employed, or business owners, do the exact same (ourselves or if he hire the services of others to do it for us)? Honestly, why would that be a surprise to anyone, or something that anyone who actually understands how citizens and companies are taxed would view as a negative? Shouldn't it be more of a concern to taxpayers if someone routinely overpaid their tax liability each year (not as taxes + any donation amount - that is something different)? If they can't be fiscally responsible with their own income, what the hell makes anyone think they would be fiscally responsible with our tax dollars? "
I could almost accept that argument if not for the fact that Trump was one of those calling for Romney to release his tax records 4 years ago.
Trump makes a lot of demands about others releasing their records - Obama's birth certificate, Obama's college records, Romney's tax records, Hillary's emails - but adamantly refuses to release his own. So at best, we have a double standard; at worst, he's hiding something.
We're seeing it again with the questions about Melania's immigration papers - there are discrepancies that can quickly be cleared up if she just releases her immigration records that show she came here on a H-1B or H-1B3 visa rather than on a tourist visa and could work here legally, and got a EB-1 green card (available to people such as fashion models with "national or international acclaim") rather a green card based on a marriage 4 years before she got married.
Simple to clear up - just show us the papers. They refuse to do so - in fact, Melania's website and biography was erased from the Internet shortly after it was revealed she lied about getting a college degree in Slovenia. What are they hiding by refusing to provide her documentation?
The point is that stonewalling like this only leads to more speculation, and if you want to stop the speculation you have to stop stonewalling. Trump has said that there is nothing to be learned from his tax returns, which is an incredibly disingenuous statement. For starters, we can learn whether or not he has been paying taxes, and if so, what his effective tax rate is. We can learn about his business associations and his charitable giving. Yet he refuses to release ANY tax returns - even for those years that aren't under audit (if they actually are). No candidate since 1976 has refused to be transparent about their taxes. What's he hiding? |
