Donald Trump has finally published his tax returns, showing that his financial situation was not as good as he led to believe.
After a long and excruciating legal battle, former US president Donald Trump finally released his tax returns to the public. Doing so is a tradition for every presidential candidate to show transparency to voters and the general population.
Donald Trump, however, did not do it even for the 2016 campaign, when he would eventually win the presidency. This started an exhausting legal battle, made easier when Joe Biden and the Democrats came to power in 2020. The House of Representatives and the Supreme Court interceded so that Trump would finally oblige.
And oblige he did, releasing his tax statements today on Friday. As expected by Democrats, what they show is not at all what Trump claimed to be.
When Donald Trump first filed his candidature for president in 2015, he did so pointing at the success of his businesses. Allegedly, he was a multi-billionaire with a huge empire. When properly asked to provide evidence, however, he refused.
Eventually all chicken went home to roost, as liberal news outlets like the New York Times started wondering whether he was a real billionaire or not.
As Trump will run for president in 2024, his tax reports will be thoroughly analyzed by the tax collectors, the press and his opponents.
What do Trump’s tax reports show?
The reports released on Wednesday do not exactly show a flourishing business. According to The Times, Trump’s federal income tax was just $750 in 2017, a rather small amount for a billionaire.
According to Forbes, which analyzed the documents, Trump claimed a $72.9 million tax return in 2010. This could force the former president to pay the government back a sum of up to $100 million.
Even before these irregularities came to light, Donald Trump was being sued for a $250 million case by New York’s attorney general. Not exactly great PR for a presidential candidate.
“The Democrats should have never done it, the Supreme Court should have never approved it, and it’s going to lead to horrible things for so many people,” Trump said in a statement.
Referring to the $250 million lawsuit, he called it a “witch hunt” and accused Democrats of dividing the American people.
In any case, now the attorney general will have something to hold in court against the Republican presidential candidate. This could seriously tamper Trump’s ability to run for president again.
If his candidature dissolves, the Republican party will be left with no real substitutes and would have to face a tough election campaign in 2024.
For the moment, Democrats have the upper-hand.
