• About
  • The Poetry of Protest

Show Me Progress

~ covering government and politics in Missouri – since 2007

Show Me Progress

Tag Archives: tax returns

Rep. Jason Smith (r): your awl stoopit

25 Thursday Apr 2019

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

8th Congressional District, Congress, corruption, Donald Trump, emoluments, Jason Smith, missouri, oversight, tax returns

“No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States: and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.” – United States Constitution, Article I, Section 9, Clause 8

“…(f)Disclosure to Committees of Congress
(1)Committee on Ways and Means, Committee on Finance, and Joint Committee on Taxation
Upon written request from the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives, the chairman of the Committee on Finance of the Senate, or the chairman of the Joint Committee on Taxation, the Secretary shall furnish such committee with any return or return information specified in such request, except that any return or return information which can be associated with, or otherwise identify, directly or indirectly, a particular taxpayer shall be furnished to such committee only when sitting in closed executive session unless such taxpayer otherwise consents in writing to such disclosure…”
– 26 U.S. Code § 6103.

From Representative Jason Smith (r):

…For the first time in history, the new Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee is using the oversight power of the IRS to target the President of the United States and his tax returns. The Chairman has ordered the IRS to turn over six years of President Trump’s tax returns, allegedly so he can review how the IRS enforces tax laws against a president. Clearly he is going after President Trump for political purposes, as he didn’t request President Obama’s tax returns or individual returns from President Bush, President Clinton, or any other president…

What a hack.

“…he didn’t request President Obama’s tax returns or individual returns from President Bush, President Clinton, or any other president…”

The new Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee wouldn’t have to request the tax returns for Presidents Obama, Bush (both) and Clinton.

Jason Smith (r) thinks your awl stoopit. Presidents Obama, Bush (both), and Clinton, up to Gerald Ford (in 1976) released their tax returns to the public.

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D): on Trump and Russia – May 6, 2017

07 Sunday May 2017

Posted by Michael Bersin in US Senate

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Claire McCaskill, Congressional investigations, Сделать Америку великой Снова, FBI investigation, hacking, Kansas City, missouri, Russia, tax returns, town hall

“…it is really whether or not the criminal investigation that is ongoing at the FBI is gonna be able to follow the money around to his associates during the campaign…”

Senator Claire McCaskill (D) continued her face to face contact with constituents in Missouri yesterday with several events in Kansas City.

The Greater Kansas City Women’s Political Caucus hosted a forum with Senator McCaskill midday. Close to one hundred fifty individuals attended. The Senator spoke for about twenty minutes then took questions for about an hour.

Senator Claire McCaskill (D) – May 6, 2017.

One of the questions was on Donald Trump (r) releasing his tax returns:

Senator Claire McCaskill (D): ….I don’t know whether we’ll ever see Donald Trump’s taxes or not. I am not as convinced that his taxes would tell us a lot. Um, you know, tax returns are not as informative as people might believe, um, especially when you have a lot and lots of complicated financial structures.

Um, it, it is really whether or not the criminal investigation that is ongoing at the FBI is gonna be able to follow the money around to his associates during the campaign. And whether or not there will ever be enough, either circumstantial or direct evidence, to indicate that he was aware of some of the activities that were going on.

And that is way more important. Now, I get it that he is the first president that hasn’t done it. And it’s possible, because you do have to disclose foreign money, it is possible that there’s foreign money on those taxes. Um, but, I do think that, and the taxes may end up being produced as part of these investigations, ‘cause we’ve got three different investigations going on in Congress. And then of course, we have the FBI investigation.

