Taxes revealed
Trump’s 2005 1040 finally uncovered
RETURNS — President Trump has not openly revealed his tax information to the public.
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Donald Trump’s decision to not release his tax returns haunted his presidential campaign and has followed him into his presidency.
Claiming that he is under audit, Trump refused to do what presidential nominees have traditionally done and set himself up for extensive criticism.
On March 14 Rachel Maddow, who hosts The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, announced that she had two pages of Trump’s 2005 tax returns.
Daniel Cay Johnston, an investigative journalist, supplied the two pages of Trump’s IRS 1040 form and appeared as a guest on Maddow’s show to discuss the findings.
Maddow heavily built up to her big reveal, tweeting, “BREAKING: We’ve got Trump’s tax returns. Tonight, 9pm ET. (Seriously).”
According to Yahoo! TV, “Maddow hauled in 4.1 million total viewers during the historic episode,” which was a record for her.
Those 4.1 million viewers hoping to learn more about Trump’s financial situation waited through 20 minutes of her show before finally getting to hear about Trump’s tax returns, the Washington Post said.
What did the eager viewers learn about Trump’s finances?
The tax returns showed that Trump earned $150 million and paid $38 million in taxes, and “He paid an effective tax rate of 25 percent, far below the top tax bracket – 35 percent – for individuals at the time,” according to the Washington Post.
Despite Maddow’s extensive build-up, the two pages of tax returns Johnston had received did not show anything shocking or worth the anticipation Maddow attached to it.
“Nothing nefarious, nothing untoward,” Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post said.
“For all the hoopla surrounding the unearthing of these documents, there simply was no smoking gun – or anything close to it – here.”
Adding even more embarrassment for Maddow, “by the time (she) got around to sharing that information, it had already been supplied by the White House and published on the Daily Beast, where Johnston is a columnist,” CNN noted.
Trump’s tax returns can answer many questions Americans have about our current president, such as whether he has paid his fair share of taxes, whether he’s as wealthy as he claims to be and whether he has any financial ties to Russia.
America should know the answers to these questions, and it is concerning that Trump will not release his current returns.
Touting two pages of a 2005 tax return that fail to answer many of the questions Americans need answered is not a triumph.
It’s just a tiny portion of a much bigger picture that cannot be fully seen without every part.
The White House released those two pages of the 2005 tax return, so they should additionally release the rest of Trump’s tax returns for people to look into.
Experts and journalists may find nothing worthy of major news reports, but until the recent tax returns are released and people can see for themselves that there is nothing concerning, there is always the possibility that the tax returns contain vital information the public should know about.
If the tax returns do reveal something troubling, then breaking news tweets and a 20-minute wait will be worthwhile.
Depiero is an opinion writer.