Former President Donald Trump has yet to release his tax returns. The US Supreme Court has ruled that. According to US correspondent John Postma, this is a significant defeat for Trump, who has so far refused to make his tax returns public.
US journalist John Postma says the court’s decision has been eagerly awaited. “The Supreme Court is conservative, thanks in part to Trump.” Trump’s lawyers asked the court to block the lower court’s decision to grant access to the tax documents to the House of Representatives, but the court ruled otherwise. The unanimous ruling would allow the Treasury Department to quickly hand over six years of Trump’s tax returns to the investigative commission.
Making presidents’ tax returns public is an unwritten rule in America. “Every modern presidential candidate has always released them, but Trump is putting it off,” Postma says. According to Trump, his announcements will be more complex, and the request to release them will be mainly politically motivated.
Among other things, Democrats specifically want to know if there is a conflict of interest. Never before has a president had such a large international enterprise, so it remains to be seen whether Trump’s decisions are motivated by the enterprise behind him. In the 1970s, when Jimmy Carter became president of his peanut farm, he had to leave for fear of a conflict of interest.
Trump is not so self-made
The question is whether Trump really has something to hide. ‘That’s the key question, yes,’ Postma muses. ‘He has something to fear, partly his image.’ Publications by the American newspaper The New York Times previously showed that Trump was not Self generatedMan says he is. Because of the bankruptcy he would not have paid taxes for several years.
The legal battle surrounding the announcements has been ongoing since 2019, when the commission sued Trump to review them. He is the first Republican president in four decades to refuse to release the documents because he wants to keep his wealth and his company’s activities secret.
Time is running out
The team should act quickly. Due to recent elections, Trump’s Republican Party will regain control of the House of Representatives starting in January. ‘It’s really going to be a sprint of sorts,’ says Postma. If Republicans take over the House, they also provide the Speaker and set the agenda for the House of Representatives. At that time this investigation will be terminated immediately. The bell is ringing.’
