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So far, no one has seen Donald Trump’s tax returns for the years 2000 to 2017 except the New York Times. The media house thus protects its source. They simply said that they had legal access to the papers. Therefore, the “New York Times” investigation is not verifiable. That’s why President Trump was able to dismiss the revelations as “fake news” yesterday.
And yet the leak has explosive potential. Tomorrow the first television debate between presidential candidates Donald Trump and Joe Biden will take place. For Trump, the debate is an opportunity to turn things around as he trails Joe Biden in the polls. But publishing his tax returns now gives Biden live ammunition.
Symbol of inequality in USA
In the year of deepest crisis since the Great Depression in the 1930s, many Americans have to pool their dollars to pay taxes. But the billionaire president paid little or no federal income taxes for years, according to the New York Times. Trump received hundreds of millions of dollars, but at the same time squeezed his taxable income by writing off the losses of his roughly 500 business units. Trump’s fiscal alchemy as a symbol of inequality in America: a true gift for Democrats and Joe Biden.
The assumption that the president is a fiscal juggler is not new. He himself admitted it during the electoral campaign four years ago. “Because I’m smart,” he triumphed. But now there are numbers on the table. Figures that also suggest that the president’s corporate empire is shaking. The reported losses are, always according to the New York Times, staggering. Add to that a mountain of personal debt of more than $ 400 million. Of this, $ 300 million will expire in the next four years.
More difficulties are coming
The New York Times revelations could damage President Trump’s image at a sensitive time, a good month before the presidential election. In what is presumably an extremely close race, it matters who can win a few thousand voters here and there or even dissuade them from going to the polls.
And beyond the roar of the election campaign, beyond his presidency, another storm looms for Donald Trump. Tax records are the missing piece of the puzzle for the New York City Attorney’s criminal investigation. This is already in the possession of the financial records of Trump’s accounting firm and his lender, Deutsche Bank. If the investigators now have access to the tax documents, they can compare the documents and use any discrepancies to collect.
It’s no wonder that President Trump has done everything legally possible to prevent his financial papers from being turned over to him. But in the end, he couldn’t prevent a leak.
Isabelle jacobi
US Correspondent, SRF
