'Sooner than later:' Bernie Sanders offers no clear timeline for release of his tax returns

[lapucelle]

"Soon."

That is the response Sen. Bernie Sanders and his presidential campaign have repeatedly offered in response to questions about when he will release his personal tax returns.

"Sooner than later" is what Sanders told Wolf Blitzer at a CNN town hall in February, just a few days after he launched his bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Faiz Shakir, Sanders' 2020 campaign manager, told reporters about the same during a briefing last month.

Sanders has yet to release his tax returns, and his campaign has not explained the process in any more precise detail, even as Sanders has repeatedly said that there is nothing revelatory or interesting about his financial situation. But the pressure to disclose is mounting as his Democratic primary opponents begin to release their own.

It has been 1,093 days since BS first promised to release his tax returns on a debate stage in April of 2016.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/03/politics/bernie-sanders-no-tax-returns/index.html

[WeekiWater]

1. There are a lot of T's to cross and I's to dot.

The mechanical hurdles are almost insurmountable.

And “soon” might have a different meaning at his age.

1,093 days? Give him some time. These things don’t happen overnight.

Did you hear about Biden?

What did Bezo’s pay in taxes?

Shit. Did you see that. A bird just landed on his head.

This is magical.

Be nice to my Daddy.

[nycbos]

2. Who is advising him?

It a pretty bad look. For the sake of argument lets give him the benefit of the doubt and that there is nothing "revelatory or interesting about his financial situation." Releasing them makes it a story for another few days and everyone forgets.

Not releasing them keeps the story alive.

[calimary]

3. But he never released them last time. Why should I

give him the benefit of the doubt this time? He still hasn’t earned it from last time!

[nycbos]

11. Sorry you might have misunderstood me.

I didn't mean we should give him the benefit of the doubt. I don't. I meant hypothetically if there is nothing wrong it is a bad look to not release them because it keeps the story alive.

It absolutely makes me think he has something the hide.

[calimary]

37. Well, it sure wouldn't be the first time I did that...

[Cha]

25. Exactly. Too bad for BS, tho..

Link to tweet

[calimary]

38. MAN do we ever need this!

[JI7]

6. he didn't release them last time and stayed in the race long after he had no chance of winning

[Demit]

12. Maybe that's the idea, keeping the story alive. Keeps his name in the news.

More name recognition. At this point in the process, that's what people being polled respond to, the names they know. He can point to how high he's polling and reap the benefits from that.

[sheshe2]

4. He said...

During his 2006 Senate race, Sanders made a big deal of his Republican opponent releasing his returns during a debate and pledged to do the same. At the time, his campaign said it would be a "good idea" for candidates to release their federal and state returns.

"Are you prepared to release your taxes?" Sanders said to his GOP opponent, then-Republican Senate nominee Richard Tarrant, during a debate in Burlington, Vermont. "Anytime you want to release your taxes, Mr. Tarrant, which you originally said that you would, but I believe changed your mind ... we are happy to do that."

https://www.businessinsider.com/bernie-sanders-tax-returns-2019-4

Sen. Bernie Sanders pledged in late February to release his tax returns and has still not done so.

snip


"Yeah, we will. I mean, we have it all done and it's just a question of dotting the i's and crossing the t's. Yes, we will, absolutely," Sanders said.

https://www.businessinsider.com/bernie-sanders-tax-return-release-questions-2019-4

How does one dot their i's and cross their t's on a completed tax return? Anyone know?

Plus I have done my own tax returns for years. It is about the numbers and not the letters.

[GemDigger]

5. There is a video of him and I think Jake and the last 10 seconds is him saying

When asked why he didn't the last time he said

"I didn't end up doing it because I didn't win the nomination, if we had won the nomination we would have".

I don't expect he will give it this time either, nominated or not, win or lose.

[Cha]

23. See.. that's where BS is Not being

very smart and thinking we're not.

The damn GE is too Late, BS.. think about it

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. He's calculating in dog years.

