STILL Talking about Trump's Taxes?

As a follow-up to her already-inappropriate statements regarding Donald Trump, the Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg added a question about how he had "gotten away" with not releasing his tax returns.

Are we still thinking that release of tax returns by candidates is an important, or even a relevant thing?  What exactly is Mrs. Ginsburg figuring he would say, or she would discover, if those returns were released?

Now, I wrote about this before, and hate that I have to make arguments more than once, but now it is a cause again, and we might as well remind ourselves of a few things.

To start with -- and in fact, to finish with if I were space-constrained -- none of us understands a tax return that is any more involved than a 1040-EZ filing.  My return is dozens of pages by itself, and even though I used to do taxes in a service bureau we owned thirty years ago, I have forms in there that I have no earthly idea what they're there for.

There are carryover losses, and alternative minimum tax forms, and depreciation of assets, and a whole bunch more associated with having an unrented rental house for sale, and working for yourself.  All manner of things, and I understand roughly half of them reasonably well.

So what exactly do we expect to glean from Trump's return?  That he makes a lot of money?  We knew that.  That he has his hand in multiple businesses?  Duh.  That he has one stinking complex return?  You know it.

In truth, nothing in that return is going to change anyone's vote.  It's just going to give ammunition to the Democrat hit squads.  Because there are precisely two things that anyone is going to talk about -- the percentage of tax he actually paid relative to his gross income, and how much he gave to charity.

The former is going to be a pretty low percentage, I assure you -- Trump has a fleet of tax attorneys and accountants whose job it is to make sure that he pays as little as possible in taxes.  Paying excessive tax is not patriotic, it's stupid.  And Trump is not a stupid man.

Moreover, you pay tax not on your gross income, but your income after deductions.  As long as the deductions were perfectly legal, then anyone who complains about the percentage Trump pays has only Congress to blame.  If the IRS says the return is legal after audit, then there is no basis for making a campaign issue out of it.

As far as his charitable donations are concerned, we know he gives a lot of money away, so unless you happen to think that we should all tithe (check Joe Biden's return if you like), but what he gives relative to any other mythical figure or percentage isn't really the measure of the kind of president he would be.  In fact, I want a guy who tries not to pay more tax than necessary and can find smart people to help do that.

Finding smart people is a pretty good trait for a presidential candidate.

I believe I have suggested this before, but I think that Trump should simply release the two-page 1040 forms for the years in question, nothing else.  First off, nothing past page two is anyone's business but Trump's.  Second, no one can possibly go through that return and glean anything sufficiently relevant to make a campaign issue out of it.  Do you think we would be well-served by having a discussion in the media about Trump's Form 4677 or 8892?  I didn't either.

Personally, I think Trump ought to call Ruth Bader Ginsburg down to a bar, turn on the camera and plunk down all 466 pages of his 2015 return.  She is to be given exactly one hour to figure out what it all means, and if she can't, she has to swear to endorse him for president.

I'd be for that.  I'd buy a ticket to watch.

Copyright 2016 by Robert Sutton
Like what you read here?  There's a new post from Bob at www.uberthoughtsUSA.com at 10am Eastern time, every weekday, giving new meaning to "prolific essayist."  Sponsorship and interview inquiries cheerfully welcomed at bsutton@alum.mit.edu or on Twitter at @rmosutton.