Donald Trump Jr. spills the beans, reveals real reason his father won’t release his tax returns

Judd Legum/Think Progress

For months, the official talking point of the Trump campaign has been that Donald Trump would be happy to release his tax returns but cannot because they are under audit.

This explanation is disingenuous for a couple of different reasons. First, being subject to an audit does not prevent Trump from releasing his tax returns. (From a legal perspective, it makes it less risky.) Second, most of Trump’s tax returns are not under audit. We know this because the Trump campaign released a letter confirming that all of his tax returns from 2008 and earlier are not under audit.

Still, this is the official explanation. His running mate Mike Pence said it. His campaign manager said it. Trump himself has said it repeatedly.

In January, Trump described his tax returns as “all approved and very beautiful” and pledged to release them soon without even mentioning the audit.

But in an interview with the Pittsburgh-Tribune Review published on Wednesday night, Donald Trump Jr. revealed a completely different — and presumably more accurate — explanation.

Trump Jr. didn’t mention the audit but said that his father would not release his tax returns during the election because it would create a “distraction” and people would have a lot of “questions.”

When asked why his father has not released his tax returns as presidential candidates have traditionally done, Trump Jr. said, “Because he’s got a 12,000-page tax return that would create … financial auditors out of every person in the country asking questions that would detract from (his father’s) main message.”

The fact that Trump’s tax returns would be a subject of discussion is precisely why they should be released. Among other things, his tax returns would provide a clearer picture of the many conflicts between a Trump administration and his business interests.

Every major presidential candidate for the last 40 years, except Trump, hasreleased their tax returns.

Arguably, Trump’s returns are the most consequential. Most candidates have long careers in government, making their tax returns quite simple since government service largely precludes complex financial entanglements. Trump, however, has a been involved in intricate financial dealings for decades.

CNN accurately summarized Trump Jr.’s argument:

His returns would shed light on the true extent of his charitable giving, whether he took aggressive measures to avoid paying tax and provide a more accurate picture of his real income.

These are questions, according to Donald Trump Jr., that he doesn’t want answered during the campaign.

10 Questions Romney Must Answer About His Taxes

Seth Hanlon/guest blogger for Think Progress

On Friday afternoon, the Romney campaign releasedthe candidate’s 2011 tax return, which showed that he paid a tax rate of approximately 14 percent on more than $13 million of reported income. The campaign also disclosed that Romney voluntarily forfeited about $1.8 million in charitable deductions to inflate the tax rate he would have to disclose to the public. The campaign continues to refuse to release returns prior to 2010, flunking an accepted standard of transparency, first established by Mitt’s father George Romney, of releasing multiple years’ returns.

In a blog post, Romney’s lawyer and the trustee of his “blind trust” said, “After you have reviewed all of the newly-posted documents, you may have further questions.” Yes, we do. Lots.

Here are 10 unanswered questions about Romney’s taxes:

1. After the election, when the subject of your tax returns is outside of the public glare, will you file an amended tax return to claim your full deduction of charitable contributions? Was the tax rate you reported for other years similarly manipulated?

2. Why was your 2011 income $7 million lower than you estimated it to be in January? How does someone overestimate their income by $7 million?

3. Financial disclosures show that you have as much as $82 million in your tax-deferred Individual Retirement Account, despite the fact that tax rules limited contributions into such accounts to $30,000 per year. Did you lowball the value of the assets you put into your IRA, as tax experts suspect? And did you do the same with gifts into your sons’ trusts?

4. What was the purpose of your Swiss bank account and the myriad offshore entities shown on your return, based in countries like the Cayman Islands and Luxembourg, if not to avoid taxes?

5. Can you explain what one tax expert has called a “mysterious one-time infusion of foreign tax credits” in 2008?

6. You have not disclosed any foreign bank account reports (FBARs). Did you file all FBARs on all of your offshore accounts with the Treasury Department by the legal deadlines each year?

7. You claim to have paid an average tax rate of 20 percent over the last 20 years based on a flawed calculation. What was your real tax rate?

