Since I don't want to be insulted for asking this on GDPee

[Happyhippychick]

Can someone please explain to me what Bernie's reason is for not releasing his tax returns? And how is this being spun by his supporters?

[Her Sister]

1. He's the pure one so end of conversation, you shill! you!

eom

[Cha]

15. LOL@you!.. 'cause you're right.. lol

[Cary]

2. The only logical conclusion:

There is something in the returns that will cause more damage than the damage from not releasing them.

[Koinos]

22. Excellent logical response.

I believe the damage he is worried about is damage to his reputation among his followers -- some revelation that might shrink his halo a size or two.

[still_one]

23. Agreed. There is a lot information in complete tax returns. It could show special favors

or imply something that may be perfectly legal, but expose a relationship that would prove embarrassing, such as preferential interest rate or favor

[Happyhippychick]

3. I'm assuming that he has more money than he has been letting on

[DLCWIdem]

21. I'm with you on that explanation

With Jane's golden parachute money and the money her family was salting away in real estate he probably makes at least 500K. When his tax returns show that uptick then even his teeny bopper revolutionaries will start looking at him differently.

[jmowreader]

40. Tax returns don't show net worth

We'll probably find non-Bernie-Bro-approved sources of income, like dividends from securities.

[puffy socks]

41. A one percenter!

his followers will have to throw him under the bus with all the other Progressives!

[beachbum bob]

4. no reason...he keeps saying they are coming forth

kinda used it as leverage against hillary for her to release transcripts of her private speeches....but really?

We can only assume there is something sanders are afraid of that would blow it for his campaign

[RogueTrooper]

13. Which is ironic

Considering they only found out about the private speeches because they were in her tax returns.

[anotherproletariat]

38. We will never see them. He will either officially suspend next week, or be forced out

for all practical purposes by a lack of media coverage. I'm pretty sure that his people realize this, and are just stalling.

[SharonClark]

5. I'm beginning to think they never filed their taxes :)

[Hoyt]

6. If he goes back several years, his wife's income will put him in, or close to 1%

that he rails against. And, there might have been some income related to that college land deal.

[BlueCaliDem]

20. CNN Money has guesstimated that they have a networth between $1.5 and $2 million. They're definitely

IN the top 1%.

Also confirming this, Sanders dropped the "millionaires" from his "millionaires and billionaires" rally speeches around December 2015 (or maybe sooner). It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know why.

[WhiteTara]

27. I bet she made a ton of money off his campaigns

for senate. She was his media company and employed family as well.

[MADem]

7. There is no explanation, and the response if you ask is "Leave Bernie alone!!!!"

Jane, ever since Burlington College closed their doors and that GOP attorney said that he'd asked the US attorney to investigate her for bank fraud, has DISAPPEARED from the airwaves, where every question about those taxes were waved away with a dismissive "I don't want to talk about that...."

And she's the "tax expert" in the family...so that's how Bernie plays it. He doesn't do the taxes, SHE does--ask her (subtext: blame her).

Ask about those taxes, and the Brigade will try to create an equivalence between his hidden taxes and HRC's speech transcripts (which is utter bullshit--there's no requirement in federal law to create or maintain 'speech transcripts'--but there IS a requirement to file taxes).

Most people suspect that Bernie is a lot richer than he claims and that some of his investments may be intertwined with banking entities like Goldman Sachs or even offshore accounts, and that is why he doesn't want to give us a full accounting. Others believe he has, because of investments and so forth, paid much, much less than the "little guy" and Joe Lunchbox would take note of his hypocrisy.

It doesn't really matter, anyway. The next time we'll hear about these taxes is if he runs again for the Senate in 2018 against a "clean" challenger--and he might not be able to get away with pushing it off/bullshitting people like he's been able to do this time.

[liberal N proud]

8. It's another one of those rules/traditions that BS don't think apply to them

[BootinUp]

9. His halo would lose some luminance. nt

[LuvLoogie]

10. That's not a halo. It's a smoke ring.

[BootinUp]

11. I was referring to how his supporters see it, lol.

[beachbum bob]

14. zealot supporters don't care..which blinds them to how the rest looks at it or any

other bernie issue the zealots are blinded to

[savalez]

30. lol

[LannyDeVaney]

12. Maybe because his special campaign adviser (spouse) seem to have accounting issues

It appears she applied some special Bernie math for a college loan, so I can only imagine what they would do in their personal finances.

