Trump Hides His Taxes

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says that his success as a businessman and developer is one of the reasons to elect him. As part of his immodest self-praise of his own entrepreneurial skills, he claims that he is worth $10 billion. However, like everything else about this candidate, believing him is a question of faith.

Every doubt about Trump the entrepreneur would evaporate if only the New Yorker followed in the steps of previous presidential candidates, who since the 1970s have released all their tax returns to the public.

Even though it is not a legal requirement, it has become customary, in the name of transparency, for a candidate to the highest position in the nation to reveal the handling of their personal finances. This information shows the wealth of the individual, as well as tax payments and contributions, among other data. Now Trump wants to hide precisely this information, as he has decided that he will not make known the details of his taxes before the election.

His pronouncement caps a history of unfulfilled promises that began with his statement that he would disclose “very great… very beautiful” tax returns, followed by such absurd excuses as “you don’t learn anything from a tax return,” to later justifying that he will not release them because he is in the middle of an audit. This is the same Trump who, in 2012, accused then-presidential candidate Mitt Romney of delaying the release of his income tax returns.

Trump’s refusal opens the door to speculation. Some believe that the documents will show that he is worth less than he says, that he does not pay taxes or does it at a very low percentage, or that he does not give as much to charity as he claims. What we do know is that, in 1981, he failed to pay any taxes – taking advantage of a tax code provision created for New York developers – and that he has done everything he can to pay as little as possible, as he has repeated over and over again.

It does not look good for a president, the collector-in-chief, to be a tax evader, or for millionaires to pay a much smaller portion of their income than average workers.

Trump feels like he is above the rules of conduct applying to everyone else. He is fundamentally demonstrating that he is far from capable of assuming the commitment and sacrifice needed from those who have a vocation and wish to make it to the White House. That is why protecting the lack of transparency in his business is more important to him than winning the trust of voters.