What is the justification for publicly releasing Trump's tax returns?

When one becomes President, you lose much of your privacy. Past Presidents have voluntarily disclosed tax returns; Trump did not, and seeing as his organization has been found guilty of tax fraud in New York, it becomes a matter of public interest to disclose the extent of his grift.

I agree with @zenvelo that Trump SHOULD HAVE released his tax returns, but disagree that this means the government has the right to release them for him.

Ultimately, the main reason all of this is at issue is political revenge. And that’s a DANGEROUS motive to be letting run amok. The left wants to hurt Trump any way it can. Hell, I do too. But public release of his returns is an abuse of power. I would even argue that the courts were wrong to uphold congress’ subpoena of them because that committee is supposed to be subpoenaing for legislative purposes…and there’s no legislation even being considered. And if there were, you wouldn’t be subpoenaing ONE person’s records, you’d be getting a bunch in order to facilitate research for making legislation.

IMHO, what they should have done is passed a new law REQUIRING tax return release (and blind trust for financial holdings) for Presidential candidates (or better yet, any federal office-holder) rather than having those things be voluntary as they are now. That would have been more above board, and would have put Trump in a bind in terms of considering his run of Prez. Especially if the requirement was that they had to be released BEFORE the first primary election.

^^^@Entropy After it was disclosed that the IRS did not audit Trump even though they were supposed to, there very well may be legislation to require disclosure of Presidential tax returns.

Not specifically sure, but it seems to me that one loses a lot of rights when one lies to the entire country about so many things, from such a position of authority and trust. And when one abuses that authority and trust non-stop, left, right, and center. And when one breaks countless laws over and over and over. And tries to overturn an election to stay in power via lies and seditious violence.

@Entropy There are plenty of reasons. If they didn’t release them, then Trump gets to beat the drum that he did nothing wrong, because if he did they would’ve shown everyone his tax returns. He made his bed and now he has to sleep in it.

People can’t have it both ways. Say they won’t show anything because its not true, but then complain that it’s not fair to show their case to the public and do everything to keep the law away from his taxes. If he didn’t have so many people believing his crap lies and defaming the justice department then there would be no need to expose his dirty underwear.
Play with fire, you eventually get burned.

Legislative and congressional committees can investigate the tax returns without the need for the general public to be able to view them.

@LostInParadise As you pointed out, they could investigate without revealing it to the public. But again Trump continued to push it as all lies so what better way to show the public it wasn’t all lies than to release the proof? Most people would’ve just kept their mouths shut and taken their lumps. Look from the very beginning of his Presidency, Trump could’ve sailed through without any headaches. But he made all his own headaches. From getting Comey fired to the insurrection/ treason, to the stealing of classified files. He reminds me of the evil cats in Lady and the Tramp. Cause a lot of commotion and destroy things and then he throws himself on the ground like he’s an innocent victim.
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Trump should be tried for any crimes he committed, and his tax returns should be examined by those investigating him. I was just thinking that the tax returns might contain personal information that does not relate to criminal activity, but which Trump would prefer to keep private. Why does the public need to know all these details? Doesn’t Trump have a right to privacy?

Politics.

What I don’t understand is why the IRS hasn’t been all over him with audits. How the IRS hasn’t sussed this out like they would have you or me.

@Dutchess_III Don’t fool yourself. The very rich and well connected don’t get treated like a single mom raising 2 kids. And the rich hire tax attorney lawyers to make it all go away behind close doors or just pay fines when caught. The poor can’t afford that and just either have to pay what they owe with severe interest, or go to jail or lose their only home and end up in the streets.

I just heard on the news that 5 years of Trump’s tax returns will be released to the public on Friday (last business day of 2022).

The returns were released today, but I read that they were redacted, so maybe there was a concern about privacy issues.

They were just talking about it on the news. They didn’t mention the returns being redacted. They did say his income was about 700k after his huge losses, and the IRS didn’t audit him during his four years in office, as required by law.