Many Returns

As a commentator with a contrarian streak it's time for me to address Donald Trump's tax returns. To do this requires you to remove all emotion, go ahead I'll wait.

Presidents and members of Congress are not required by law as either candidates or officeholders to publicly release their tax returns.

Richard Nixon was the first President to release his returns and it then became a custom but never the law. Nixon was good at understanding what the "silent majority" wanted to hear and see. He learned a valuable lesson in this while he was Eisenhower's Vice-President. During the '56 re-election campaign, Nixon was accused of taking inappropriate money. This allegation nearly cost him his spot on the ticket. He wanted to go on national television to address the charges but Ike was not really for it and didn't want to pay for it. Finally Ike relented and authorized the R.N.C. to purchase the television time. Nixon new exactly what he was doing. He provided a complete warts and all portrait of his finances. His wife Pat didn't want to do it because she was "embarrassed" to show people how little they had. But she sat there on national television while her husband plead his case. He said that they did receive one gift, a little dog that their daughter Tricia had named Checkers and no matter what they were keeping the dog. It would forever be known as The Checkers Speech. Nixon closed by asking Americans to call the R.N.C. and let them know if he should be on or off the ticket. The public overwhelmingly approved and gave the thumbs up. Ike however, who didn't like Nixon, continued to drag his feet right up to the convention. Finally Nixon called Ike and said "there comes a time General when even you have to shit or get off the pot." Ike laughed and Nixon was on the ticket. So with that little slice of history we see that smart politicians understand when it's advantageous to sublimate themselves.

The number of returns has also varied by candidates. Remember the severely conservative Mitt Romney who moaned endlessly about releasing his? When he did it was only two years, the least ever provided.

Members of Congress also have no legal obligation to release returns and many never do. There is some rumblings in Congress about introducing a bill requiring Presidential candidates to release returns but, wait for it, they would be exempt. Boo! Hiss! Throw the bums out.

Here's what is the law. Since 1924 in the wake of the Teapot Dome Scandal, Congress passed legislation to combat corruption. The Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee has the right to demand to see the tax returns of any citizen. That includes the President. The Secretary of the Treasury must comply or face possible imprisonment. You and I don't have the right to see those returns once in the hands of the Chairman. The Chair has made this demand for Donald Trump's returns and Secretary Mnuchin has no intention of complying. This will become a legal battle ending in the Supreme Court and it won't happen quick.

What I'm about to state is pure fantasy but if Trump were capable of telling the truth, he should have said at the beginning of his campaign, "I will never release my tax returns cause I don't have to." He made it an issue by continually bringing it up and saying he will release them but not while he's under audit. Many years ago billionaire businessman Mark Cuban challenged Trump to publicly show his tax returns and Cuban would do the same so that he could prove what he had said for years, which is that Trump is a fraud and not as wealthy as he claims. Trump refused. His reasons then still hold true. Trump is not as wealthy as he claims and he has deep financial ties of a dubious nature. Both of which he doesn't want the American people to know. He is not a business genius but he is a great conman.

There it is, nothing fancy, just some facts and the threads of history which weave political motivation.

There was even a dog, not bad.