Printer-friendly version
East County News Service
April 16, 2017 (San Diego's East County) - Across the nation, tens of thousands of people in more than 100 cities held Tax Day protests on April 15th – calling on President Donald Trump to release his income tax returns. San Diego event organizers estimate that several thousands took to the streets locally, also urging Congress to subpoena Trump’s tax returns.
The marchers carried signs with messages such as “What’s he hiding” and “Don the Con”, a reference to Trump reneging on his campaign promise to release his tax returns if elected.
Trump’s motorcade in Mar Lago, Florida was rerouted to avoid crowds of protesters there. Trump responded to the protests with a Tweet, stating defiantly, “Someone should look into who paid for the small organized rallies yesterday. The election is over!”
In refusing to release his taxes, Trump goes against decades of precedent, since every president has released tax returns dating back to Richard Nixon in 1973. Trump has said he isn’t releasing his returns because he is under audit by the Internal Revenue Service or IRS. But the IRS has clearly stated that audits don’t prevent the release of tax returns.
Citizens for Ethics in Government, or CREW, states, “releasing his tax returns could show where Trump’s business dealings — and potential conflicts of interest — lie.”
CREW has filed a lawsuit alleging that Trump has violated the Emoluments clause of the Constitution by illegally receiving payments from foreign governments –an allegation that releasing his tax returns could prove or disprove.
A statement on CREW’s website concludes, “To begin to address concerns regarding his administration’s and his businesses’ relationships with foreign governments, including Russia, Donald Trump must release his tax returns — and what better day than on Tax Day?”
Recent comments