Pressuring Trump, Clinton releases 2015 tax returns

[rooster59]

Pressuring Trump, Clinton releases 2015 tax returns 

 

LISA LERER, Associated Press
KEN THOMAS, Associated Press

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary and Bill Clinton earned $10.6 million last year, according to a tax filing released by her campaign Friday that sought to pressure presidential rival Donald Trump to disclose his tax returns.

 

The filing shows that the Clintons paid a federal tax rate of 34.2 percent in 2015. The bulk of their income — more than $6 million — came from speaking fees for appearances made largely before Hillary Clinton launched her campaign in April 2015. They gave more than $1,042,000 to charity, with $1 million going to the Clinton family foundation. That is the financial vehicle the family uses to give money to museums, schools, churches and other charitable causes. It is not the same organization as the better-known Clinton Foundation.

 

The Clintons' income puts them well within the ranks of the top 0.1 percent of Americans, though they pay a higher tax rate than many of their elite peers, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, based on 2013 data.

 

The release is part of an effort to undercut Trump's character by questioning the celebrity businessman's record. Trump has refused to make his filings public, saying they're under audit by the Internal Revenue Service and he'll release them only once that review is complete. All major U.S. presidential candidates in modern history have released their returns.

 

Trump steered clear of mentioning his personal taxes Friday. A spokesman pointed toClinton's move to delete tens of thousands of personal emails from her private account as secretary of state and questions about whether she used her government post to benefit theClinton Foundation.

 

"Hillary Clinton has turned over the only records nobody wants to see from her - the American public wants to see the 33,000 emails she deleted to obstruct an FBI investigation," said Trump spokesman Jason Miller.

 

The Clintons have disclosed tax returns for every year since 1977, in part due to laws requiring public officials release returns. She put out her most recent eight years of tax filings last summer and several years during her first presidential bid.

 

Seeking common ground with blue-collar workers who have been attracted to Trump, Clintonfrequently mentions his returns as a way of underscoring how his economic plans would benefit his personal interests and questioning whether he's as wealthy as he claims.

 

Democrats believe Trump's returns could be a trove of politically damaging information. They want to see his tax rate, charitable giving, and business dealings with foreign governments.

 

"Here's a pretty incredible fact: There is a non-zero chance that Donald Trump isn't paying (asterisk)any(asterisk) taxes," Clinton tweeted, after releasing her own returns.

 

Protesters at Trump afternoon rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, held up signs reading "Tax Forms" before being escorted out by security.

 

Clinton's strategy borrows from President Barack Obama's winning playbook against Mitt Romney in 2012. Obama repeatedly used Romney's business dealings against him and seized upon his reluctance to release certain tax records.

 

Clinton's campaign also released 10 years of returns from running mate Tim Kaine and his wife, Anne Holton. Over the last decade, the couple has donated 7.5 percent of their income to charity, the campaign said, and paid an effective tax rate of 25.6 percent last year.

 

Kaine, the Virginia senator who's spent much of his life in public service, reported a far lower income than the Clintons. Over the past decade, he and his wife earned the most in 2014, more than $314,000 in adjusted gross income. The Clintons made about 90 times more, reporting nearly $28 million for the same year.

 

Trump's running mate, Mike Pence, has yet to say if he will release his taxes, which he has not done as governor of Indiana. A spokesman for the governor's office referred all tax-related questions to his vice presidential campaign. The campaign did not respond to messages.

 

Clinton has tried to paint Trump as an out-of-touch business mogul. But her substantial wealth has caused headaches. Republicans have seized upon the millions in speaking fees and a tone-deaf comment by Clinton in a 2014 interview that she was "dead broke" after leaving the White House in 2001. The couple owed millions in legal fees, but quickly generated far more from book deals, paid appearances and consulting fees.

 

In total, the Clintons earned than $139 million between 2007 and 2014, according to eight years of federal income tax returns released by her campaign last July.

 

The bulk of their income came from speeches delivered to corporate and interest groups, which paid Bill Clinton and later Hillary Clinton after she resigned as secretary of state in early 2013.

 

Clinton delivered six paid speeches in 2015, including one to the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. She commanded her highest rate from EBay, which paid her $315,000 for a March 2015 address in San Jose.

