The calls for President Donald Trump to release his tax returns spanning several decades have grown stronger since his swearing-in ceremony Friday, but the president’s team is doubling down on its refusal. Top aide Kellyanne Conway responded Sunday to a “We The People” petition demanding the president produce his tax information, by saying: “The White House response is that he’s not going to release his tax returns. We litigated this all through the election. People didn’t care, they voted for him.” Conway walked back from that statement Monday morning, tweeting that Trump’s taxes are still under audit.
On taxes, answers (& repeated questions) are same from campaign: POTUS is under audit and will not release until that is completed. #nonews
— Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) January 23, 2017
Contrary to Conway’s claim that “people didn’t care,” though, activists are organizing against the Republican president, who has broken with 40 years of presidential history in not releasing the information. Twitter users are now calling for Tax Day protests on April 15 to pressure Trump into releasing the documents, looking to keep the momentum alive following last weekend’s massive protests and rallies in Washington and other places throughout the country.
Trump claims no one cares about his taxes. The next mass protest should be on Tax Day to prove him wrong.
— Frank Lesser (@sadmonsters) January 22, 2017
@sadmonsters @tkdmike I say we don’t file this year until trump produced his returns. No tax returns no filing from populace. #boycotttaxes
— e gay conway (@ConwayGay) January 23, 2017
Dear #WomensMarch organizers: please organize a #TrumpTaxesMarch for April 15th. I am happy to help. We all are.
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) January 23, 2017
Dear #WomensMarch organizers, please organize a #TrumpTaxesMarch for April 15. Yes we do care!!!
— Mindy Hinkle (@cheesiegirl) January 23, 2017
1. Let’s get to work on a Tax Day Protest in DC and at local IRS offices around the country to demand that Trump release his returns..
— Beau Willimon (@BeauWillimon) January 23, 2017
As Trump took his oath of office Friday, a petition on the White House-run website, “We The People,” also appeared,compelling the federal government to release the president’s tax returns. “The unprecedented economic conflicts of this administration need to be visible to the American people, including any pertinent documentation which can reveal the foreign influences and financial interests which may put Donald Trump in conflict with the emoluments clause of the Constitution,” the petititon states. As of Monday morning, it has received more than 264,000 signatures, more than twice the number required for the White House to respond.
The latestWashington Post-ABC News pollindicates that 74 percent of respondents think the president should release his tax returns. Fifty-three percent of registered Republicans and 61 percent of self-identifying conservatives polled agreed. Trump said repeatedly on the campaign trail that he would release his taxesafter the audit was completed. But the IRS said, too, that while it won’t release any information relating to audits,taxpayers are free to do soon their own. Last spring, Trump’s campaignreleased a letterfrom his attorneys claiming the then-candidate was under audit, but several calls on the campaign to provide definitive proof — like documentation provided by the IRS itself — of the audit.