[sarae]

16. A bird landed on his podium.

Is that not enough of a reason?

[Treant]

17. I haven't heard a viable reason.

"I have to find them" is not a reason, it's an excuse.

His supporters don't seem to be spinning this, they deflect right past the point (and past Clinton's twenty-odd years of released tax returns) and head straight for some argument about her not releasing speeches.

I don't get it, personally, as it's apples and oranges--and puts Bernie on the same footing as Trump--but there it is.

[sarae]

19. The only possible explanation is that

what he's trying to hide is more damaging than the actual act of hiding them. I wonder what that is? When every single candidate has released their tax returns since the `70's, you know there's a nefarious reason for not releasing.

[ismnotwasm]

18. I don't think there is anything untoward in the tax returns.

What I think is Sander is an immature, petty, little man who is choosing to playing a game with the public and the media.

Sanders basic message of economic justice has resonated with millions of people. It makes them fell good, makes them feel they are part of something special. It doesn't take effort to be on the Sanders team. One gets to be part of cool kids. It is also an angry message, so the way it works is folks not impressed with the simplistic and repetitive get "othered" immediately. Those who are already "othered" have their concerns not dismissed exactly, but tossed in the salad of this economic message with vague promises that everything will simply work out.

Sanders has no particular reason to build up all this anger and resentment, this movement of the faithful that gives him a degree of influence and power to have it shot down in scandal. Although, if there was something untoward in the tax returns, his more faithful people would call it conspiracy. There is that.

[Koinos]

24. In 2014, he claimed over $47k worth of deductions.

And I bet not one penny went to charity.

[caquillo]

25. Wouldn't it be funny...

... if the reason why Trump won't release his taxes is because it might prove that he's not as rich as he says he is, whereas Sanders doesn't want people to know how rich he is.

[teamster633]

39. Too delicious!

[Tal Vez]

26. Who knows? I voted for Clinton, but Bernie's tax returns are probably as boring as

one of Clinton's brokerage speeches. How can people become so distracted by nothing?

[Happyhippychick]

28. Please don't conflate his tax returns with her speech, it is not the same thing

The speech is being used as a distraction from the Bernie camp to cover up his unwillingness to submit his tax returns. The tax returns are the requirement, not transcripts from a speech.

[Tal Vez]

34. Like I said, I voted for Clinton but I really can't imagine that Bernie's tax returns

could possibly be that interesting. I really wouldn't be surprised if the reason he hasn't produced more of them is because he just can't find them and he's embarrassed to admit it. Or, maybe they show that he received dividends from stock in a major Wall Street brokerage. Something silly or a mite embarrassing.

I just can't imagine there being any dynamite hidden in those returns.

[DLCWIdem]

43. I really think there is something there

Like CM says if there is nothing there you release the taxes. The only reason to not release the taxes is because there is something worse that you do not want to come out.

[Walk away]

33. Can't say it....I'll just think it!

[redstatebluegirl]

29. I think it has to do with her time at the College and how they

handled that from a tax perspective. She may have gotten a settlement of some kind or was paid more than they have let on. I think they also have more money than they have told their base.

That base tends to believe anything he tells them. They don't question him at all because he is "above everyone else" in terms of his character. It is going to be a long fall from that perch.

[LisaM]

36. I always thought it was HER income

they were scampering around.

[Gothmog]

31. Sanders is hiding something

[Walk away]

32. Like Donald, Bernie could go out on the street, shoot and kill someone and...

his supporters would still follow him off a cliff! Taxes??? They don't need no stinking taxes!!!

[Koinos]

35. Forget free college. We need free taxes.

[BobbyDrake]

37. Because Bernie Sanders is a lying liar who is lying about his lied-about tax returns. #lying!

He keeps moving the goalposts on when the returns will be available, and now the goalpost is conveniently moving to after voting has ended.

[Kath1]

42. Oh my God! You must be one of the 1%!

How dare you question Saint Bernie!