Prosecutor Gets Trump's Tax Returns - Finally!

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

My father, who was an independent businessman for most of his life, managed to keep his yearly receipts on a twelve-inch metal spike.  At the end of each year he would carefully pull them off and then go sit at his desk and figure his taxes.  

Unlike my father, I usually worked for wages and most of my tax information was printed onto W-2 forms.  But as the tax laws became more complex for us "little people," the ones whom Leona Helmsley famously noted actually pay taxes, I found myself accumulating more and more paper related to income and expenditures over the years.  I keep all of this in a wooden box beneath my bed, and every spring I drag it out, dump it onto the kitchen table, and sort all of the paper into little piles which I then total up and report to the lady who does my taxes.  Some of the paper gets thrown away, and the rest I keep in brown paper grocery bags for ten years.  

I used to have a full grocery bag for each year, but now, as a retiree, I am down to about two-thirds-of-a-bag per annum.

But at even just two-thirds of a bag, I still pay a lot in taxes, and I don't complain - too loudly - because I appreciate being able to drive on paved roads and knowing that I can summon a policeman, or a firetruck, or an ambulance to my house if I need one. I'm glad that my grandchildren have the opportunity to attend publicly-funded schools and affordable colleges.   I also appreciate having a standing military that is ready to repel those treacherous Canadians if they come storming across the border trying to give us all free healthcare!

Taxes are important.  I pay mine, usually without complaint.

Donald Trump doesn't keep his tax records in paper grocery bags.  This morning it was revealed that the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance has finally taken possession of Trump's tax records from 2011 through 2018, and that those eight years of records contain "millions of pages of documents."  The accounting firm that housed those records must be awfully good because it had earlier been reported that Trump, who claims to be a billionaire, only paid $750 in federal taxes for two of those years (2016 and 2017).

For years Trump has steadfastly refused to make his tax returns public, as per the usual practice of presidential candidates, and he had viciously fought to keep the records out of the hands of prosecutors and the state and federal levels.

But now the dam has broken.  Last week the US Supreme Court declined to block the release of Trump's tax records, and on Monday they were delivered to Vance and his team of investigators.

Justice may at last be at hand.

Leona Helmsley went to prison for tax evasion.   Maybe Trump will, too.

Leona and Donald didn't do much to pay for America's prisons, but a lot of us little people did - and it appears to be money well spent.

Donald, when that big metal door finally slams on you, just think of it as more free public housing.  Sleep peacefully on your metal cot that is bolted to the floor knowing that you are once more scamming the taxpayers.  And enjoy the communal sauna, but don't drop the soap!