Donald Trump Requests Six-Month Extension To File 2017 Taxes

Donald Trump has requested a six-month extension to file his 2017 taxes.

Trump Requests Tax Filing Extension

The extension deadline to submit both state and federal taxes in New York is Oct. 15.

Trump has notoriously refused to release any of his past tax returns, something every presidential candidate has done in the last 30 years. The former Apprentice star and real estate mogul used several different excuses for declining to release his returns, from claims of being under audit from the Internal Revenue Service (the IRS has said there is no explicit law forbidding the disclosure of tax returns while under audit) to saying he believed the majority of the American people are simply not interested in seeing said returns. This was one of the many issues Trump was criticized for during the 2016 election.

SLIDESHOW: DONALD TRUMP’S 30 CRAZIEST TWEETS

The White House announced again on Tuesday that the administration plans to enact a series of tax cuts to help millions of Americans save money by 2019. The tax plan crafted by Republicans in late 2017 was criticized by Democratic lawmakers for giving big breaks to corporations and wealthy Americans while hurting the middle and lower-income classes. It was also recently projected to highly increase the national deficit over the next decade, according to a recent study.

While welcoming Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Tuesday, Trump tweeted the following:

This all came on the same day a glitch on the IRS website led to a national one-day extension (to Wednesday at midnight) for taxpayers to submit their filings.

Dozens of Americans have often requested for extension to file taxes. According to the New York Times, the IRS estimates that up to 15 million people may do so this year.

Richard Nixon was the first president in the modern era to publicly disclose his tax returns. Nixon released them after being pressured and amid allegations of having improperly received a large tax deduction for donating his presidential documents.

Incidents like this are one of the many reasons presidential candidates are asked to release their tax returns. Other reasons revolve around the American people’s right to know if their future leaders have any business dealings with other countries or entities that could potentially represent conflicts of interest.

Many people have speculated as to whether the president’s tax returns could reveal more information about his dealings with Russia.

In March 2017, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow revealed on her show that she had acquired a part of Trump’s 2005 tax returns. Maddow was later criticized for building much suspense for something that did not yield greatly revelatory results. The report showed Trump paid approximately $38 million in taxes on $153 million in income that year.

Article by Pablo Mena

Writer for uPolitics.com. NY Giants and Rangers fan. Film and TV enthusiast (especially Harry Potter and The Office) and lover of foreign languages and cultures.