For months now, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said that he would release his tax returns after an IRS audit was completed. However, his son, Donald Trump Jr., revealed the real reason we haven’t seen Trump’s taxes.
Taxes Are A Distraction
A few weeks ago, Eric Trump stayed on message when asked about the tax returns. He stuck to the “audit” story, and insinuated that mere mortals could not possibly comprehend them.
Of course, as Paul Krugman wrote back in May,
“Mr. Trump’s excuse, that he can’t release his returns while they’re being audited, is an obvious lie. On the contrary, the fact that he’s being audited (or at least that he says he’s being audited) should make it easier for him to go public — after all, he needn’t fear triggering an audit!”
In a recent interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, however, Donald Trump Jr. strayed a little from that talking point.
“When asked why his father has not released his tax returns as presidential candidates have traditionally done, Trump Jr. said, ‘Because he’s got a 12,000-page tax return that would create … financial auditors out of every person in the country asking questions that would distract from (his father’s) main message.'”
Every single presidential nominee in modern history has released their tax returns.
Would you like to wade through eight years of the Clintons’ and ten years of the Kaines’ tax returns? Here you go. And Republicans chide Clinton for not being transparent?
Kudos, though, have to go to CNN for calling Trump Jr.’s statement exactly like it is:
We Should See What He’s Hiding
The Trump camp can keep spinning this any way they like, but there is obviously something in those returns that Trump is hiding. The sad thing is that they keep getting away with it.
I hope Clinton hits him hard on this – among his many other lies and secrets – in the upcoming debates.
Watch the portion of the interview in which Donald Trump Jr. talks about the tax returns here:
Featured Image Via YouTube Screenshot.
