Donald Trump Tax Returns: Did President Trump Just Lie About Releasing His Tax Returns Again?
Donald Trump’s tax returns have been a very polarizing political topic for a while now. President Trump addressed the issue again on Thursday (May 11), stating again that he would release them “at some point.” A report by NBC News broached the topic, with President Trump sticking to his tagline that he feels the only people interested in seeing his tax returns are reporters. It is something that many people within the Trump administration have stated despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
A report by Vogue contradicts the assumptions that Trump has been making, noting that the tax marches and protests fighting for the president of the United States to release his tax returns prove his statement to be false. This isn’t the first time a report provides evidence that it is more than just reporters who want the leader of the country to release his tax returns.
At several points, as a candidate for office, President Trump’s tax returns were said to be “off limits” because he was going through an audit with the IRS. The Internal Revenue Service doesn’t prevent anyone from making their tax returns public while they are under audit, but it was an excuse that Trump was fine using. At one point, though, he changed that stance and said that he would release his tax returns if Hillary Clinton released her medical reports. It’s not the only time that the argument about an IRS audit has fallen flat due to other statements he has made.
.@POTUS @TheEconomist @realDonaldTrump Without Trump’s tax returns, we still don’t know how much he’d benefit from his policies.
We must fight back: https://t.co/zUQjYn6laD
5/ pic.twitter.com/sKpOrkVzBQ— Tax March (@taxmarch) May 11, 2017
The “tease” from President Donald Trump has been going on for years, as he once stated that he would probably release his tax returns when President Barack Obama released his birth certificate. When Obama released his birth certificate, Trump reiterated that he would be releasing his tax returns within the next few months. This was all relayed in an information dump by Politifact showing all the times that Trump did say he would release his tax returns.
When preparing for a run at the White House, Trump continued to state that he was about to release his tax returns.
“If I decide to run for office, I’ll produce my tax returns, absolutely and I would love to do that. I would release tax returns and I’d also explain to people that as a person that’s looking to make money — you know, I’m in the business of making money until I do this — and if I won, I would make money for our country.”
The promises about Donald Trump’s tax returns have never really been fulfilled by the president, leading to a lot of debates on social media between his supporters and Americans who feel that Trump lied. So did Donald Trump lie about his tax returns? Is his latest statement about releasing those tax returns once he is out of the White House believable? Those are important questions, despite any claims that it is only reporters who care about what is on the tax returns of the president of the United States.
President Trump: “Maybe I’ll release” tax returns after leaving White House https://t.co/eCxBlqNtSd pic.twitter.com/n8356zmqfW
— NBC News (@NBCNews) May 11, 2017
Regarding the promises by Donald Trump, made in 2011, 2014, 2015, and 2016 without any IRS stipulations, it didn’t help matters among voters when Vice President Mike Pence stated that Trump never broke any of those promises. Politifact reported the claims by Pence were false and that Trump has repeatedly broken pledges and campaign promises to release his tax returns. Does that lead to a logical conclusion that Americans shouldn’t believe what Trump has stated this time around either? Will the public ever see President Donald Trump’s full tax returns?
[Featured Image by Molly Riley-Pool/Getty Images]