[Bradshaw3]

14. Ha!

[NurseJackie]

8. I read somewhere that he and Jane my be attempting to retroactively file individually instead of...

I read somewhere that he and Jane my be attempting to retroactively file individually instead of jointly. Is such a think even possible?

What would be the purpose of such gymnastic contortions after the fact? To hide the embarrassing or shady stuff and to give Bernie a shiny new unblemished Tax Return?

Personally, I can't imagine that such a thing would be legal or even if the IRS has such a provision available.

It just all looks so shady and fishy to me. What are they hiding? Why the delay? Why all the phony excuses? The American people deserve to know the truth.

[namahage]

43. That is not allowed, generally, by the IRS.

https://www.irs.gov/irm/part21/irm_21-006-001r#idm139717524640816

Married taxpayers may file separate returns such as married filing separately, head of household, or single on or before the due date of their originally filed married filing joint return. If taxpayer changes filing status from Married Filing Joint (MFJ) or Married Filing Separate (MFS) to Single (S) or Head of Household (HOH), taxpayer MUST clearly be eligible, refer to Pub 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information, and Pub 17, Your Federal Income Tax (For Individuals).

...

Disallow all claims postmarked after the due date except:
Items listed in IRM 21.6.1.5.7, Married Filing Joint Election is Invalid or Filed with Incorrect Status
Taxpayers whose marriage was annulled or the subject of a court order holding that no valid marriage ever existed

You may amend separate filings to a joint one, but not the other way around. Changing to separate is generally only allowed if the joint filing was invalid in the first place (ex. they weren't legally married or one spouse did not consent to the joint filing).

[NurseJackie]

44. Thanks very much for the excellent information! That's good to know!

If it comes up in conversation again, I'll refer back to this post along with the link and regs you cited.

[BlueFlorida]

9. He is hiding something gigantic

Otherwise there would be no reason to not release them.

If the returns show that he is rich, his supporters won't care. This is probably much worse.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. By not releasing them he's encouraging people to assume something bad.

I don't see how this reticence helps him - unless, as you suggest, there's something really bad - like maybe not filing taxes at all for some years. Is he hoping he'll be nominated before he has to release them, so when the dirt, if there is some, comes out, it will be too late? And then the GOP can go after him and he loses to Trump? I don't see any good explanations for this.

[BlueFlorida]

13. Didn't they have a Caribbean company at one time?

This could be related to non-disclosure of foreign bank accounts.

There was an amnesty period that IRS had from 2008 to 2012 I believe and people could voluntarily disclose the foreign accounts and suffer no consequences in fines or other punishment EXCEPT people had to plead guilty to a felony in the tax return filing.

I am not saying this is the case with Sanders because his returns being demanded are after the amnesty period. However, it has to be something similar which would necessitate not releasing the returns.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

15. I have no clue, but the longer he dawdles the worse it looks.

If he finally coughs them up and there's nothing there, fine; but I really don't understand why he hasn't done it already if there's nothing there. Maybe he just doesn't like the invasion of his financial privacy, but if that's the case he shouldn't be running for president because when you run for president you have no privacy, and he should know that.

[BlueFlorida]

16. If there is nothing there after he releases them

it would raise red flags. The release then just won't be credible.

He will have to come out and explain why he was stalling for 3 years.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

18. But why not do it now?

He's had three years. Klobuchar, Gillibrand, Warren and Inslee have done it already; Warren did it months ago. There's no good reason not to do it now. Just release them and be rid of the controversy.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

20. It would be useful to know as soon as possible whether a candidate

has some potentially disqualifying financial issues that could be revealed from their tax records. I don't want my time wasted by someone who has that kind of skeleton in his/her closet that won't be revealed for another year. How would you feel if the candidate you supported and donated money to for the better part of a year is found to have done something that will sink their campaign when their tax returns are released? I'd rather know sooner than later.

[mcar]

28. What is the rush?

The Rush? He's been promising his returns for more than 2 years. That is snail slow.

[lapucelle]

41. 1,094 days have passed since BS promised to release his tax returns.

Please don't tell me what to do, even if framed as a "helpful" (but pointless) suggestion.

