Trump’s Tax Returns Could Be Released During The 2020 Election Campaign

President Donald Trump’s tax returns are still the subject of dispute as the administration is doing everything it can to avoid releasing them, including taking court cases and potentially violating statute. But this strategy could backfire as the courts move faster than the Trump team expects.

The administration’s plan seems to be to delay the release for as long as possible by filing court cases and appeals, but that process could end in mid-2020, right in the middle of the presidential election. The IRS could then be compelled to release his returns while he’s campaigning for re-election. Republicans want to avoid Trump’s taxes becoming an election issue.

By fighting their release now, the Trump team could be setting themselves up for a major embarrassment during the election. It might be better for Trump to release his taxes in 2019 in the hope that anything controversial in them will be out of the news cycle by November next year.

However, Trump has remained determined to hide his taxes from Democrats in Congress and the public. Some parts of his tax returns have been obtained by media outlets and have shown how Trump avoided large amounts of tax and made huge financial losses in the 1980s and ’90s.

Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns is unprecedented in modern history. Every presidential candidate since Richard Nixon has released them, leading to speculation that Trump has something to hide – either embarrassing details about personal wealth or potential links to shady foreign actors.