Trump's Tax Returns

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_moksha
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Trump's Tax Returns

Post by _moksha »

Why doesn't Steve Mnuchin simply release Trump's tax returns with all the numbers redacted?
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_Some Schmo
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Re: Trump's Tax Returns

Post by _Some Schmo »

moksha wrote:Why doesn't Steve Mnuchin simply release Trump's tax returns with all the numbers redacted?

Or they could do partial numeric redaction and turn it into a puzzle: solve for x.
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_moksha
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Re: Trump's Tax Returns

Post by _moksha »

Perfume on my Mind wrote:Or they could do partial numeric redaction and turn it into a puzzle: solve for x.

Possibly even making some acrostic like Bach is Butthead.
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_Kevin Graham
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Re: Trump's Tax Returns

Post by _Kevin Graham »

How A Spat Between Two Rich People Gave Congress The Power To Get Trump’s Tax Returns

President Donald Trump doesn’t want to release his tax returns to Congress, but thanks to progressives, two of the biggest scandals in U.S. history and a fight between two millionaires, he doesn’t have a choice.

Congress has had the power to request individuals’ tax returns since 1924. Now, House Democrats are using that law to request Trump’s returns in order to provide oversight into the alleged audit the president said is keeping him from sharing the information ― which could reveal how much he evades paying his taxes ― with the public.

In a letter to Congress, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin asked for more time to fulfill the request for Trump’s tax returns as he consults with the Justice Department. Democrats view this maneuver as a stalling tactic. The law is clear that the Treasury Department “shall” provide anyone’s tax returns to the House Ways & Means Committee upon request.

The power of Congress to request those returns came about through a series of legislative compromises over the publicity of tax returns and congressional oversight of the executive branch and fueled by two of the biggest political scandals in U.S. history. Now, the scandal-plagued Trump administration finds itself in a fight with Congress over keeping those returns private.

Progressive Push For Publicity
For much of the early years of the United States, there was no income tax.

The government first implemented income taxes during and immediately after the Civil War. At the time, personal income tax returns were not treated as confidential documents. In fact, certain tax information was generally made available to the public by the government and printed in newspapers. After an outcry, the government banned republication of tax return information in newspapers in 1870. Then, the year after that, the income tax was abolished until 1913. But a provision making it illegal to disclose tax returns remains in place.

In the years after the end of the income tax, the United States underwent a radical change as the Industrial Revolution rampaged through the country and corporations came to dominate American life and politics, along with their wealthy owners and financiers. The complete upending of the American world in the late 19th century created a populist and progressive backlash. Progressives supported the establishment of corporate taxes, a progressive income tax and the full publicity of individual and corporate tax returns to level the political power of the people with the dominating monopolists.

The first fight over the publicity of tax returns occurred in 1909, when President William Taft backed legislation to implement new corporate taxes and demanded they be treated as open records. After the Commissioner of Internal Revenue tried to prevent disclosure by citing a lack of funds, Congress gave him the money but added the stipulation that returns could only be made public “upon order of the President.” The president was given the same authority after President Woodrow Wilson’s administration brought back income taxes.

After these legal changes, the executive branch found itself as the chokepoint for public disclosure of all tax returns. Congress had no legal right to the information. Efforts to mandate the executive branch hand over tax returns requested by Congress were scuttled in 1910 and 1921. But then Congress entered into “investigation hysteria” during the greatest corruption scandal up until that point in U.S. history.

.... read it all
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