The tax returns are here! The tax returns are here!
- Thread starter TJ8869
- Start date
Like what. Here is all 3000 pages for you. Feel free to find the big ol gotcha hidden in there we have been hearing about FOREVER.
Trump’s tax returns released, launching fresh scrutiny of his finances
The documents, covering 2015 to 2020, could provide new insight into Trump’s wealth, the performance of his business empire and how he was able to reduce his tax liability.www.politico.com
Nothing reported on faux news huh? Be patient.
Abuse of process is not releasing them in the first place; then learning that mandatory audits never took place - more than likely as a tit-for-tat for the guy he put in charge of the Treasury...
Don’t disagree. IMO doesn’t mean the House should’ve released them to the public. Investigate whether there was improper influence, etc
We already saw that with the government taking over social media and censoring during Covid.
How will they do that, when "running out the clock" works? When Trump's buddies move into power, so that absolutely nothing can happen?
I agree they should NOT have been publicly released under normal circumstances. But it's simply absurd to think the MTG gang will do ANYTHING with them to ensure laws were followed.
There was basically no other option here. And Trump brought that on himself with the delay tactics.
The Senate Finance Committee has the returns. Dems still control the Senate. Releasing them to the public was not their only option.
The House has the ability to amend laws to address the improprieties.
Senate cannot initiate any of those laws.
If Trump didn't want them publicly released, he should have quit filing delay actions in courts.
You keep bringing this up as if it’s some sort of valid point. I’ve explained this before. Please try to pay attention this time.
The Ways and Means Committee requested access to the returns for the purpose of evaluating how presidential returns are audited. Trump argued that they had ulterior motives (eg, releasing the returns to the public). The court held that they cannot base their ruling on whether or not the committee had ulterior motives. They could only rule on whether or not they had a valid reason for requesting the returns, and they ruled that the committee’s reason was valid.
Of course, we all knew and the committee proved that the stated reason was horseshit. They fully intended all along to release the returns publicly and did so almost immediately, before they even had time to fully review the returns themselves.
The Senate can examine the returns and determine whether or not there are any improprieties.
"They could only rule on whether or not they had a valid reason for requesting the returns, and they ruled that the committee’s reason was valid.". Exactly... Nada to whine about this. But you will...
And if you don't like what they did with those returns, too damn bad. Whine away. After the Republicans pulled their underhanded crap with the Merrick Garland appointment and then with Amy "11th hour" Comey Barrett rushed through... too damn bad whatever the Dems did. Politics are politics.
Could the Senate pick it up?
In any event, I have no issue with the House getting them and issuing the report and recommendation. Releasing the actual returns publicly was unnecessary, IMO.
Joe, there is no such law. In fact, the House recommended a presidential tax return audit requirement be put into law.
I get the frustration, and the GOP has definitely done the worst, but we can excuse stuff all day if we sit back and say “But what about what they did?” What you’re saying is there’s nothing off limits anymore because the other guy. Is that really where we want to go?
At least now you’re finally acknowledging
that this was a political ploy. We seem to be making some progress here.
The committee argued before a panel of federal judges that they needed the returns in order to evaluate the presidential audit process. The judges granted the request based on that reasoning. And then the committee almost immediately released the returns to the public.
Please explain to me how releasing the returns to the public factors into that process. Is congress crowdsourcing legal advice now?
I'm pointing out the hypocrisy of your butt hurt indignation when Republicans generally pull much more crappy political stunts. Get used to it, it's what we are these days.
I’m on record numerous times stating that Senate Republicans should have given Garland hearings and a vote. And I’m also on record stating that anyone who voted for ACB after refusing to vote on Garland was a hypocrite.
Keep trying, dude.
Uh....yeah, there is
They were required to be audited. They were not.
US tax authorities failed to audit Donald Trump for two years while he was in the White House, Democratic lawmakers said, despite a program that makes tax review of sitting presidents compulsory.
IRS failed to conduct timely mandatory audits of Trump’s taxes while president
Internal Revenue Service only began audit after prompting from Congress in 2019, House ways and means committee indicates
Not a law. It’s an internal policy set out in the Internal Revenue Manual.Uh....yeah, there is
They were required to be audited. They were not.
US tax authorities failed to audit Donald Trump for two years while he was in the White House, Democratic lawmakers said, despite a program that makes tax review of sitting presidents compulsory.
IRS failed to conduct timely mandatory audits of Trump’s taxes while president
Internal Revenue Service only began audit after prompting from Congress in 2019, House ways and means committee indicateswww.theguardian.com
Holds the same requirement as a law does.
