Rachel Maddow Releases Trump’s Tax Returns

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow released Trump’s 2005 returns, prompting a media frenzy

The matter of Donald Trump’s taxes have been a concern for quite some time now. Mostly, his insistence on keeping them private had caused considerable eyebrow raising. It has been traditional (though not legally required) for an incoming president to release their tax returns. It’s a show of goodwill in a world where politicians are increasingly suspected of back room wheelings and dealings with businesses, lobbyists, and even foreign governments. It’s also, essentially, a sign that the incoming president isn’t as wildly corrupt as former President Richard Nixon.

Therefore, it came as something of a surprise when Trump refused to release his tax returns. People began to wonder if Trump really was hiding something. Was he really as rich as he claimed? His 1995 tax returns, released by The New York Times, certainly seemed to indicate that his much-touted business acumen actually wasn’t much to write home about. He had claimed a $916 million loss that could have potentially allowed him to avoid paying taxes for 18 years.

Did he commit tax evasion at some point in his past? Could there possibly be evidence that he had colluded with the Russian government to win power? The obfuscations and redirections of his advisors and spokespeople did little to quench the speculation outside of Trump’s existing fanbase.

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In the wake of Trump’s tumultuous first weeks in office, one could be forgiven if they forgot entirely about the issue of taxes. There were the multitude of resignations, dossiers claiming the existence of Russian kompromat, and much protesting and fighting over executive orders. Now, it appears, cable news host and commentator Rachel Maddow has broken the story open yet again.

On The Rachel Maddow Show, Maddow presented Donald Trump’s 2005 tax returns. She led with a lengthy and incisive examination of the Trump administration’s ties to foreign governments, in particular to Russia.

However, the tax return itself (or, rather, the two page portion of Trump’s return) said little. Trump and his wife Melania paid about $38 million in taxes that year, out of an income coming to roughly $150 million. He took advantage of some of the tax rules and exceptions available to the ultra-rich, but it’s not as Putin left a love letter stuck between the pages.

Why is this a big deal? For one, this is only a portion of his return, and it’s over a decade old. Furthermore, it highlights persistent concerns about Trump’s foreign ties. “There looms over all of this, the big national security worry,” Maddow said. “The worry that this president may be financially beholden to an individual, to a country, to an institution.”

David Cay Johnston, a tax policy journalist, released the return to Maddow’s show. He claimed that the pages were delivered to him through the mail. Many speculate that Trump’s team may have leaked them in an effort to distract the media and citizens from other concerns, such as Russian interference in the U.S. election system. Trump’s replacement to the ACA has also taken a beating.

What does this mean for the current President of the United States? The White House has both released a salty press release and preliminary information on Trump’s 2005 tax return.

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Still, one wonders why it took this much for him to release this, and why we still haven’t seen more recent tax returns. Certainly, it highlights the number of tax breaks already given to the very rich few in our nation, and how our own incredibly wealthy President had benefited from these laws. Maddow also smartly brought our attention back to the real issues which Trump may wish we would ignore for the sake of a tax return.