 

Bill Clinton's consulting work for GEMS Education, a global network of for-profit schools based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, earned him more than $5.6 million in fees between 2010 and 2015, according to the tax returns.

 

He also earned more than $17 million over the same period for consulting work for Laureate Education, Inc., another for-profit education system based in Baltimore that makes most of its profits from overseas operations. Several former students have sued a school operated by the company, alleging fraud.

 

Bill Clinton's office previously said he had ended his consulting work with Laureate last year. On Friday, his office confirmed that Clinton also halted his business dealings with GEMS Education last year. His office said he had "engaged with GEMS students and faculty around the world and assisted the Varkey GEMS Foundation in its efforts to increase access to education to underprivileged children."

 

 

-- © Associated Press 2016-08-13

[LomSak27]

Clinton up 14 in Colorado, 13 in Virginia, 9 in NC and 5 in Florida. Bloodbath coming.
Nate Silver now has Clinton ahead in all of the battleground states. And 3pts ahead in Georgia, too.

Wow. Just Oh Wow.

[tx22cb]

Early days yet.

Complacency and voter apathy will exert their influence.

[boomerangutang]

There's nowhere left for the Trumpster Train Wreck to go but further down. . . . . . . 

 

 

 

[Pimay1]

1 minute ago, boomerangutang said:

There's nowhere left for the Trumpster Train Wreck to go but further down. . . . . . . 

 

 

 

MSNBC, another bastion of truth.

[helpisgood]

I'd rather read those six paid speeches Hillary gave to the banks and any of those deleted emails having to do with the Clinton Foundation and the State Dept.

[Pinot]

4 minutes ago, Pimay1 said:

MSNBC, another bastion of truth.

 

Truth hurts, eh? Another hated MSM source. Whenever they don't like what they're saying they point to the network (s) bias but unlike Faux and Breitbart and Drudge etc, the MSM prides itself on it's journalism. If they make a mistake the try and correct it. They come out and say we screwed up. When was the last time Faux corrected itself? The spew their bullshit all day, every day. 

 

Which brings me to the HRC snow job the Faux media have been raining down on us for 20 years. She's a traitor. She's a liar. She's a murderer. She belongs in prison. Where is the smoking gun? Don't give me Benghazi/email server/Vince Foster/ co-founded ISIS/Whitewater/kittykiller, that's all bullshit. There is whole wingnut  industry around creating HRC conspiracy bullshit. Yet, it's MSM that's the problem here and if American's only knew the real HRC, like we know HRC...

 

Who cares if Trump releases his taxes? He won't. He can't. It won't make any difference.

 

It's what I've been saying for the last year. HRC in a landslide. A landslide the Republicans won't be recovering from for a generation. 

 

Best election...ever. 

 

 

[Pimay1]

27 minutes ago, Pinot said:

 

Truth hurts, eh? Another hated MSM source. Whenever they don't like what they're saying they point to the network (s) bias but unlike Faux and Breitbart and Drudge etc, the MSM prides itself on it's journalism. If they make a mistake the try and correct it. They come out and say we screwed up. When was the last time Faux corrected itself? The spew their bullshit all day, every day. 

 

Which brings me to the HRC snow job the Faux media have been raining down on us for 20 years. She's a traitor. She's a liar. She's a murderer. She belongs in prison. Where is the smoking gun? Don't give me Benghazi/email server/Vince Foster/ co-founded ISIS/Whitewater/kittykiller, that's all bullshit. There is whole wingnut  industry around creating HRC conspiracy bullshit. Yet, it's MSM that's the problem here and if American's only knew the real HRC, like we know HRC...

 

Who cares if Trump releases his taxes? He won't. He can't. It won't make any difference.

 

It's what I've been saying for the last year. HRC in a landslide. A landslide the Republicans won't be recovering from for a generation. 

 

Best election...ever. 

 

 

Of course you're right. How stupid of me. HRC is an honest, honorable, upright, respectable, high minded, law abiding, right minded, worthy, trustworthy, moral, ethical, righteous, decent, good, virtuous, principled, noble, incorruptible, straightforward role model for every citizen of the United States. Just an all around upstanding citizen. As a matter of fact, her exemplary character would put George Washington and Abraham Lincoln to shame.

