Bernie Sanders’s false claim that he has released his full federal tax returns - 4 Pinnochios WaPo

[Bill USA]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/04/05/bernie-sanderss-false-claim-that-he-has-released-his-full-federal-tax-returns/?tid=a_inl

Presidential candidates have consistently released their tax returns since the 1970s. The Tax History Project, a public service initiative from Tax Analysts, has compiled tax returns for presidents, vice presidents and candidates vying for their seats in recent decades. The public can even access President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s hand-written tax returns dating to 1913.

In the 2016 election, two candidates have been notably transparent compared to others: Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush. This appears to be the one area where Clinton may be immune to transparency criticism.

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Plainly put, Sanders has not released his full federal tax return. The little he has released was the Form 1040 in 2014, which is a summary of his tax filing that gives a snapshot of his finances — not what is considered a full tax return. The Sanders campaign confirmed to The Washington Post that it has not released other tax returns prior to 2014, which is a sharp contrast to Clinton’s voluminous release of her complete tax returns.

Tapper correctly questioned Sanders, asking why “nobody has seen them [federal tax returns] at all.” Yet Sanders interrupted Tapper to reject the notion, insisting: “That is not true. Of course, we have released them in the past.” But this answer is nothing remotely close to the little federal tax records he has released to the public.

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Sanders is not required to release his tax filings, and he clearly decided to keep them confidential. That’s his choice. But it doesn’t excuse him from misleading the public to believe otherwise with this false claim.

Four Pinocchios

[dchill]

1. WaPo is just SO unselfish...

Giving out Pinocchios to Bernie when they have so many coming yo themselves! Oh, the generosity!

[Jackie Wilson Said]

2. What did he release previously and when? Does anybody know?

Here is what we do know, there is nothing he can be hiding other than maybe he doesnt give as much to charity as he would like and given he doesnt have much to begin with, that would be understandable.

[Gothmog]

3. Sanders is lying about releasing his tax returns

This lie tells me that Sanders has something in these returns that he does not want to be disclosed

[nichomachus]

4. I thought that was last week's talking point

Aren't we on the Vatican this week -- or has that one run out of steam.

It's so hard to keep the smears straight, I know. There are so many of them.

Of course, it's expected from the WaPo -- since they are actively campaigning for Hillary. They have almost as many negative articles about Bernie as they do about Trump. They're not even pretending to be objective any more. They're worse than Fox.

[NurseJackie]

5. He's got a LOT of those now!