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LinkedIn’s Hoffman Offers $5M for Trump’s Tax Returns

36 points by jabo 10y ago

xkcd-sucks 10y ago
What obligation does Trump have to release an unfalsified tax return? If he "releases" a falsified tax return, or if a "leaker" releases a "hacked" tax return document that is in fact falsified, is some IRS employee going to risk their job by calling them out?
- MrZongle2 10y ago
  "What obligation does Trump have to release an unfalsified tax return?" As far as I'm aware of, none. The typical voter doesn't care, or assumes that Trump uses the same kind of bookkeepers and legal loopholes that his political opponents do. It's the partisans and political wonks who are salivating over this.
r_smart 10y ago
I'm pretty sure Trump has said he is under audit and will release his tax returns once the audit is finished. What surprises me is that his audit hasn't been fast tracked in order to hold him to that commitment. I don't think doing that would even qualify as dirty pool in this case. It would just be facilitating transparency about something some of the electorate has questions about. *edit: I'm getting a lot of replies saying there's nothing keeping him from releasing his returns while being audited. I'm well aware, but as has been pointed out by talmand, having the IRS sign off on his audit helps shore up his defense if anything in there looks questionable to people. Also, he obviously doesn't see any reason to give people potential ammunition. He stands to gain almost nothing from releasing his tax returns. Even if they're flawless and he's paying 60% tax (we obviously know that isn't the case), at best people would shrug and move on. At worst, they would find something to hammer him on, whether valid or not, and the audit would still be pending, giving him little defense to the accusations.
- rrego 10y ago
  Being audited by the IRS has nothing to do with releasing returns. Unless the public catches something that the IRS misses. There is nothing legally binding Trump
- gboone42 10y ago
  The returns are his to disclose. There's no (legal) reason to withhold them if he's truly under audit. He could always release the revised documents if necessary.
  - Unklejoe 10y ago
    There may not be a legal reason he couldn't release them now (I don't know if he claimed there was), but there is probably a political reason. My guess: There are probably some questionable things on the return. Perhaps they're perfectly legal, but there's no doubt that anything out of the ordinary is going to be scrutinized by the public, therefore, if he waits until the audit is complete, it gives him another leg to stand on in defending his legality (provided they don't find anything in the audit). "Even the IRS found it to be perfectly legal."
    - mkaziz 10y ago
      It's more likely he's using it as an excuse. Trump was reportedly very critical of Romney releasing his returns (and the subsequent hit Romney took because of his decision to release them).
      - Unklejoe 10y ago
        I was basing my guess on the fact that he's claimed that he will release them after the audit is complete. Of course, there's always the possibility he's just saying that in hopes that we will have forgotten about it by then or that the election will have already taken place. Straight up saying that he is never going to release them would probably be a big problem, which could explain the attempt to slide away from it, if the above theory is true.
agottem 10y ago
Who cares? We already know the US is rampant with tax avoidance schemes. I know many small business owners who brag about all the expenses they deduct which are questionable at best. We know Apple and many other large corporations pay almost no tax on their profits. We know the majority of wealthy people pay a smaller percentage of tax than your average working stiff. What could possibly be in Trump's tax returns that would make us outraged that isn't rampant in our society already?
jekdoce 10y ago
Why not release an older tax return that is not under audit? How many years returns are under audit?
salemh 10y ago
Flagged. I don't see how this will lead to anything constructive that hasn't been beat to death all over the news, and other web sources. Nor does it seem very interesting in the ethos of Hackernews.

36 points by jabo 10y ago

What obligation does Trump have to release an unfalsified tax return? If he "releases" a falsified tax return, or if a "leaker" releases a "hacked" tax return document that is in fact falsified, is some IRS employee going to risk their job by calling them out?

MrZongle2 10y ago
"What obligation does Trump have to release an unfalsified tax return?" As far as I'm aware of, none. The typical voter doesn't care, or assumes that Trump uses the same kind of bookkeepers and legal loopholes that his political opponents do. It's the partisans and political wonks who are salivating over this.

r_smart 10y ago

I'm pretty sure Trump has said he is under audit and will release his tax returns once the audit is finished. What surprises me is that his audit hasn't been fast tracked in order to hold him to that commitment. I don't think doing that would even qualify as dirty pool in this case. It would just be facilitating transparency about something some of the electorate has questions about. *edit: I'm getting a lot of replies saying there's nothing keeping him from releasing his returns while being audited. I'm well aware, but as has been pointed out by talmand, having the IRS sign off on his audit helps shore up his defense if anything in there looks questionable to people. Also, he obviously doesn't see any reason to give people potential ammunition. He stands to gain almost nothing from releasing his tax returns. Even if they're flawless and he's paying 60% tax (we obviously know that isn't the case), at best people would shrug and move on. At worst, they would find something to hammer him on, whether valid or not, and the audit would still be pending, giving him little defense to the accusations.

rrego 10y ago
Being audited by the IRS has nothing to do with releasing returns. Unless the public catches something that the IRS misses. There is nothing legally binding Trump
gboone42 10y ago
The returns are his to disclose. There's no (legal) reason to withhold them if he's truly under audit. He could always release the revised documents if necessary.
- Unklejoe 10y ago
  There may not be a legal reason he couldn't release them now (I don't know if he claimed there was), but there is probably a political reason. My guess: There are probably some questionable things on the return. Perhaps they're perfectly legal, but there's no doubt that anything out of the ordinary is going to be scrutinized by the public, therefore, if he waits until the audit is complete, it gives him another leg to stand on in defending his legality (provided they don't find anything in the audit). "Even the IRS found it to be perfectly legal."
  - mkaziz 10y ago
    It's more likely he's using it as an excuse. Trump was reportedly very critical of Romney releasing his returns (and the subsequent hit Romney took because of his decision to release them).
    - Unklejoe 10y ago
      I was basing my guess on the fact that he's claimed that he will release them after the audit is complete. Of course, there's always the possibility he's just saying that in hopes that we will have forgotten about it by then or that the election will have already taken place. Straight up saying that he is never going to release them would probably be a big problem, which could explain the attempt to slide away from it, if the above theory is true.

agottem 10y ago

Who cares? We already know the US is rampant with tax avoidance schemes. I know many small business owners who brag about all the expenses they deduct which are questionable at best. We know Apple and many other large corporations pay almost no tax on their profits. We know the majority of wealthy people pay a smaller percentage of tax than your average working stiff. What could possibly be in Trump's tax returns that would make us outraged that isn't rampant in our society already?

jekdoce 10y ago

Why not release an older tax return that is not under audit? How many years returns are under audit?

salemh 10y ago

Flagged. I don't see how this will lead to anything constructive that hasn't been beat to death all over the news, and other web sources. Nor does it seem very interesting in the ethos of Hackernews.