[Pinot]

7 minutes ago, Pimay1 said:

Of course you're right. How stupid of me. HRC is an honest, honorable, upright, respectable, high minded, law abiding, right minded, worthy, trustworthy, moral, ethical, righteous, decent, good, virtuous, principled, noble, incorruptible, straightforward role model for every citizen of the United States. Just an all around upstanding citizen. As a matter of fact, her exemplary character would put George Washington and Abraham Lincoln to shame.

 

I knew you'd come around. Save one wingnut a day, that's my goal. 

[Pimay1]

1 minute ago, Pinot said:

 

I knew you'd come around. Save one wingnut a day, that's my goal. 

Good one Pinot.

[mesterm]

Sure. Let's also have Mr. Clinton tell us what exactly he talked about with the Attorney General when he "bumped" into her at an airport.

[keemapoot]

8 minutes ago, mesterm said:

Sure. Let's also have Mr. Clinton tell us what exactly he talked about with the Attorney General when he "bumped" into her at an airport.

 

Do you honestly think that if Bill wanted to meet her for nefarious purposes that he couldn't think of anything more private than that? 

[otherstuff1957]

Sorry to get back on topic, but I rather suspect that Trump will never release his tax returns because they would probably show two things:  1 - NO charitable donations except for ones which directly benefit his businesses. 2 - He's actually less wealthy than he claims.

[slipperylobster]

Yeah right...

 

pressuring trump to to release tax returns while she destroys all her classified emails.

 

I don't think so, pant suit girl.

[mesterm]

21 minutes ago, keemapoot said:

Do you honestly think that if Bill wanted to meet her for nefarious purposes that he couldn't think of anything more private than that? 

 

Sorry, hard to expect much from a President who got his secretary to give him a bj in the White House. 

Edited August 13, 2016 by mesterm

[attrayant]

Can you think of any better place for a president to get a bj from his secretary?

[attrayant]

27 minutes ago, otherstuff1957 said:

Sorry to get back on topic, but I rather suspect that Trump will never release his tax returns because they would probably show two things:  1 - NO charitable donations except for ones which directly benefit his businesses. 2 - He's actually less wealthy than he claims.

 

Of course.  He has basically admitted his tendency to lie back in a 2007 deposition:

 

Quote

 

Trump had brought it on himself. He had sued a reporter, accusing him of being reckless and dishonest in a book that raised questions about Trump’s net worth. The reporter’s attorneys turned the tables and brought Trump in for a deposition.

 

For two straight days, they asked Trump question after question that touched on the same theme: Trump’s honesty.

 

The lawyers confronted the mogul with his past statements — and with his company’s internal documents, which often showed those statements had been incorrect or invented. The lawyers were relentless. Trump, the bigger-than-life mogul, was vulnerable — cornered, out-prepared and under oath.

 

Thirty times, they caught him [lying].

 

 

A lot of his justifications were "those statements seemed true to me", or some such phrasing.  He was exposed as being exactly what has accused others of being: a pathological liar.

Edited August 13, 2016 by attrayant

[kmj]

Trumps poll numbers would be better if he would just stop talking altogether..

Edited August 13, 2016 by kmj
Spelling

[Rancid]

1 hour ago, Pinot said:

 

Truth hurts, eh? Another hated MSM source. Whenever they don't like what they're saying they point to the network (s) bias but unlike Faux and Breitbart and Drudge etc, the MSM prides itself on it's journalism. If they make a mistake the try and correct it. They come out and say we screwed up. When was the last time Faux corrected itself? The spew their bullshit all day, every day. 

 

Which brings me to the HRC snow job the Faux media have been raining down on us for 20 years. She's a traitor. She's a liar. She's a murderer. She belongs in prison. Where is the smoking gun? Don't give me Benghazi/email server/Vince Foster/ co-founded ISIS/Whitewater/kittykiller, that's all bullshit. There is whole wingnut  industry around creating HRC conspiracy bullshit. Yet, it's MSM that's the problem here and if American's only knew the real HRC, like we know HRC...

 

Who cares if Trump releases his taxes? He won't. He can't. It won't make any difference.

