Posted By: GaGambler
Re: Yawn
Is there anything embarrassing in Trump's Tax returns? Almost certainly, which of course is the real reason that he won't release them. He did the math and determined that he would lose less votes by simply refusing to release his returns than he would by releasing them. It really doesn't take a genius to figure that out.
Well that's an interesting admission right there! The truth will lose more votes than hiding the the truth! Thank you!
.
Now is there anything illegal to be found in those returns? Highly unlikely because the people in charge of making that determination, the IRS, already have the returns and have had them for years.
I say, "Wrong."
.
The IRS, for the most part, compares previous years' filings with current filings, etc.. It might question a weird number here or there but asks the filer to explain a seeming discrepancy. It does not investigate underlying details that it can't even access unless it rises to a particular level for further investigation. The IRS could NOT do what investigative reporters have been doing for many years. Private investigators found old business records that had been buried away for decades. Reporters compared local tax filings with other public records and found discrepancies (e.g., the failure to claim hundreds of thousands of dollars of rooftop radio / cell tower rental income on ~10 years of taxes on just ONE Trump building).
.
Michael Cohen testified under oath before Congress that Trump alters property values to his advantage, using one value on loan apps and another value on tax documents. (We have discussed that here before: it might not be illegal in some circumstances, but in some cases it is illegal.)
.
We know with absolute certainty that Stormy Daniels received hush money payments from Trump / Trump Org. The IRS sees an expense and does not immediately ask, "Hush money?" It was entered into the Trump Org books as legal fees paid to Cohen. It took NON-IRS investigations to get to the bottom of that illegal transaction ... although the UNNAMED co-conspirator has yet to be indicted and prosecuted.
.
The NY Atty has access to NYS tax filings which probably closely reflect Fed IRS filings but what the NY Atty has now obtained is access to the underlying documents that Mazars used to prepare the filings. It is anticipated that much will be learned from those underlying documents. Hidden assets? Assets from questionable sources? Money laundering by shuffling payments through a commodious vicus of recirculation through the hundreds of Trump Org. LLCs? Etc..
.
.
So Rudy may have implied that Trump's taxes are no longer under audit. I have simpler series of Qs for them (Trump; McEnany; whoever). They have repeatedly said that Trump will release tax docs when no longer under audit.
"Mr. Pres, will you please authorize the IRS to tell us which of your taxes (years) are still under audit and which audits have been completed?" That sounds pretty easy. Trump has already admitted that he is audited every year, so there is no "embarrassment' or "It could hurt my business if people knew I was under audit" argument.
.
More directly:
Are the 2019 taxes under audit? Assume, "yes."
Are the 2018 taxes under audit? Assume, "yes."
Are the 2017 ...
Are 2011 taxes under audit? "No, they aren't."
AHA! Please now release your 2011 taxes.
Or maybe we'll have to go back to 2004 ... or 1995.
1995 was the year of the $916 M loss.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/10/us/politics/donald-trump-taxes.html "Donald J. Trump explicitly acknowledged for the first time during Sunday’s debate that he used a $916 million loss that he reported on his 1995 income tax returns to avoid paying personal federal income taxes for years. ... that the tax deduction could have been large enough to allow him to avoid federal income taxes for up to 18 years."
RELEASE THE 1995 - 2005 (or 2009 or 1999) taxes!
.
LET'S SEE HOW "BRILLIANT" (and truthful) Trump has been about his business acumen and his actual wealth and income!
.
(When Trump was claiming to be a multibillionaire, O'Brien wrote "TrumpNation" which said that Trump was only worth between $150 - $250 M. Trump sued O'Brien and lost.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TrumpNation )