In his recent letter to the editor (Herald, Oct. 18) Dennis Pierce argues that Donald Trump should not reveal his tax returns.
Pierce could not be more wrong, and for one simple reason: Trump bases his entire campaign on his, as yet, unsubstantiated claim to be a “yuuuuuuge” business success. But what little we know about Trump belies that claim.
In the middle of the boom decade of the 1990s, Trump lost nearly $1 billion owning and operating his own casinos in Atlantic City. He borrowed the money, stiffed his building contractors and eventually declared bankruptcy. He couldn’t make money running casinos in a boom economy!
He then took a tax write-off (remember, the money he lost was the bank’s) avoiding income taxes for the next 18 years.
“He’s a genius,” his surrogates all parrot in lock-step! But it’s hard to see how his actions merit such lofty praise unless cheating lenders and investors makes one a genius.
Donald Trump Jr. has said that the family has extensive business holdings in Russia, while Trump Sr. has promised that, if elected, he would be “nicer” to Vladimir Putin than President Obama. (Imagine the furor if Hillary Clinton said that!) Doesn’t it make you wonder to what extent Trump’s businesses are entangled in Putin’s Russia?
Absent his tax returns, we are left guessing about how our next president might direct foreign policy to the benefit of his personal businesses. And, instead of promising to place those businesses in a blind trust, Trump says the businesses would be run by members of his own family! He apparently doesn’t understand “blind trust!” But Trump’s promises are worth nothing anyway. He also promised to reveal his tax returns – before he reneged.
There is a nearly half-century-old precedent of presidential candidates making their tax returns public. Hilary Clinton and Tim Kaine have released a decade’s worth of their personal tax returns. What is Trump hiding?
It’s a valid question and the voters deserve a straightforward answer. When Trump says “believe me,” voters should loudly ask, “why?” and then, “show us the money.”
Larry A. Bollinger
Durango
