re: #183 Guanxi88

Other than documenting the legal success of a man in earning a living and then some, what possible point can there be in releasing tax records in response to an incumbent’s request to do so?

The fact is that the job he’s applying for has a crucial role in shaping tax policy, has submitting, veto and sign off authority on revenue bills passed into law. Therefore how he makes and handles his own money is germane and of legitimate interest to the electorate whose vote he seeks. The effective tax rate he pays along with the loopholes and tax havens he employs to shield his money would be instructive and place the candidate’s own tax proposals in an informative real world context. If there is a gross disparity between the rhetoric the candidate employs about how the tax burden is distributed in this country and their own real world effective tax rate then forcing them to release their returns would help to bring that debate to the surface.