8. Your 14 percent tax rate –- not to mention the approximately 10 percent tax rate you would have paid had you not inflated it — is less than what many middle-class Americans pay. And you paid just 0.2% of your income in payroll taxes, while most Americans pay about 15%. Do you think that is fair?

9. Your tax returns show that the Marriott Corporation paid you $260,390 in directors’ fees in 2011. When you were the company’s audit committee chair in the 1990s, were you aware that the company was abusing a notorious illegal tax shelter?

10. You say you’ve made a “commitment to the public” that your tax rate should not be below 13 percent. If you believe that the richest Americans shouldn’t be paying an exceptionally low tax rate, why don’t you support President Obama’s “Buffett Rule”?

Romney’s lack of transparency on his tax returns is especially troubling given that he is similarly evasive on the details of his tax policies. From what we know about his tax plan, Romney would shower massive tax breaks on the wealthiest Americans, which means that it can only adds up with a major middle-class tax hike. How much will Romney raise your taxes in order to cut taxes for people like him? That’s the biggest unanswered question of all.

Romney scolds ‘small minded’ people asking for his tax returns

By David Edwards/Raw Story

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Thursday insisted that he had paid more than 13 percent of his income in taxes — or more if donations to the Mormon church are included — over the last 10 years, and accused the people who want to see his returns of being “small minded.”

During a press conference at the airport in Greer, South Carolina, the GOP hopeful told reporters that he couldn’t understand why people keep asking about his taxes.

“I just have to say, given the challenges that America faces — 23 million people out of work, Iran about to become nuclear, one out of six Americans in poverty — the fascination with taxes I paid I find to be very small minded compared to the broad issues that we face,” Romney explained.

“But I did go back and look at my taxes and over the past 10 years, I never paid less than 13 percent,” he continued. “I think the most recent year is 13.6 or something like that. So, I pay taxes every single year.”

Romney added that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) assertion that he had not paid any taxes over 10 years was “totally false.”

“I’m sure waiting for Harry to put up who it was that told him what he says they told him,” the former Massachusetts governor said. “I don’t believe it for a minute by the way.”

“But every year, I paid at least 13 percent,” he insisted. “And if you add in addition the amount the goes to charity [at the Mormon church], well, the number gets well above 20 percent.”

During an interview that’s scheduled to air on Thursday, Ann Romney said that there would be “no more tax releases given” by the wealthy couple, but she also insisted that “there’s nothing we’re hiding.”

“We have been very transparent to what’s legally required of us,” the candidate’s wife told NBC’s Natalie Morales. “But the more we release, the more we get attacked, the more we get questioned, the more we get pushed. And so, we have done what’s legally required. And there’s going to be no more tax releases given.”

“There’s nothing we’re hiding,” Ann Romney said. “You know, we’ve had a blind trust for how many years? We don’t even know what’s in there. It’s been managed by blind trust since before Mitt was governor, you know, 2002 forward. And so, you know, I’ll be curious to see what’s in there too.”

Over the course of the summer, President Barack Obama’s campaign has successfully attacked Mitt Romney by connecting him to American jobs that Bain Capital allegedly helped send overseas. It has also hammered him for not releasing more than two years of tax returns and having offshore investments and tax shelters in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Switzerland.

Watch this video from CNN Starting Point, broadcast Aug. 15, 2012.

 

Romney's welfare accusations a tax returns distraction?

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Limbaugh Claims Americans Don't Want Romney To Release Tax Returns -- But They Do

EMILY ARROWOOD/media Matters for America

Rush Limbaugh continued to defend Mitt Romney's refusal to release his tax returns by claiming that Americans aren't interested in seeing Romney's tax returns. In fact, polls show that a majority of Americans want Romney to release his tax returns.

On his show today, Limbaugh declared that "there's not a normal person anywhere" who wants Romney to release more tax returns. He added: "The American people are not chomping at the bit here to have this question answered. It's purely, totally fabricated. The media knows that it's been fabricated; it's a lie."

