So, Donald Trump has not yet released his tax returns.
He says the reason is that he is still under audit, which does not make sense because there is no law or rule saying that you cannot or should not make your tax returns public if you are under audit.
All presidents and vice presidents have their returns audited every year — automatically and with no exceptions.
And every president since Gerald Ford has released his returns.
So, this begs the question as to what is the real reason Trump is not releasing his returns.
If you think about it, as all conservatives and Trump supporters should, you would be hard pressed to come up with a logical or sensible reason that does not support the conclusion that Trump is trying to hide something.
So, what is Trump hiding that his tax returns would reveal?
The most benign answers to that question that I can come up with are all ego-based.
Perhaps Trump has not made as much money as he likes to say he has, or maybe he has not actually paid any taxes in years, which would be bad for him politically.
There are several more serious, and in my opinion more likely, things that Trump could be hiding.
Serious conflicts of interest and dangerous debts to foreign interests that could be compromising to a president are some possibilities, as well as possible ties to foreign governments and banks — or even ties to Russian oligarchs or Russian banks.
David A. Desautel,
Sequim