Trump's campaign manager: Tax returns "don't tell you what you're worth"
There's little to see of any worth in Donald Trump's tax returns, and no real reason to release them now, his campaign manager says.
"I don't know what you think you're going to learn. There's nothing to learn" from the release of Donald Trump's tax returns, Corey Lewandowski insisted on "CBS This Morning."
But "CBS This Morning" anchor Charlie Rose disagreed, suggesting that one clear way to gauge Trump's wealth would be to release his tax returns. Trump may be "very proud of his wealth" and "proud of the very low tax rate he pays," as Lewandowski said on the morning show, but he told Rose that tax returns "don't tell you what you're worth" and turned instead to Trump's personal financial disclosure, which claimed that Trump "had $557 million in his income last year" and also to talk of properties Trump owns in Florida, on the West Coast and in New York.
Leaving aside questions about Trump's tax rate and his deductions, Rose pressed him further, on the larger question of whether there should be more transparency from one of the two people likely to become president. Lewandowski promised that once the IRS audit is finished, the presumptive GOP nominee will release his taxes. Trump's tax attorney has said that the audit on his returns from 2002-2008 is complete, but his returns since and including 2009 are still under audit.
"Let the IRS finish their work and as soon as its done, he's going to release those taxes -- as soon as they're done," Lewandowski promised, although he declined to release the earlier tax returns because "there's nothing to see...what you guys are interested in right now is what his tax rate is....The issue is all those taxes other taxes moving forward which would be relevant right now are under routine audit."
While there are no legal reasons for Trump not to release the returns under audit, Lewandowski rejected this idea.
"The notion that you're going to release information that is currently under audit that could change or not change, based on the IRS findings, doesn't make any sense. So get the IRS to finish the work. You guys are the investigative journalists," Lewandowski said. "[G]et it done... and Mr. Trump will release those taxes."