 

It's what I've been saying for the last year. HRC in a landslide. A landslide the Republicans won't be recovering from for a generation. 

 

Best election...ever. 

 

 

OK, so the corporate owned right wing media are a bunch of liars, whilst the corporate owned left wing media are the bastions of truth and ethical journalism? Well at least that assertion is half correct.

 

One needs to consider human psychology, what reinforces our preconceived view of the world we trust and believe, what goes against that view we immediately regard as lies. This is what reinforces the left-right paradigm. The only problem with this propaganda model is that many are realizing that the rift between left and right is much smaller than they thought. For example we have the "left" candidate Hillary heavily supported by the right in the form of bankers, the military, the CIA, the Billionaires and recently even a whole bunch of Republicans.

 

It would appear the left-right divide is either a fallacy or at the least converging into the single model of oligarch totalitarianism it has always been. I'm not suggesting Trump is an ideal candidate, just that the veneer of "difference" is falling off.

[alanrchase]

Where has Boon Mee gone? Can he/she no longer stomach supporting a shyster? Perhaps taking a well deserved break.

[Chicog]

Well you know you're in trouble when you're the Republican nominee and even a right wing online rag like the "Washington Examiner" tells you that you have to release your tax records.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2599253

Edited August 13, 2016 by Chicog

[Jingthing]

The audit excuse is obviously total B.S.

His lawyers are probably stalling on resolving that until after the election.

He does have good lawyers.

[Chicog]

30 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

The audit excuse is obviously total B.S.

His lawyers are probably stalling on resolving that until after the election.

He does have good lawyers.

 

Quite right, he's withholding them because they would be the final nail in the coffin.

 

From February:

Quote

 

Donald Trump says he isn't releasing his tax returns yet because they are being audited, though the Internal Revenue Service says that's no barrier to disclosure.

In a statement Friday, the IRS said that federal privacy rules prohibit the agency from discussing individual tax matters, but “nothing prevents individuals from sharing their own tax information.”

 

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/02/26/donald-trump-internal-revenue-service-audits/80996086/

[wombat]

Who cares if Trump releases his taxes?.........with all the problems in the country,Presidents are elected on their tax returns?

[manfredtillmann]

9 minutes ago, wombat said:

Who cares if Trump releases his taxes?.........with all the problems in the country,Presidents are elected on their tax returns?

a lot of people seem to care. and - just thinking - showing his income from real estate investments might somehow also show how he is exploiting the very people he is enticing to vote for him...

[ilostmypassword]

2 hours ago, alanrchase said:

Where has Boon Mee gone? Can he/she no longer stomach supporting a shyster? Perhaps taking a well deserved break.

Maybe he got himself a life.  I could use instructions on how to do that.

[dunroaming]

I find it hard to believe that Trump will keep running.  With an ego the size of his he will surely look for an excuse to withdraw. Still, no time for gloating over his inevitable fall from grace as you are left with Clinton, far from being a suitable candidate.  Question is if Trump rolls over who can step up and would they have time to make a real challenge?  Paul Ryan was mentioned, is that a possibility?

[mesterm]

4 hours ago, attrayant said:

Can you think of any better place for a president to get a bj from his secretary?

 

Wouldn't know where else the bjs happened. Wife might have deleted the emails about them.

[iReason]

The King of Flip-Flops and double speak, the Bloviator:  

 

 

Edited August 13, 2016 by iReason

[thaihome]

The reason Trump won't show his income tax returns is obviously because he is not a "full disclosure" sort of guy.

 

His returns would show a number of thing he has a been evasive and flip flopped on a number of times:

 

1.Makes calculating his net worth more accurate.

2.Disclosure of his partnership and financial stakeas in Russia, Middle East, and potentially other less then savory characters.

3.Actual charity donations and campaign contributions to others.

4.Actual income tax paid

5.Actual corporate and ownership structure (including what is really owned)

6.Past and current "self funding" campaign method and sources

7.Current and past disputes with IRS and other US states and other countries. 

8.Financial reserves/set asides for law suit resolutions 

9.Usage of tax shelters and offshore companies to avoid US tax

 

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, but be assured,  it's all stuff Trump does not want commingled out.

 

TH