The call for Donald Trump to release his tax returns is growing louder, and now even those who are ardent supporters of his are saying he should release them or face the fact that voters will hold it against him.
South Carolina GOP Congressman Mark Sanford is the latest to say Trump has to be transparent and show the world his tax returns. In an op-ed he wrote for the New York Times entitled, “I Support You, Donald Trump. Now Release Your Tax Returns,” Sanford writes:
“To (Trump), demands that he release his tax returns are just a ploy by his opponents and enemies to undermine his campaign. But that obstinacy will have consequences. Not releasing his tax returns would hurt transparency in our democratic process, and particularly in how voters evaluate the men and women vying to be our leaders. Whether he wins or loses, that is something our country cannot afford.”
Sanford also reminds Trump that he promised he would release his tax records:
“I suggest this not as a partisan against Mr. Trump. I am a conservative Republican who, though I have no stomach for his personal style and his penchant for regularly demeaning others, intends to support my party’s nominee because of the importance of filling the existing vacancy on the Supreme Court, and others that might open in the next four years. However, my ability to continue to do so will in part be driven by whether Mr. Trump keeps his word that he will release his tax records.”
And Congressman Sanford also points out how incredibly hypocritical the Orange Menace is being:
“Finally, this is about taking Mr. Trump at his own word. He has certainly dodged and hedged on the subject recently, but many other times he has been remarkably clear that he would make his tax returns public. He consistently chided Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, for not releasing his returns sooner in his campaign. In May 2014, as Mr. Trump entertained the idea of running for president, he said, on television: ‘If I decide to run for office, I’ll produce my tax returns, absolutely, and I would love to do that.’ Nothing has changed that should justify Mr. Trump’s changing his mind.”
Featured Image Via Gage Skidmore for Flickr available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License
