released their tax returns. Nice to know before the primaries. Unless some have something to hide?

release the transcripts of all speeches, especially paid ones given privately, in the interest of transparency. I think we can all agree, the more transparency, the better... and that certainly applies to tax returns.


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

It just seems to make good sense. Some here certainly take that concept to ridiculous extremes just to bash Bernie... but, even in his case, the release of all pertinent info, whether it be taxes, speech transcripts, medical records, etc, ideally, should ALL come out BEFORE the first debate. That same standard, obviously, should apply to ALL of our candidates. No special exceptions, as has been made in the past, should be allowed.


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

Last edited Fri Apr 5, 2019, 08:56 AM - Edit history (3)

Full disclosure would include the names of orgs and charities that were donated to and submitted as deductions.

That can also reveal some things about a candidate.

Also, complete financical transparency would include itemized expenses and reimbursements for travel and lodging when visiting foreign heads of state not as part of one's political office.

Wouldn't you agree?

Last edited Fri Apr 5, 2019, 06:31 AM - Edit history (1)

while still working to get the tax returns released. and it's the ones being asked to release who seemed worked up over such a simple request.

and for other Democrats to control Congress.

Full Tax Returns.

Last edited Fri Apr 5, 2019, 08:58 AM - Edit history (1)

documentation of reimbursments and expenses for travel (that is not part of one's political duties) to meet with foreign heads of state.

“And it is very early in the primary process.”

My comment was clearly and directly in line with the thought you put forward. Not sure how to make something that direct more clear.

I do put weight behind it if they don’t. None of them have gone through to the convention and still withheld. Not one of them. As far as I can see, not one of them has deflected like Sanders. Mechanical issues. Jane isn’t available right now. Crossing T’s and dotting I’s. All of which I know you will agree are bogus reasons for not releasing them.

in the Primary.

while stocking away plenty of dough himself. Yes, several millions.

It goes away for his dwindling base of supporters who will stick by him no matter what but he is infuriating all the rest.

item. deductions alone you have listed already 56000 already (the state & local taxes, mort. interest, charity, real estate taxes all roughly add up to the $56,377 as shown). Why are you wondering if they are questionable? Are you talking about the sheer size of the amounts? If so, my mort. interest at one time was over $12k a year for my small place, I expect that his place is probably bigger than my place but I can't say for sure. Updated...he has 3 places. Thus, mort. expense is probably in line. As to rental income, I had 3 places but didn't rent them at the time (was going to sell them, didn't want to deal w/ renters, needed to fix up stuff, etc.).

The state and local taxes, yeah, reasonable, if you're making $174K (whatever the amount a senator is making), the real estate taxes, wow, high but I expect that out there on the east coast. Tax prep of $204 is rather low, but could include just copying, postage, and other mundane stuff, which can pile up. I just did 1 round at the post office (certified and return receipt requested for two sets of returns for two people, cost $28 bucks alone, not counting the copying either), and I did other stuff too, in preparing these particular sets of returns, which cost money too.

If he itemized, which I suspect he did, he wouldn't be able to deduct these costs (the tax prep. fee) being that there are limits to what you can deduct (7.5 or 10% medical, and various other %s of AGI for the other categories).

Also, his deductions would have been larger (due to depreciation etc.) if he had rented his place(s) out, depreciation (if not fully depreciated), utilities, insurance, taxes, etc. The figures provided in this post didn't show any so I am assuming BSanders didn't rent out his place nor take any deductions for the place(s).

More unusual was a very small deduction Sanders took. The senator claimed $4,473 in unreimbursed employee expenses, all attributable to meals and entertainment that he ascribed to his work. Tax law typically allows 50% of the cost of business-related meals to be deductible, as long as a business discussion occurs.

What makes the deduction so interesting is that because it's a miscellaneous itemized deduction, it's only deductible to the extent that it exceeds 2% of adjusted gross income. Because Sanders' AGI was $205,271, only $572 of his miscellaneous deductions were actually deductible.

https://www.fool.com/amp/taxes/2019/02/24/bernie-sanders-1-disclosed-tax-return-5-facts-you.aspx

The fact check was updated when he finally did release full the returns for one year, 2014.

So, he now knows the difference between full returns, and a summary.

Some on DU have stated his Senate financial discosure forms are the same level of financial transparency and disclosure as full tax returns, but that is also false.

...But even though he released first two pages of his 2014 return, then five more pages, it wasn't complete - there are lots of pages still missing. AND, it contradicted itself - it said it was "self prepared" and yet they claimed $204 for preparation fees.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/pdfs.taxnotes.com/2019/B_Sanders_2014.pdf

Just two innocent guys. Get off their case.

Who one supports in charitable donations can say a lot about a candidate.

Mitt Romney kept talking about his generous charitable donations, then his taxes showed that it was pretty much all to the LDS Church. That puts a different spin on his statement, because the Mormon Church requires a % of income to be donated to the churcy.

And one would think that if one is a politician, especially making what he and his spouse were earning, one would want to consult a professional preparer to avoid anything that might be misfiled.

If full disclosure is something we are demanding from DT in order to meet ethical standards, why would Bernie be exempt?

I understand that Bernie gets testy when asked about things he would rather not discuss, but certainly there wouldn't be anything politically embarassing in his charitable donations.

But as you said, "Who knows?"

His contributions may be even more interesting because of his past dislike of charities. "During a United Way event in 1981, Sanders told the crowd: “I don’t believe in charities,” and questioned “the fundamental concepts on which charities are based.”

Full disclosure would answer that and many other questions, and he keeps delaying it. When a report asked him about it, and followed up with the fact that he has promised them before, he got testy, then his aide quickly stepped in with "The Senator has answered your question, a spokesperson will get back with you."

....no one knows. By the way, the 2014 "complete" return that you talk about is FAR from complete. He only released 7 pages, even the most "boring" return for a couple in their income range is dozens of pages.

By comparison, in 2014 (the same year as Sanders' return), Amy Klobuchar's income was roughly the same as Sanders' (mid $200K) and her return was SIXTY EIGHT pages.

https://www.taxnotes.com/presidential-tax-returns

Also, this is interesting - his return says that it was "self prepared" yet he claimed $204 for tax preparation fees!!! Curious.

....does their own using turbotax. Even the most expensive personal tax version with one state is only $59.99

By the way, that 2-year old 2014 return was NOT the complete return. He first released only Form 1040, then reluctantly released five more pages after it was pointed out that it wasn't complete. But there still are dozens of pages missing.

By comparison, in 2014 (the same year as Sanders' return), Amy Klobuchar's income was roughly the same as Sanders' (mid $200K) and her return was SIXTY EIGHT pages.

https://www.taxnotes.com/presidential-tax-returns

During the 2016 campaign, they both followed the same line: appealing to the "forgotten" people, blaming the "establishment" (Sanders had to be careful since he has been the "establishment" as was evident from the way he eked a living).

And this is why we will never know how many of Sanders supporters cost us the election by voting for the next best thing - Trump.

We can only hope that we will not see a repeat.

Because we run 2 businesses from our home. That's the most expensive one, IIRC.