It has been one of the biggest mysteries of the presidential debate, but – according to one calculation – it may be resolved in as little as two weeks. According to the WSJ, Donald Trump may have “one last tax card to play”, and it’s a doozy: his 2015 tax return.
In little-noticed comments after his first debate with Hillary Clinton, the Republican presidential candidate has hinted he could make that return public in under two weeks.
As has been extensively documented, Trump is the only major-party presidential candidate since 1976 to refuse to release any tax returns. He’s been reeling this week after The New York Times published portions of his 1995 state tax returns showing a $916 million loss that could offset his income from 1996 forward.
“My current returns will be released as soon as they’re complete,” he said, according to video posted on Twitter by NBC reporter Katy Tur.
Re-upping from Monday: Trump refused to answer whether he pays federal income tax now. pic.twitter.com/45lAfYamYm
— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) October 2, 2016
While the Trump campaign didn’t respond to questions about that comment, his latest tax return is likely in the final stages of preparation the WSJ estimates. Many taxpayers with complicated finances seek automatic six-month extensions from the IRS. That would make his due date Oct. 17.
Trump appears to have used an extension last year. On Oct. 15, 2015, he tweeted a picture of himself surrounded by stacks of paper and said he was signing his tax return.
Signing my tax return…. pic.twitter.com/XJfXeaORbU
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 15, 2015
With so much speculation swirling around the contents of Trump’s taxes, especially after the recent NYT report on Trump’s NOLs, releasing the 2015 tax return could give Mr. Trump an opportunity to counter that story. He could forgo otherwise allowable deductions to make his tax return more politically palatable. He could do so without imperiling his stated rationale for releasing returns from the recent past, because the 2015 return presumably wouldn’t be under Internal Revenue Service audit at the minute he files it.
He would, however, invite lawyers, accountants and reporters across America to dig through whatever he releases, a concern his sons have raised in recent comments defending his decision not to release the returns.
There’s even a precedent for a candidate releasing a return crafted for public consumption. In 2012—in a decision Mr. Trump has repeatedly criticized for being too close to the election—Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, released their 2011 tax return when it was finished in September. Mr. Romney, who had promised that he would pay an effective tax rate of at least 13%, chose not to deduct $1.75 million of the $4 million in charitable contributions the couple made so he could hit that number.
As the WSK concludes, “if Trump produces a spiffed-up 2015 tax return, he’s got an out. The law lets taxpayers amend their returns for three years after they file, meaning Mr. Trump could substitute a more aggressive posture as soon as the campaign ends.”
It is unclear, however, if anyone still undecided about who to vote for on October 17, will be swayed by such a revelation.
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