Saturday, 5 January 2019

Tax Return Story

Someone drafted up a House bill yesterday and introduced it....which had the intent of forcing all Presidents to provide ten years of tax returns.

I will make three observations:

1.  There's pretty much zero chance that the Senate will pick up this and pass it.  So it's mostly for marginalized journalists to 'chatter' about, and get all silly.

2.  If it did pass, I think it might scare at least twenty-five people thinking about running in 2020, 2024, and 2028.  It would open up questions about 'gifts', home loans, business loans, etc. 

3.  Who exactly gets these ten years of tax returns is NOT clear.  The House Speaker?  Imagine a yearly return from Trump of 500 to 700 pages of a return....TIMES TEN.  Even with a staff of professional accountants (25 professionals), I would suggest it'd take at least six months to review and make any criticisms.

So I'm going out on the branch and making my own suggestion....this is actually a good idea, and we need not limit it to the President.  Every member of the cabinet should also provide the ten years of returns.  Every single member of the House and Senate should provide ten years of returns.  Every ambassador should provide ten years of returns. And all of these returns, with the address and personal info redacted (blocked out) should be put in a PDF format, open to the public, and you yourself should be able to analyze in your own way. 

Yes, lets make this ultra transparent.  Lets make everyone sweat a bit and get about 300 people out of politics because of their corrupted nature. 

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