One by one, Democratic presidential hopefuls are releasing their tax returns. Years of them. Longtime holdout Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., revealed 10 years of returns at the tail end of Tax Day, which arrived on Monday this year.
Clearly, part of the point is to draw a contrast with President Donald Trump, who routinely promised during the 2016 presidential race to offer his tax information for public scrutiny. He has instead revealed nothing. His excuse is that his returns are under audit, but that would not prevent him from releasing tax documents he signed and swore to be true--and certainly does not explain why he refuses to reveal returns from years ago, as his challengers have done.
The president's staff has offered nothing more persuasive.
Ever since President Richard M. Nixon set the example, presidents and major candidates have revealed their tax return information to offer voters a view of how these national leaders conduct their private affairs.
Each of these women and men has years, if not decades, of public service that voters can judge. Trump entered office with a privately held business of unknown value and a Twitter feed. It was all the more important for voters to see how reality matched up to his claims of private business success. Tax returns should have been only the baseline for transparency; a thorough accounting of his business arrangements and possible conflicts of interest was also needed.
As Democratic candidates do the right thing, Trump continues to insult the voters who entrusted him to lead the nation.
Editorial on 04/20/2019