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<\/p>\nRUSH: Okay, here\u2019s Springfield, Illinois. Todd, you\u2019re next. I really appreciate your patience, sir. Hi.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Hey, Rush. On the subject of the Democrats demanding the president\u2019s tax records — and I wanted to ask you this because I imagine it\u2019s something you\u2019ve probably had firsthand experience with — I would assume with the president\u2019s businesses, his wealth, his income, that he\u2019s probably under perpetual audit from the state of New York and the IRS. So if the government was doing its job and he was doing something nefarious, wouldn\u2019t they have already caught him?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
RUSH: Theoretically, yeah. But then who would know? See, one of the things about the IRS and tax returns is that there is an implied — actually a stated — promise that all of that remains confidential unless criminal activity occurs and that criminal activity is charged. That\u2019s when people find out about it. Your point is there hasn\u2019t been any criminal activity charged with Trump or his tax returns, so it must mean that they passed the smell test.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Yeah.<\/p>\n
RUSH: I think it\u2019s a logical conclusion to make. Look, I don\u2019t know if Trump is under perpetual audit. I know of people who… I\u2019ll tell you this. I\u2019ll tell you back — and I don\u2019t think I\u2019m speaking out of school here. Back in the days when the syndication partner of this program was Clear Channel, the offices were down there in San Antonio, and that\u2019s where Mark Mays got the Harry Reid letter — Harry Reid demanding that he make me apologize for this “phony soldier” business.<\/p>\n
I said, “Can I have that letter?” and Mark Mays, the CEO at the time, gave it to me, and I auctioned that letter off on eBay and raised a bunch of money as a prime example of government overreach trying to silence (via corporate pressure) an American citizen. Me! Well, anyway, when I went down there — and I had numerous meetings with the Clear Channel people. There was a corner office, and every now and then somebody would walk into that office and come out and then report to Mark Mays.<\/p>\n
I said, “What\u2019s in that office? There\u2019s a lot of activity.”<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s the IRS.”<\/p>\n
“The IRS? What are they doing here?”<\/p>\n
He said, “Oh, they\u2019re here every day. They have a permanent office here.”<\/p>\n
“You mean the IRS has a permanent office here?”<\/p>\n
“Yeah. I mean, tax returns, our taxes, it\u2019s a daily exam. It\u2019s not uncommon. The IRS has offices in practically every corporation like this.”<\/p>\n
I did not know this. I thought these massive corporations had their tax accounts and lawyers prepare their gigantic returns and send \u2019em in every April like everybody else does. But it\u2019s such a massive job keeping up with corporate financial that the IRS has employees in offices actually on the grounds of American companies. I\u2019m sure it\u2019s something that was not exclusive to Clear Channel.<\/p>\n
Where I\u2019m going with this is, I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if in something the size of the Trump Organization, there was something similar. I don\u2019t know that to be the case, and I don\u2019t know that somebody like Trump is under constant audit. I\u2019ve known three people who are. I\u2019ve known three people in my life who get audited every year and know they\u2019re gonna get audited every year, and it\u2019s not because they\u2019ve been caught. It\u2019s not because of that.<\/p>\n
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It\u2019s because of the way their finances are arranged. It\u2019s the deductions that they take and the returns they submit have a bunch of red flags. The computer just spots red flags and they get audited every year — and they know it, and it\u2019s part of their life. Now, the IRS is not supposed tell anybody. They\u2019re not supposed to divulge one thing on any individual or corporate tax return — and can you imagine the temptation?<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s say you work at the IRS and you\u2019re making a government salary, whatever it is (75 to a hundred thousand dollars), and let\u2019s say you\u2019re reading People magazine, the list of highest paid Hollywood actors, and it\u2019s got… Pick an actor. They made $100 million last year. So you go look up their return, if you can, and find out, “Is that really true?” and you learn whether it is or not. Now, I also don\u2019t know what kind of freedom within the bureau, the IRS bureau, that employees have.<\/p>\n
I imagine that you can\u2019t. I imagine your average employee cannot go look up any American\u2019s tax return. But somebody in there can. You\u2019ve gotta have department heads, presidents, vice pre, whatever the corporate structure is within the IRS, somebody\u2019s gotta be able to go in there. And so the media is constantly reporting what people earn, and somebody in the IRS can go look at their returns and see if the media\u2019s right.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s say that People magazine reports, oh, I don\u2019t know, Alec Baldwin with an annual income of, say, $75 million, and that\u2019s been published, and they go in there and learn that Alec Baldwin is making $180,000 a year. The temptation \u2013 \u201cThis stuff about Alec Baldwin, there\u2019s no way. He\u2019s out there, they\u2019re claiming he\u2019s paid $80 million. There\u2019s no way. He made 175.\u201d<\/p>\n
Imagine the pressure they\u2019re under. And how many IRS employees do you think are reached out to by various media organizations. “Hey, here\u2019s an extra couple of tickets to the Met ball if you can tell us what so-and-so\u2019s tax returns…” And somehow over all of these years there haven\u2019t been too many breaches.<\/p>\n
The IRS controversies that we have encountered, such as Lois Lerner\u2019s not granting tax-exempt status to legitimate conservative fundraising organizations, but releasing people\u2019s tax returns, you really don\u2019t see it. I can\u2019t think of one. I\u2019m not saying it hasn\u2019t happened, but I can\u2019t think of any individual\u2019s tax return being released. And during this Trump tax controversy where the Democrats are making hay out of this and Trump\u2019s not paying his taxes and Trump won\u2019t release it, Trump\u2019s lying about his net worth, Trump\u2019s lying about his income, can you imagine the pressure being applied to IRS employees by media and others? And yet nobody knows.<\/p>\n
But the caller has good point here. If there had been any criminality over the years involving Trump\u2019s tax returns, Trump would be charged and everybody would have heard about it or know about it.<\/p>\n
I think that the Democrats are pursuing Trump\u2019s tax returns just because Trump won\u2019t release them. And it\u2019s like the Russia collusion scandal. They are convinced that Trump\u2019s cheating. They are convinced that Trump is not as rich as he says. They are convinced that Trump is not paying his fair share. They just want to find evidence of it. And it\u2019s like anything else. When they find out the truth, it\u2019s not gonna be anything like they think it is, but it won\u2019t stop them from making something up about it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
RUSH: I think that the Democrats are pursuing Trump's tax returns just because Trump won't release them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":306331,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[12,1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n