Um, I, I, I know some things that are classified that I can’t share with you, but there’s many things that aren’t classified. And that is, for example, Russia had hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people on their payroll doing nothing all day but creating Facebook accounts. All day long. For months on end. In order to drive news stories and to drive, and we know the algorithms jumped right before the election. And we believe these algorithms jumped because of these Russian efforts. And what they were doing, they were trying to hit three places in the key states, in Pennsylvania, in Wisconsin, and Michigan. What they were doing, they were to hit African American men, Bernie Sanders supporters, and, um, [….] young women, maybe. And they were trying to feed into their Facebooks, for example, for African American men they were feeding into the Facebooks the comment that Hillary Clinton made at one point about predators. And they were, they were doing a complicated algorithm where they were trying to find Facebook pages where there was some indication that some member of their family had been in jail or was in jail. [voice: “Oh my God.”] And they were targeting Bernie supporters with, the reason all that stuff about the rigged primary happened when it did? They released that right as we went into the convention, the Russians did. That all of the hacked e-mails, to try to undermine unity, undermine enthusiasm within the Democratic Party for Hillary Clinton.

So, this was sophisticated stuff Russia was doing. And that kind of stuff hasn’t gotten as much attention as some of the other things that they’ve done. So, um, and, then we know that many of their associates had direct and indirect contact with Russia in a variety of capacities. So, there’s real stuff going on in these investigations. And shoes will continue to drop. We had another shoe drop just yesterday where we now learn that they were copying classified documents in the transition office and removing them from there, uh, around the time Michael Flynn was meeting with the Russian ambassador who, um, he knew was directly tied to Russian intelligence, so. [Voice: “We’re really in a mess, aren’t we?”] Kinda are.

[….]

Oh my.

Previously:

What a difference eight years makes (April 13, 2017)

If only Roy Blunt (r) could give him something to do at one of his open town halls in Missouri (April 13, 2017)

This ain’t 2009 and right wingnut billionaires ain’t paying to rile up teabaggers (April 13, 2017)

Senator Claire McCaskill (D): press availability – Parkville, Missouri – April 13, 2017 (April 14, 2017)

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D): on Zombie Trumpcare – May 6, 2017 (May 7, 2017)

White House Petition: about those tax returns

21 Saturday Jan 2017

Posted by Michael Bersin in Resist

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

#resist, Donald Trump, Petition, tax returns, White House

Yesterday at the White House petition site, rebooted for the change in administration:

We the people ask the federal government to Tell us what the federal government is doing about an issue:
Immediately release Donald Trump’s full tax returns, with all information needed to verify emoluments clause compliance.
Created by A.D. on January 20, 2017

The unprecedented economic conflicts of this administration need to be visible to the American people, including any pertinent documentation which can reveal the foreign influences and financial interests which may put Donald Trump in conflict with the emoluments clause of the Constitution.

99,108 signed 100,000 goal
Needs 892 signatures by February 19, 2017 to get a response from the White House

99,108 signatures of 100,000 needed in less than twenty-four hours.

Welcome to the resistance.

Tax Returns: “several years” appears to be the norm…

13 Monday Aug 2012

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2012, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, president, republicans, tax returns, vetting, Vice President

…except for Mitt Romney (r).

Paul Ryan (r), with Bob Schieffer on 60 Minutes tonight:

Bob Schieffer: How many years of, uh, tax returns did you, uh, turn over to [crosstalk] the campaign?

Paul Ryan: Well, it, it was a very exhaustive, uh, uh, vetting process. It’s a confidential bri vetting process, so there were several years, but…

Previously:

The question (August 11, 2012)

Tax Returns: maybe he just handed them everything in a shoe box (August 12, 2012)

Tax Returns: maybe he just handed them everything in a shoe box

12 Sunday Aug 2012

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2012, Mitt Romney, president, republicans, tax returns, Tim Pawlenty, vetting, Vice President

Previously: The question (August 11, 2012)

“Representative Ryan, how many years of tax returns did you provide to the Romney campaign in the vetting process?”

Today George Stephanopoulos asked Tim Pawlenty (r) the same question:

Former Governor Tim Pawlenty (r): …on behalf of our country.

George Stephanopoulos: You did bring up the tax returns. How many years of tax returns did you provide to the Romney campaign?

Tim Pawlenty (r): [pause] Well, I don’t know the exact number, George, but I, you know, there were several years I believe.

George Stephanopoulos: Several years, so more than two?

Tim Pawlenty (r): [pause] Well, we don’t get into the details [laugh] of the vetting process, but I, I gave ’em a bunch of tax returns. I don’t remember the exact number of years.

