I don’t know guys, I’m a bit uncomfortable about the tax returns.

Yup. Pretty soon you will have to release them to post on tSwill.

Tax returns for Federal elected officials can be a pain and innocuous but they can also further vette a candidate.  

Like we are learning about Congressman elect Santos from Long. Island.  5 years of tax returns would in this case show he was not who he said he was.  

It’s Nixon’s fault.  I’ve always thought Trump’s taxes could expose ignored or questionable interpretations of the tax code that would have caused him some problems.  

Nixon’s fault because he made his tax filing public.  Some tax accountants looking at his tax forms discovered he owed more than he paid and Nixon was on the hook for more money plus a fine.

I saw this and all I could think was “oh no god no we wouldn’t want that”

I mean obviously he’s not so subtly saying “Supreme Court please step in and do something”. But I see absolutely no reason why anyone working for a government institution shouldn’t have entirely public tax returns. Why not? I mean I’m talking anyone. Public university employees. Politicians. Anyone. We already know their salaries. There shouldn’t be anything else untoward in there. These generally shouldn’t be any concerns about people seeing them, these aren’t some sacrosanct thing in my opinion


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It shouldn’t be some mystery. I’m about a half click away from just saying that anyone’s tax return should be public record. It is our country we all pay into afterall. I mean what’s the problem? If you know my address you can find out how much I pay in property taxes very easily. If I work for a public institution you can find my salary info. What’s so special inside a tax return that you shouldn’t be able to see? Medical expenses I guess? Investment information can give you an idea for assets? Gambling losses could be a problem for some people I suppose. All of this adds up to a bit so the hell what to me though. The only people who think it’s a problem are people that have something on there that they don’t want you to see.

I know it's apples/oranges but I'm betting the same people who want the public to see them carrying a gun openly in public are the same who don't want you to see their taxes.

There's got to be some correlation but I'm struggling to figure it out.

Travis of the Cosmos wrote:It shouldn’t be some mystery. I’m about a half click away from just saying that anyone’s tax return should be public record. It is our country we all pay into afterall. I mean what’s the problem? If you know my address you can find out how much I pay in property taxes very easily. If I work for a public institution you can find my salary info. What’s so special inside a tax return that you shouldn’t be able to see? Medical expenses I guess? Investment information can give you an idea for assets? Gambling losses could be a problem for some people I suppose. All of this adds up to a bit so the hell what to me though. The only people who think it’s a problem are people that have something on there that they don’t want you to see.

Why shouldn't it be a mystery? I value privacy (within reason). Why should a school teacher have to make public if they inherit money, or make some good investments, or own a second property, or work a second job, or which charities they donate to, or what debt they're carrying? Sure, to some extent, some information is publicly available of someone really wants to dig into it, but why put it all in one place that everyone knows about it?

When you are talking about politicians or government employees in sensitive positions, that's different. Debt and income sources can affect what they do when they should be acting in the interests of the country, state, or municipality that they work for.

Tax returns being government documents make me believe every single one should be FOIA-able.

MiamiSpartan wrote:

Travis of the Cosmos wrote:It shouldn’t be some mystery. I’m about a half click away from just saying that anyone’s tax return should be public record. It is our country we all pay into afterall. I mean what’s the problem? If you know my address you can find out how much I pay in property taxes very easily. If I work for a public institution you can find my salary info. What’s so special inside a tax return that you shouldn’t be able to see? Medical expenses I guess? Investment information can give you an idea for assets? Gambling losses could be a problem for some people I suppose. All of this adds up to a bit so the hell what to me though. The only people who think it’s a problem are people that have something on there that they don’t want you to see.

Why shouldn't it be a mystery?  I value privacy (within reason).  Why should a school teacher have to make public if they inherit money, or make some good investments, or own a second property, or work a second job, or which charities they donate to, or what debt they're carrying?  Sure, to some extent, some information is publicly available of someone really wants to dig into it, but why put it all in one place that everyone knows about it?

When you are talking about politicians or government employees in sensitive positions, that's different.  Debt and income sources can affect what they do when they should be acting in the interests of the country, state, or municipality that they work for.

Inherited some money- maybe though I suppose if privacy were a concern you should already be mad since it shouldn’t really need to be in a tax return at all under whichever absurdly high number you start having to pay tax on it. Under that number it’s just informational, so I guess you should be beating that drum. Owning a second property is already public information, making investments…. Man I don’t know what is supposed to be private about that… charities maybe, though that feels easily solvable by just removing the schedule…. What debt they’re carrying isn’t really on a tax return I guess except in the mortgage interest deduction sense.

Anyway, fine if you just want it to be actual government officials that’s ok too. But they should automatically be put into an accessible database as soon as they decide to run and if they don’t like it then they shouldnt run.

The financial history of people running for President is information people making a choice to vote should have.

Beyond that, should anyone running or appointed to a federal office need to disclose, yes for Senator's, Congress, Judges, Cabinet Members, levels below that unsure.

Reason? Power.

People who will have significant power should be as known as possible before that power is handed to them.