Free Republic

KEY POINTS The former president seems to have foregone Social Security benefit income. Here’s why you may not want to employ that strategy for yourself.

The media has been seeking to destroy President Trump since he began running for office. They spread the known lie about Russian collusion for years. They lied about what he said in Charlottesville and now they lie about his taxes. Here's their latest ball of wax: Trump's charitable giving dropped to $0 by the time he left office, returns showWhich is fake news.Either they don't understand the tax code and the nature of tax returns at all, or they are intentionally lying.If they don't understand taxes they should shut up instead of spouting lies and ignorance. I am an accountant...

There was much liberal gnashing of teeth when Donald Trump appointed Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Libs feared that those Justices would do Donald Trump's bidding without question. But it hasn't turned out that way, as underlined in the brief, unanimous decision just issued by the Court clearing the way for the IRS to turn over Trump's tax returns to the Democrat-controlled House. In reaction, Joe Scarborough went on a long spiel on today's Morning Joe, hailing the Court's conservative Justices. Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

Former United States President Donald Trump has lodged a legal challenge to a Justice Department (DOJ) order that his long-sought tax returns be turned over to a House of Representatives committee. In a filing in federal court in the District of Columbia on Wednesday, Trump’s lawyers said the House Ways and Means Committee lacks a legitimate basis for seeking his federal tax returns, and that the Justice Department erred when it backed the committee’s request.... The Democratic-led Ways and Means Committee has said it wants the tax data to determine whether the IRS is properly auditing presidential tax returns in...

The Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board has decided former President Donald Trump is due a $1 million refund on his skyscraper’s 2011 tax bill, ruling last month that the Cook County Board of Review overestimated the value of the building’s hotel rooms and retail space. But the Cook County State’s Attorney has filed suit with the Illinois Appellate Court, seeking to block the tax refund, which has yet to be issued. If Trump ends up with the tax refund, it would come out of property taxes due to the city of Chicago and eight other government agencies, including Chicago Public...

New York prosecutors on Thursday unveiled the first charges in their grand jury investigation into the Trump Organization, charging the former president’s company and its chief financial officer (CFO), Allen Weisselberg, with tax-related crimes. Prosecutors allege a 15-year scheme in which the Trump Organization compensated Weisselberg in a manner that allowed the company and the executive to evade taxes. The defendants deny any wrongdoing and argue that the charges are politically motivated. The allegations stem from a years-long investigation by the Manhattan district attorney’s office that has involved prosecutors obtaining former President Trump’s tax returns. Thursday’s indictment doesn’t charge the...

"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." -- Blanche DuBois, A Streetcar Named Desire That was the iconic line in the famous play (and movie) by Tennessee Williams, by which poor Blanche effectively admitted to having lived a life of prostitution. So when Tim O'Brien used that same line about Donald Trump, you know he was doing it with malice aforethought, and with the unmistakable goal of making the same insinuation against the president. Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

For years the liberal press and Democrat politicians have pressured President Donald Trump to release his tax returns.Of course, their insistence on seeing Trump’s returns makes it likely that they already knew what was in the returns — which was likely leaked to them by partisan hacks in the Internal Revenue Service. Since Obama served as president we suddenly have trusted US institutions like the IRS, FBI and DOJ loaded with partisan Democrats who put their corrupt liberal politics before integrity and the rule of law. On Sunday The New York Times reported on President Trump’s tax returns saying the...

WASHINGTON — President Trump asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to bar his accounting firm from turning over eight years of his tax returns to Manhattan prosecutors. The case, the first concerning Mr. Trump’s personal conduct and business dealings to reach the court, could yield a major ruling on the scope of presidential immunity from criminal investigations. Last week, a unanimous three-judge panel of a federal appeals court in Manhattan ruled against Mr. Trump, rejecting his argument that he was absolutely immune from criminal investigation while he remains in office. The court, in a focused ruling, said state prosecutors may...

Federal appeals court rejects Trump's appeal of House subpoena for his tax returns

President Trump was granted at least a brief reprieve Monday after a federal judge issued a scathing order allowing the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office to subpoena his tax returns from accounting firm Mazars USA. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals put the subpoena on hold after Trump's attorneys filed an emergency appeal. “We are very pleased that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has issued a stay of the subpoena issued by New York County District Attorney Cy Vance,” Trump attorney Jay Sekulow said. The administrative stay will only be in place while the court reviews the...