George Stephanopoulos: Governor Pawlenty, thanks…

“…Well, I don’t know the exact number…”

“…I, I gave ’em a bunch of tax returns. I don’t remember the exact number of years…”

Seriously? You’re being considered as the vice presidential nominee for your party and this is one of those minor details that slips your mind? Tim Pawlenty must think everyone in America is stupid.  

In case you were wondering (and we were)…

16 Monday Jul 2012

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2008, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, tax returns

Narration: In two thousand and eight Mitt Romney gave John McCain over twenty years of tax records. After reviewing the records the McCain campaign decided Romney wasn’t right for the vice presidency. We don’t know what’s in those records. But something made John McCain think that this woman was more qualified.

If you've liked the last 8 years, you're gonna love the next 100…

09 Friday May 2008

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

McSame, republican hypocrisy, tax returns

Simple republican math:

“We don’t pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes.”

Leona Helmsley

…plus…

“Badges? We ain’t got no badges. We don’t need no badges. I don’t have to show you any stinking badges.”

Treasure of the Sierra Madre

…equals:

WASHINGTON – Cindy McCain says she will never make her tax returns public even if her husband wins the White House and she becomes the first lady.

“You know, my husband and I have been married 28 years and we have filed separate tax returns for 28 years. This is a privacy issue. My husband is the candidate,” Cindy McCain, wife of Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting John McCain, said in an interview aired on NBC’s “Today” on Thursday.

Asked if she would release her tax returns if she was first lady, Cindy McCain said: “No.”

Cindy McCain says she’ll never release her tax returns [emphasis added]

Au contraire. If you want to live in public housing it becomes the public’s business. The little people are funny that way.

From the Huffington Post:

During the 2004 election, Republicans criticized Theresa Heinz Kerry for not disclosing her personal tax returns (she eventually released a copy of her 1040). RNC Chairman Ed Gillepsie claimed then:

   “Throughout history, presidential candidates have disclosed income tax information prior to Election Day. We believe Americans value disclosure and transparency in campaigns. During the 2003 filing year, Sen. Kerry made a $6 million loan to his campaign based on the value of a home jointly owned with his wife.”

Well, Ed? [sound of crickets]

From the New York Times (via MyDD):

…over a seven-month period beginning last summer, Mr. McCain’s cash-short campaign gave itself an advantage by using a corporate jet owned by a company headed by his wife, Cindy McCain, according to public records. For five of those months, the plane was used almost exclusively for campaign-related purposes, those records show.

Mr. McCain’s campaign paid a total of $241,149 for the use of that plane from last August through February, records show. That amount is approximately the cost of chartering a similar jet for a month or two, according to industry estimates.

The senator was able to fly so inexpensively because the law specifically exempts aircraft owned by a candidate or his family or by a privately held company they control. The Federal Election Commission adopted rules in December to close the loophole – rules that would have required substantial payments by candidates using family-owned planes – but the agency soon lost the requisite number of commissioners needed to complete the rule making.

Because that exemption remains, Mr. McCain’s campaign was able to use his wife’s corporate plane like a charter jet while paying first-class rates, several campaign finance experts said…

We have a little saying around here: If you’ve liked the last 8 years, you’re gonna love the next 100…

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Archives

  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007

Categories

  • campaign finance
  • Claire McCaskill
  • Democratic Party News
  • Healthcare
  • Hillary Clinton
  • Interview
  • Josh Hawley
  • media criticism
  • meta
  • Missouri General Assembly
  • Missouri Governor
  • Missouri House
  • Missouri Senate
  • Resist
  • Roy Blunt
  • social media
  • Standing Rock
  • Town Hall
  • Uncategorized
  • US Senate

Meta

  • Log in

Blogroll

  • Balloon Juice
  • Crooks and Liars
  • Digby
  • I Spy With My Little Eye
  • Lawyers, Guns, and Money
  • No More Mister Nice Blog
  • The Great Orange Satan
  • Washington Monthly
  • Yael Abouhalkah

Donate to Show Me Progress via PayPal

Your modest support helps keep the lights on. Click on the button:

Blog Stats

  • 395,947 hits

Powered by WordPress.com.