It was not followed.
Again: Trump refusing to comply with release and delay for years leaves me zero sympathy for them being released publicly. None.
W/o the release, he has zero liability with an incoming "friendly" party that will ignore them. Let the public auditors review and find the inconsistencies and crimes. He deserves it for his intentional delay actions. Don't care.
Correct. I have absolutely no quarrel with the Ways and Means Committee accessing Trump’s returns for the purpose of evaluating why that didn’t happen and how they can ensure that it does happen going forward. That’s a perfectly valid process.
My singular objection here is that they almost immediately released the returns to the public (and fully intended to do so all along if given the chance), which does absolutely nothing to address their stated purpose.
No, it doesn’t. Come on, don’t dig in on this point. If this were the case why is the first House recommendation to codify the “mandatory examination” process into the Internal Revenue Code? Is the House Committee mistaken that it’s not already a law?
Whether due to instruction or to ineptness at the IRS, the examinations were not done. The House rightly pointed out the deficiencies and problems with this program being set out as vague, incomplete guidance in the Internal Revenue Manual and not a law, as well as the need to give it some teeth and resource it properly so future presidents can’t do what Trump did.
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This is to me the most disheartening passage from the House report:
C. The IRS should provide adequate and appropriate staffing and resources necessary for a full and timely audit of the President and prescribe that the audit team be comprised of two senior IRS agents, a partnership specialist, a foreign specialist, and a financial products specialist.
Findings:
1. Insufficient IRS funding creates incentives for some taxpayers to take aggressive tax positions. The Inflation Reduction Act provides a long-term investment of $79 billion in the IRS to improve tax fairness by, among other improvements, increasing the examinations of high-income taxpayers with complex partnership and passthrough returns.
2. The mandatory audit of the former President was conducted, mostly, by one revenue agent. The individual tax return of the former President included the activities of hundreds of related and pass-through entities, numerous schedules, foreign tax credits, and millions of dollars in NOL carryforwards. The revenue agent noted that the lack of resources was the reason for not pursuing certain issues on the former President’s returns. An internal IRS memo stated: “With over 400 flow-thru returns reported on the Form 1040, it is not possible to obtain the resources available to examine all potential issues.”
3. Former IRS Commissioner Rettig testified before the Committee that the IRS does
“not have the resources to go after the bigs or the superbigs, as we refer to them, and we get outgunned routinely in that space.”
resources.
C. The IRS should provide adequate and appropriate staffing and resources necessary for a full and timely audit of the President and prescribe that the audit team be comprised of two senior IRS agents, a partnership specialist, a foreign specialist, and a financial products specialist.
Findings:
1. Insufficient IRS funding creates incentives for some taxpayers to take aggressive tax positions. The Inflation Reduction Act provides a long-term investment of $79 billion in the IRS to improve tax fairness by, among other improvements, increasing the examinations of high-income taxpayers with complex partnership and passthrough returns.
2. The mandatory audit of the former President was conducted, mostly, by one revenue agent. The individual tax return of the former President included the activities of hundreds of related and pass-through entities, numerous schedules, foreign tax credits, and millions of dollars in NOL carryforwards. The revenue agent noted that the lack of resources was the reason for not pursuing certain issues on the former President’s returns. An internal IRS memo stated: “With over 400 flow-thru returns reported on the Form 1040, it is not possible to obtain the resources available to examine all potential issues.”
3. Former IRS Commissioner Rettig testified before the Committee that the IRS does
“not have the resources to go after the bigs or the superbigs, as we refer to them, and we get outgunned routinely in that space.”
resources.
This is why his returns should be public record.
Except, it’s pretty clear that he isn’t. Trump Org wasn’t, and his accountant is going to jail. Quite a few odd things were revealed today about how he values items he uses for deductions. A little digging by the IRS and Jed be in jail if they had run an actual audit of his finances as any time in the last 40 years.
He doesn’t have income. He had an inheritance that he’s been pissing away, and he owes hundreds of millions of dollars that he might not be able to pay back.
This is it. The walls are finally closing in on Trump. I don’t think we have ever heard that before.
Treasury had the returns and sat on them. Everyone else had to fight despite a very clearly written law.
You are a decent poster in the Lounge, you lose it when you go Team Red. Answer honestly as a lawyer, do you think Trump is in a good place right now? The Trump Org conviction eases future prosecutions on financial crimes, and we now see he fudged his personal returns. The documents case is pretty straightforward. The GA case has a compelling witness in Brad Raffensperger and Trump on tape.