As the nation fixates on an intelligence whistleblower and what they may or may not know about Donald Trump's call with the Ukrainian President, another whistleblower is waiting in the wings. A federal employee told the Ways and Means Committee last month of possible evidence of 'improper influence' in the IRS's audit of Trump's tax returns. The existence of the whistleblower was contained in a quietly-filed motion by committee chair Richard Neal to a federal judge in an attempt to get hold of the President's tax returns, and was not widely reported at the time.

A federal judge ordered a temporary injunction Thursday against California’s first-in-the-nation law requiring candidates to disclose their tax returns for a spot on the presidential primary ballot, an early victory for President Trump but a decision that will undoubtedly be appealed by state officials. U.S. District Judge Morrison England Jr. said he would issue a final ruling in the coming days but took the unusual step of issuing the tentative order from the bench. He said there would be “irreparable harm without temporary relief” for Trump and other candidates from the law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in July. Morrison...

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office has issued a subpoena for eight years of President Donald Trump’s personal and corporate income tax returns, according to a new report. The New York Times said the subpoena from DA Cyrus Vance Jr.’s office, was issued last month to Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars. Vance’s office was already known to be investigating Trump’s company.

State prosecutors in Manhattan have subpoenaed President Trump’s accounting firm to demand eight years of his personal and corporate tax returns, according to several people with knowledge of the matter. The subpoena opens a new front in a wide-ranging effort to obtain copies of the president’s tax returns, which Mr. Trump initially said he would make public during the 2016 campaign but has since refused to disclose. The subpoena was issued by the Manhattan district attorney’s office late last month, soon after it opened a criminal investigation into the role that the president and his family business played in hush-money...

House Democrats are looking to speed up their lawsuit against the Treasury Department and IRS over their refusal to turn over President Trump's tax returns. The Democratic-led House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday filed a motion in federal court in Washington, D.C., for summary judgment, asking Judge Trevor McFadden to direct Treasury and the IRS to comply with the committee's requests and subpoenas for six years of the president's federal tax returns. The committee also asked McFadden, a Trump appointee, to consider the case on an expedited basis, proposing a schedule under which briefs on relevant issues would be...

Thus far, President Trump has managed to stonewall efforts by Democrats to obtain his federal tax returns, with those efforts likely to be held up for some time, possibly needing to go all the way to the Supreme Court. But perhaps not so with his state taxes. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a new bill into law today specifically crafted to allow the release of state tax returns to Congress upon the request of any of three committees. It would apply to the President, as well as some other executive branch officials and political party leaders. (NY Times)...

The House Democrats’ lawsuit demanding the government turn over President Trump’s tax returns has been assigned to a judge Mr. Trump appointed to the district court in Washington, D.C. Judge Trevor N. McFadden will get first crack at the case, which could set the standard for how far Congress’s investigative powers extend, and whether the administration has the ability to resist some requests. Democrats say the Treasury Department is defying a legal subpoena and a request under the tax law, which gives the Ways and Means Committee chairman the right to demand to see any tax return.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior Democrat on a congressional panel seeking President Donald Trump’s tax returns warned on Saturday that the current Congress may not see the long-sought tax documents without launching an impeachment inquiry. Representative Lloyd Doggett, who sits on the House Ways and Means Committee, said Democrats, who control the House of Representatives, were slow to request Trump’s tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service and now need to push back forcefully against Trump’s refusal to turn over the returns. “Because this request was delayed until April and no legal action has yet been filed to get the...

ALBANY — The tax filings of President Trump and all public elected officials in New York will be fair game for congressional Democrats under a new law. The state Legislature on Wednesday approved a bill that allows the state Department of Taxation and Finance to release tax returns of thousands of New Yorkers upon an official request by Congress. Gov. Andrew Cuomo previously said he would support the idea. “This bill stands for a principle of transparency in regards to top officials’ tax returns and recognizing that shedding light on conflicts, potential conflicts of interest is for a public purpose...