In fact, polling reveals the opposite is true: The American people do want the question of Romney's tax returns answered. A July USAToday/Gallup poll found that a majority of people believe Romney should release additional years of tax returns:

A Public Policy Polling survey found that 61 percent of Independents believe Romney should release his tax returns for the last 12 years.

Additionally, a growing chorus of Republicans and conservatives have called for Romney to release more of his returns.

But Limbaugh has continued to staunchly defend Romney's refusal to release additional years of his tax returns. Just last week, Limbaugh advised Romney to avoid releasing his returns while challenging President Obama to release his college transcripts to prove he received passing grades. In fact, there is no precedent for presidents or presidential candidates to release their academic records, whereas presidential candidates are expected to release several years' worth of tax returns.

This is not the first time Limbaugh has resorted to distorting public opinion to make a point.

Question for Governor Snyder: Should Mitt Romney Continue to Hide His Tax Returns?

From The Michigan Democratic Party

LANSING — With an ever-increasing drumbeat of conservative pundits and GOP leaders calling for Mitt Romney to follow his father’s example and release his tax returns, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer today called on Gov. Rick Snyder to declare his position on the issue.

“Governor Rick Snyder works in a building named for another Republican Governor of Michigan, George Romney, who established the precedent of releasing multiple years of tax returns when running for President,” said Brewer. “Will Governor Snyder join Mitt Romney in rejecting that legacy of transparency and accountability? Or will he join the growing chorus of Republicans who believe that Mitt Romney should release his taxes and allow Michigan voters the chance to make an informed decision?”

Over the past several days, an increasing number of Republican and conservative voices have called on presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney to release his tax returns for public scrutiny.

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour and Alabama Governor Robert Bentley have called for Romney to release his returns, and even Texas Governor Rick Perry said that Romney should be “as transparent as [he] can be.”

On Tuesday, the editors of the National Review posted an editorial titled “Release the Returns,” and prominent Republicans and conservatives including former RNC Chair Michael Steele, columnist George Will, columnist Bill Kristol, and even Texas Republican Congressman Ron Paul have joined the chorus.

Top Romney Spokesperson Urged Kerry’s Presidential Campaign To Release More Tax Returns In 2004

By Igor Volsky/Think Progress

Mitt Romney’s campaign has pushed back against calls he release more tax returns by insisting that former presidential candidates have only publicized a couple of years of tax documents.

“Well, as you know, the standard of– of releasing fully two years of returns, which goes above what the law requires, was a standard that Senator John McCain had adhered to as the Republican nominee in the last presidential campaign,” Romney adviser Ed Gillespie explained on Meet The Press this Sunday. “This is standard Senator Kerry adhered to as the Democratic nominee in the– in the election before that.”

But Gillespie, who served as the Chairman of the Republican National Committee during the 2004 presidential election, must know that “Kerry had put a total of 20 years of tax returns into the public domain by the time he ran for president.” After all, throughout that campaign he personally insisted that Kerry’s wife Teresa Heinz-Kerry, who files taxes separately from her husband, publicize her tax information — a position that is in direct conflict with his current spin for Romney. From an October 14, 2004 RNC press release:

“Throughout history, presidential candidates have disclosed income tax information prior to Election Day. We believe Americans value disclosure and transparency in campaigns.

During the 2003 filing year, Sen. Kerry made a $6 million loan to his campaign based on the value of a home jointly owned with his wife.

“Were it not for that infusion of cash John Kerry might not be on the campaign trail today. Because of her financial interest in the presidential campaign of her husband, Teresa Heinz Kerry pledged to disclose her tax information on October 15. Tomorrow is October 15 and Americans will find out if they plan to keep that promise.”

Throughout the 2004 campaign, Republicans pressured Heinz-Kerry to publicize her tax returns, given her investment in her husband’s campaign. She eventually released more information in October of that year, as Gillespie insisted that the documents presented “a legitimate question” for voters. Eight years later, the former RNC head is singing a decidedly different tune.

Republican Senator On Romney: ‘It’s Really American To Avoid Paying Taxes’

By Zack Beauchamp/Think Progress

Though every candidate in the past 30 years has released multiple years of tax returns, Mitt Romney is refusing to do so, reducing surrogates to telling the press to simply “get over it.”

But Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) attempt to defuse the controversy surrounding Romney’s taxes may be a new low for the campaign:

Mitt Romney shouldn’t be criticized for using off-shore tax havens because “it’s really American to avoid paying taxes, legally,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Tuesday. [...]

Graham argued that Congress is responsible for tax avoidance because it has crafted such convoluted rules and said he was fine with Romney’s taking advantage of the loopholes.

“As long as it was legal, I’m OK with it,” Graham said. “I don’t blame anybody for using the tax code to their advantage. I blame us for having it so complicated and confused. Pick a rate and make people pay it.”

A recent report by the California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) found that tax dodging shifts $100 billion onto taxpaying Americans.

ROMNEY OMITTED FUNDS HELD IN OFFSHORE TAX HAVENS FROM ETHICS FORMS

By Travis Waldron/Think Progress




A now-closed Swiss bank account and at least 23 investment funds listed in former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s (R) recently released tax returns were not listed in his most recent financial disclosure forms, which are required to run for office. Among the unlisted funds were 11 based in offshore tax havens like Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and Luxembourg, the Los Angeles Times reported today, and many are associated with Bain Capital, the private equity firm Romney co-founded. According to the Times, Romney’s campaign dismissed the discrepancies as “trivial” but said they will have to make “some minor technical amendments” to Romney’s disclosure forms.

Fox & Friends: Who Cares About Romney’s Tax Returns?

By MICHAEL LESTER/TPM

With all the recent debate surrounding income equality, tax rates and whether the wealthy are paying their “fair share”, Mitt Romney has some under pressure to release his tax returns. In the debate last night, this pressure was ramped up from members of his own party.

Eager to get to the bottom of the issue with some keen insight, TPM tuned in to Fox & Friends this morning and found that the question itself isn’t even worth asking.

Gingrich Camp Capitalizes On Romney’s Unwillingness To Release Tax Returns

By Eli Clifton/Think Progress

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has jumped on Mitt Romney’s lucrative career in the private sector as head of Bain Capital, a private equity group that paid Romney generously while closing companies and cuting thousands of jobs. But Romney’s high net worth — estimated to be in excess of $200 million — and his ongoing retirement from package from Bain — understood to pay Romney millions of dollars per year — has put new scrutiny on the former Massachusetts governor’s unwillingness to disclose his tax returns.

Last night, Newt Gingrich’s campaign sought to capitalize on Romney’s unwillingness to release tax returns and sent reporters the following email:

Just in case you were curious, Newt Gingrich plans to release his income tax returns if he is the GOP nominee.

The move by the Gingrich camp comes after multiple news organizations reported on the Romney campaigns unwillingness to release the returns. Yesterday, Romney told reporters, “We don’t have any current plans to release tax returns but never say never.” In an interview with MSNBC’s Chuck Todd, Romney went further:

Mr. Romney made the statement in an interview with MSNBC on Wednesday, but the network did not show that part of the interview. Mr. Romney, a multimillionaire who made his fortune running a private equity firm, was asked whether he planned to release his tax return.

“I doubt it,” Mr. Romney said, according to a transcript of the interview provided by NBC News. “I will provide all the financial info, which is an extraordinary pile of documents which show investments and so forth.”

“But you won’t do the tax returns?” asked Chuck Todd, host of “The Daily Rundown.”

“I don’t intend to release the tax returns. I don’t,” Mr. Romney responded.

Watch it:

In 1994, Romney challenged Sen. Ted Kennedy to disclose his state and federal taxes to prove he has “nothing to hide.”

Indeed, scrutiny on Romney’s tax returns lies in the fact that Romney is likely not paying normal income tax rates on the ongoing payments from Bain. He is likely paying a capital gains tax rate of 15 percent instead of an income tax rate which, in his bracket, would be 35 percent.

Romney’s unwillingness to release his tax returns, and the Gingrich camp’s efforts to capitalize on Romney’s secrecy, could pose a challenge as Romney continues his assault on Gingrich’s lobbying and business dealings.