[Cha]

22. BS is quoted as saying "soon".. now he's

waffling on that.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

29. I agree with you...but, releasing his tax returns, sooner rather than later, would be advantageous.

Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[Sherman A1]

35. I really don't see it as advantageous

to release them early and beyond a very limited number of posters on an internet discussion board I don't see a huge clamor for anyone to do so.

[lapucelle]

42. Yes...no one is talking about it.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/04/politics/bernie-sanders-tax-returns/index.html

https://www.msnbc.com/hardball/watch/why-won-t-sanders-release-tax-returns-697784387957

https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2019-02-25/bernie-sanders-says-hell-soon-release-decade-of-tax-returns

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-26/sanders-says-he-will-release-10-years-of-tax-returns-soon

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/bernie-sanders-explains-delayed-release-of-tax-returns-my-wife-does-most-of-it/

http://www.thetribunepapers.com/2019/03/29/after-pledging-to-release-his-taxes-a-month-ago-sanders-still-has-yet-to-do-so/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/04/03/enough-with-excuses-its-time-sanders-release-his-tax-returns/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.23c6b148d2dd

https://heavy.com/news/2019/02/bernie-sanders-tax-return-cnn-town-hall/

[Cha]

21. Why in the World does BS Not want to show his

Tax Returns?!

Link to tweet

[oasis]

27. Bernie's going to do a town hall on Fox "soon". He'd better release

his tax returns before that event or be prepared to explain to a national audience why he hasn't.

[Cha]

30. I do hope he gets Asked!

Last town hall he was asked questions by Dems.. that didn't go over so well in BS World.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/12876834

[oasis]

31. I tossed Fox News out of my cable package, but I'll be

content with the "reactions" of DUers on the threads that follow.

[Cha]

32. Yes, indeed!

[Gothmog]

24. Note how much sanders sounds like trump on this issue

Link to tweet

?s=20

[Cha]

33. Thank Goodness this is being

talked about nationally. I'm so tired of him getting away with not releasing his Full 10 years of Tax Returns.

[mcar]

26. Such bad optics

One has to wonder why he keeps hedging about it.

[Gothmog]

36. All Bernie is doing here is providing political cover for trump not releasing his tax returns

Link to tweet

[MineralMan]

39. Well, I'm sure he understands that it's an issue for Democratic voters.

That's one of the reasons it's so puzzling that he hasn't released them. His tax filings are going to be thorn in his side on a regular basis until he does make them public. He knows that, so why haven't we seen them yet?

There's something in them he'd rather not expose to public view. I have no idea what it is. But there's no other reason that makes any sense. Bottom line: they're hurting him now. The longer he waits, the more anything embarrassing will hurt him later.

"Sooner rather than later?" Sooner is here, and has already passed, it seems to me.

[lapucelle]

45. And if there is nothing embarrassing in the taxes,

then there may be questions concerning why he was so needlessly secretive and the degree to which we can expect transparency from him in the future.

[R B Garr]

40. Thanks for this, lapucelle! 1,094 days now!

Are they revising them to show Jane filing separately?? What do they have to go through them for??

I have so many questions,,,

[KitSileya]

46. Is he trying to avoid releasing 2007?

In the 2006 campaign, Ms. Sanders was criticized for receiving kickbacks in the form of ad buys, some of which would have been paid out in early 2007. It would therefore be on her 2007 tax return, which her husband seems desperately trying to avoid making public. He is willing to endure a huge hit to his trustworthiness to make sure no one sees their 2007 returns, after all.

[NastyRiffraff]

47. Please

We're supposed to believe this? Bernie, if you're not going to release them, just say so already. You're sounding silly and stupid. Not to mention dishonest.

Besides, your fan base will be fine with that, so go for it and be honest about it.

[R B Garr]

48. 1,095 days now.

How long does it take to “cross the t’s and dot the i’s”. WTF does that mean? Taxes are complete when submitted. Are they whiting stuff out? What does that mean?

[Gothmog]

49. Bernie Sanders is "providing political cover" for Donald Trump not releasing his tax returns,

Link to tweet