Subject: ICYMI: Howard Dean: What is Donald Trump hiding?
From: Hillary for America Press <[email-masked]>
To: Hillary for America Press <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 17 May 2016 12:52:34 -0400
List-Id: <nationalpress2016.hillaryclinton.com>

*Howard Dean: What is Donald Trump hiding?*
*USA TodayMay 17, 2016*
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/05/17/donald-trump-tax-returns-income-giving-howard-dean-column/84422070/

*Could the billionaire's tax returns undermine his boasts of massive wealth
and generosity?*

Running for president is the longest, toughest job interview in the world.
That’s why all serious candidates release information about their health,
through notes from their physicians, and about their finances, through
releasing their tax returns.

When I ran for president in 2004, I released my tax returns for the public
to see. So did John Kerry, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, John McCain and
Mitt Romney. Hillary Clinton has released an astonishing 33 years of her
tax returns, the last eight of which are all available on her website.

In fact, since 1976, every major party’s nominee has released his or her
tax returns, because that’s what the American people expect of their
prospective leaders.

Unsurprisingly, Donald Trump thinks the rules don’t apply to him. He
vacillates between stalling the release of his tax returns and rejecting
their release outright. His most common excuse is that he cannot release
the returns because he’s in the midst of an audit.

There are problems with his explanations.

First, the IRS has officially stated nothing is preventing him from
releasing them. Even Richard Nixon released his returns under an audit.

Second, Trump himself has released his tax returns in the middle of an
audit before. In Pennsylvania and New Jersey, he handed them over to state
authorities to obtain gambling licenses.

The American people should matter to Trump as much as his casinos did.

And third, what’s stopping him from releasing all the years of returns that
are not being audited?

His own campaign admits that Trump has something to hide. Anthony
Scaramucci, a hedge fund manager and a member of Trump’s national finance
committee has acknowledged that Trump is afraid of what opposition
researchers might uncover.

Perhaps Trump isn’t worth what he says he is. Despite claiming to be worth
more than $10 billion, experts have pointed out that he appears to make
less than he claims. In one case, he claimed $4.3 million in “golf-related
revenue” from a course he owns in Scotland, despite that course posting a
$2 million loss that year. If just one form raised this many questions,
imagine what his complete set of tax returns might show.

Perhaps Trump isn’t paying what he should. He has claimed that, “Nobody
knows more about taxes than I do — maybe in the history of the world,” and
some tax experts suspect he may have used loopholes to avoid paying his
fair share. There’s a good chance Trump is paying a lower tax rate than
struggling middle-class families.

Perhaps he’s afraid of revealing his charitable donations — or lack
thereof. The causes and charities that people decide to support often
reveal much about their true values. Trump has told the Associated Press he
does most of his philanthropy in his own name. Releasing his returns would
show if that’s really the case.

As former GOP nominee Mitt Romney has explained, “The potential for hidden
inappropriate associations with foreign entities, criminal organizations or
other unsavory groups is simply too great a risk to ignore for someone who
is seeking to become Commander-in-Chief.”

Trump shouldn’t be treated differently than every other nominee of the last
four decades. His refusal to release his tax returns raises fundamental
questions about his business career, his ethics and his ability to tell the
truth.

*Howard Dean is the former governor of Vermont. He was a Democratic
presidential candidate in 2004 and has endorsed Hillary Clinton for
president in 2016.*

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