Trump's Taxes Released Today

 

Six years of the personal and business taxes of the Malignant Loser will be released to the public today by the House Ways and Means Committee, after the Malignant Loser fought desperately to hide them. From the Associated Press:

"Trump’s tax returns are likely to offer the clearest picture yet of his finances during his time in office.

Trump, known for building skyscrapers and hosting a reality TV show before winning the White House, broke political norms by refusing to make public his returns as he sought the presidency — though he did give some limited details about his holdings and income on mandatory disclosure forms.

Instead, Trump has touted his wealth in the annual financial statements he gives to banks to secure loans and to financial magazines to justify his place on rankings of the world’s billionaires."

From bits of information released so far, it's clear that the Malignant Loser conned the taxpayers by claiming highly inappropriate deductions, paying little or no taxes for years, and actually getting refunds based on his sketchy filings. There's also evidence of "charity" gifts that were never made or overstated. One fact that has been revealed already is that the IRS, under a Trump appointee, didn't do the legally required audits of his taxes while he was in office, something that each President before him did going back to Nixon. The Malignant Loser continuously lied about being audited which he claimed prevented him from having his taxes released. The breadth of taxes released should provide investigators with evidence of cheating year after year, and a potential roadmap to prosecution.

BONUS: Trump tax stalker David Kay Johnson has more details about what we know. Here's the Committee's earlier report on Trump's taxes.

 

Trump Tax Returns: A Familiar Pattern Of Tax Cheating

 

An initial top line summary of the Malignant Loser's tax returns, just published by the House Ways and Means Committee, shows the grifter's tax avoidance was a feature not a bug:

The amount of income, deductions and taxes paid by or refunded to former President Donald Trump while serving in the White House was detailed in a new report released Tuesday night.

The report reveals that Trump on his federal tax returns declared negative income in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2020, and that he paid a total of $1,500 in income taxes for the years 2016 and 2017 [combined].

On their 2020 income tax returns, Trump and his wife Melania paid no federal income taxes and claimed a refund of $5.47 million, according to the report by the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation.

The report was posted online shortly after the Ways and Means Committee voted to make public redacted versions of Trump's full income tax returns, and those of eight related business entities for the tax years 2015 through 2020.

We're not tax experts, but that doesn't pass our smell test.  No wonder he was desperate to hide his returns from the public.  While his many middle and working class cultists were paying their fair share of taxes, their "billionaire" cult leader not only wasn't, but he actually claimed a $5.47 million refund one year.  And that's just his federal tax returns;  his decades- long history of various tax fraud schemes is well documented.

Let that sink in (quoting another malignant loser).

BONUS:  Two Three more things --

They were not, in fact, under audit https://t.co/U8OmJrpGbv

— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) December 21, 2022

 

The IRS dereliction of duty is sadly in line with Secret Service, FBI and DHS subservience to Trump when in office. Disgraceful.

— Andrew Weissmann 🌻 (@AWeissmann_) December 21, 2022

 

No different than he did with the reimbursement money for the Stormy payment…he took it as a deduction. https://t.co/6VenyzJfw8

— Michael Cohen (@MichaelCohen212) December 21, 2022

 

Another Taxing Day For Trump? (UPDATED)

 

This afternoon, the House Ways and Means Committee will vote whether to focus a laser deep into the Malignant Loser's bloated but fragile ego:

The House Ways and Means Committee will meet Tuesday to discuss former President Donald Trump’s tax returns and weigh whether to release the information to the public, the end to a years-long effort from Democrats to learn more about Trump’s financial background.

The highly anticipated meeting is years in the making but comes as Democrats have just days to act on whether to release the former president’s tax returns. While there is historic precedent for Ways and Means to release confidential tax information, a decision to put it out to the public would come with intense political fallout as Trump has already declared he is running for president in 2024.

The committee has had access to Trump’s taxes for weeks after winning a lengthy legal battle that began in the spring of 2019. House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal requested the first six years of Trump’s taxes as well as tax returns for eight of his businesses back in April of 2019. 

It could be a BFD, certainly for what remains of the Malignant Loser's "successful business man" aura:

While The New York Times obtained decades of Trump’s personal tax information back in 2020, Neal’s request could shed light on additional years of Trump’s finances and paint a picture of how the former president used his business entities and personal wealth in the years before and after becoming president.

Trump broke with tradition in 2016 by refusing to release any of his personal tax returns.

Democrats have long argued that Trump’s taxes could provide necessary information about whether the president had any entanglements that could impact his decision making as president.  [snip]

If the committee did vote to make the information public, it could shed light on how wealthy Trump really is, how much he gave to charity and how much he paid in taxes. The New York Times report in 2020 made clear that Trump carried over business losses for years to legally be able to avoid paying taxes for many of those years, but Ways and Means will have access to some additional years of Trump taxes as well. 

Spoiler alert: if the tax information is made public (and we think it will be), it will reveal the Malignant Loser to be a world-class tax cheat who at the same time grossly inflated his personal wealth, not just for his ego, but to get favorable terms from lending institutions.  Basically, what we already knew and what's been reported all along.  Having the Committee release the actual returns, though, will forever mark the Malignant Loser as the cheap grifter and fraud he's always been (though for the MAGA cult, it'll be blahblahblah).

UPDATE:  It's happening --

The Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee voted along party lines Tuesday to publicly release a report on Donald Trump’s tax returns, which the former president has long tried to shield.

Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., said supporting materials will be released along with the report. Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, the committee’s top Republican, raised concerns about privacy as the documents could contain information such as Social Security numbers.

The report could provide a fuller look into Trump’s personal and business finances, possibly revealing how much money he paid in taxes, what income he derived from foreign operations and whether his income was as large as the reputed multibillionaire has suggested.

If there's such a thing as "in the public interest," this is it.