John,
The American people have a right to know if the sitting president and candidates for president have any financial conflicts of interest―foreign or domestic―and if they’re paying their fair share of taxes.
Right now, we have three billionaires running for president―Democrats Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg, and of course Republican Donald Trump. Between the three, only Steyer has released his tax returns while Bloomberg has indicated that he’d release his if he was to win the Democratic nomination.
Donald Trump, of course, has rejected requests for his tax returns since even before he was elected.
The American people deserve to see the tax returns of each and every major party candidate for president―the millionaires, billionaires and everyone else. Right now, there’s a bill in Congress that would do just that.
The Presidential Tax Transparency Act has 86 co-sponsors in the House and 22 in the Senate (all Democrats). Transparency and accountability should not be partisan issues!
Read Frank’s email below and then write to your members of Congress calling on them to pass the Presidential Tax Transparency Act, which would require the president and all major party candidates for president to release their tax returns.
Thank you for taking action today to demand transparency and accountability and to strengthen our right to know.
Craig Johnson
Digital Director
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Frank Clemente
Date: Tue, Jan 28, 2020
Subject: TAKE ACTION: Demand the tax returns of Donald Trump and all candidates for president
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Tell Congress:
"For over three years, Donald Trump has refused to release his tax returns to the American people. We currently have three billionaires running for president, of which only one has released the returns. Pass the Presidential Tax Transparency Act, which would require the president and all major party candidates for president to release their tax returns."
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John,
There are now three billionaires running for president.
One, Democrat Tom Steyer, has released his tax returns.
The other two billionaire candidates, Democrat and former mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg has not released his tax returns. And, of course, neither has Donald Trump, making him the first president since Richard Nixon to keep his tax returns from the American people.
But it doesn’t have to be this way! We should know if a candidate for president has utilized tax avoidance schemes to avoid paying their fair share in taxes. And, we should know if they have any potential conflicts of interest―domestic or foreign―and if those conflicts might compromise their ability to make decisions that are truly on behalf of the American people and not just in their own self-interest (we’re looking at you Donald Trump!).
We demand transparency from our candidates running for president!
Write to your U.S. Senators and Representative and urge them to pass the Presidential Tax Transparency Act, which would require the president and all major party candidates for president to release their tax returns.
Americans for Tax Fairness has taken a look at Tom Steyer’s tax returns, and we’ve determined that had the Millionaires Surtax been in place for the past decade, Steyer would have owed an additional $136 million in taxes.[1] And that’s just one billionaire! We don’t know how much Donald Trump would have owed.
We still don’t know how Trump and his family are benefiting from the Trump-GOP tax scam, which handed $2 trillion mostly to the rich and corporations.
We still don’t know how Trump and his family may have abused our tax laws to avoid paying their fair share of taxes over many years.
And we still don’t know the full extent of the financial relationship between Trump and foreign powers such as Russia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
Whether it’s our sitting president or current and future candidates for president, the American people should have a right to know their financial history and how that might impact them if elected.
Write to your members of Congress and tell them to pass the Presidential Tax Transparency Act to require the president and future candidates for president to release their tax returns.
Together, we’re demanding transparency and accountability from current and future candidates for president.
Thank you,
Frank Clemente
Executive Director
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund
[1] “Steyer Would Have Owed $136 Million More in Taxes in Past Decade Under Millionaires Surtax,” Americans for Tax Fairness, Jan. 27, 2020
