Sources:
Regarding the status of Trump's tax returns, a recent development has narrowed down the number of actions that President Trump can take to prevent his tax returns from being revealed. On Monday, November 11th, Federal Judge, Carl Nichols of the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C., declared that their court does not have the jurisdiction to deal with the President Trump's lawsuit targeted at the New York officials who are laying the groundwork to require tax returns from government officials, like the president.
The controversy over whether President Trump should turn over his tax returns stems from the stark lack of returns publicly submitted in comparison to the past presidents and the debated power of the House Means and Means committee to require tax returns of a president. This power received a stronger foundation when the New York legislature passed the TRUST act which gives New York officials the power to request President Trump's state tax returns within New York.
In Nichols' ruling, he states that "Mr. Trump may press his claims against the New York Defendants in this Court should future events support the exercise of personal jurisdiction over them, or he may opt to pursue those claims in an appropriate forum." This ruling would essentially make President Trump go directly to New York to stop them from making him reveal his tax returns.
As the tax returns symbolize a president's willingness to put their name in better light as was the case when President Nixon came under fire for the controversy over his tax returns, it reveals the larger issue regarding the finances of the president and search to make sure that everything is "clean." This translates into people wanting to see finances for campaigns and where money is received because money serves as a promoter for lots of actions.
Questions:
With personal finances and administration finances being examined more over time and a presidential election looming for the next year, would it be justified to make finances more transparent to the public?
Do you think the lawsuit against New York is justified even though they haven't exercised their power to require state tax returns?
1 comment:
This is an interesting topic, because so many people have different opinions on the publicity of things dealing with money. I know my first thought was something along the lines of "people have the right to privacy, and this extends to dealings with money." I know that the FEC is always publicly recording how much money candidates receive for campaigns, which is important because it prevents corruption and all that jazz. When it comes to Trump, I feel that he has been in too much of a controversial spot to try and conceal anything from the public. If there wasn't so much anger being pitched in his direction, he might be able to decline access to his tax returns, but that's not the case right now. If he really does want to improve his public image, he will allow for his tax returns to be publicly evaluated, but he's kind of screwed either way. He can be honest and be criticized for what he did, or he can keep it private and be criticized for that.
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