Bernie's Tax Return

Submitted by Steven D on Mon, 04/11/2016 - 7:05pm

There’s been a great deal of outrage expressed by many people that Bernie Sanders has not released much about his Federal Tax Returns to the public. This is true. He hasn’t. For all I know he hasn’t filed his 2016 one yet (it isn’t due until April 18th this year). Or maybe he has filed it, but something deep and dark and sinister exists that will forever taint his personal and political legacy, and thus, for good reason he and his advisers have decided not to make it public. Anything is possible, I suppose.

What he has released, so far, is the first two pages of his 2015 tax return for income earned in 2014, (i.e., form 1040 without any of the schedules attached). This is what we know about the income he and his wife reported for that year, the deductions they took, and the taxes they paid. Here is the income Jane and Bernie claimed, by category, on that 2014 return:

Senate Salary: $156,441

Taxable Interest: $11

Ordinary Dividends: $2

Social Security: $39,281

Pension (Mayor): $4,982

Jane-Gov't Waste Comm: $4,900

Total Adjusted Gross Income: $205,617

Total Itemized Deductions: $56,377

Total Federal Taxes in 2014: $27,653

He didn't include Schedule A, the one that shows how he and Jane calculated their federal itemized deductions, which are listed in their return in the amount of $56,377. However, a campaign spokesperson, Michael Briggs, stated that, of that amount, Bernie and Jane gave "$8,350 to undisclosed charities." That leaves, by my math (careful, I'm dangerous with a calculator), $48,027 of deductions for which we have no specific breakdown.

However, based on past financial disclosures by Senator Sanders, we know he has a condo in Washington, D.C., with mortgage debt somewhere between $50,001 and $100,000, so interest payments on that debt no doubt make up some of the deductions claimed by Bernie and Jane Sanders. Between $2,500 - $5,000, assuming a mortgage rate of 5 percent. Still, there's a whole lot we don't know about those deductions.

We also know, from past financial disclosures, which Senator
Sanders' was required to make, that Jane Sanders owns assets valued at between "$194,026-$741,030 in ... a broad combination of investment funds." Now since the Sanders' claimed only $2.00 in income from ordinary dividends, that suggests to me that most of those investments are held in tax-deferred IRAs. Or the Sanders' are lying tax cheats. Take your pick. I'm sure the IRS will be on their case if the latter is true, however.

All in all, pretty nefarious stuff, especially when you compare it to Hillary and Bill Clinton's fully disclosed 2014 tax return. It's a lot more complicated, of course, since the Clintons made (or reported) a lot more income for 2014, so I will just share with you the bare minimum information you need to know. But feel free to peruse the Clinton's 2014 tax return at your leisure, if you like that sort of thing.

Total Adjusted Gross Income: $27,946,490

Itemized Deductions: $5,159,242

Total Federal Taxes Paid: $9,981,350

Yeah, that's a lot of moolah. Not "buy an entire country" kind of money, but a decent living, or maybe a tad more than a decent living some might say. But here's the point: THEY (i.e., Hillary and Bill Clinton), unlike those sleazy grifters, Jane and Bernie Sanders, released every page of their 2014 Tax Return, all forty-four pages of them, with all the schedules and forms you could possibly want. And Hillary disclosed all her tax returns for the last EIGHT Years. Take that, you scumbag, Birdie man!

Oh sure, some will say that, yes, the Clintons earned just over $28 million in 2014 and $27 million in 2013, more than double the $13 million they earned in 2010, and roughly five times more than what they made in 2008 (a measly $5.5 million). But - full disclosure!

So, Senator Bernie and Ms. Jane Sanders, exactly how did you come up with that $56,377 number for your 2014 federal deductions? The people demand to know! We need to know! Why haven't you told us? Exactly what are you trying to hide, Senator?

Thank goodness, Hillary and Bill Clinton are honest and forthright people, at least when it comes to what they tell us about financial matters. And I'm sure everything else, too. Sure makes it easier for me to decide who to vote for on April 19th.

Tags:

#2016 Election #Bernie #Hillary #somesnark

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Comments

Submitted by Bisbonian on Mon, 04/11/2016 - 7:33pm

$39.27 went to me.

Or more technically, my charity to benefit banjo players, who face horrific discrimination and abuse in our society. "Banjo Bucks", it's called. If anyone is interested in helping out, I can post an address....

—

"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

Submitted by mjsmeme on Mon, 04/11/2016 - 8:42pm

u made me laugh = good for my immune system - thanks

Submitted by Hillbilly Dem on Tue, 04/12/2016 - 6:32am

Johnny Carson used to do a segment called

"Things You Never Hear". One of the things you've never heard spoken was "The Maserati? It's the banjo player's."

—

"Just call me Hillbilly Dem(exit)."
-H/T to Wavey Davey

Submitted by WindDancer13 on Mon, 04/11/2016 - 7:35pm

Well, now we know the truth...

He is running for president for the huge salary boost. We all know how hard it is to get a raise in this country. (Although, Congress seems to have no problem giving themselves a raise and then saying to seniors that there is no money for a cost of living increase--which they did this past year.)

Considering HRC likes to claim that Sanders is doing nothing for down ballot, I could see her saying, "I paid xx amount more than you in taxes which just goes to prove I am a better democrat."

—

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass

Submitted by Borkrom on Mon, 04/11/2016 - 7:38pm

Double standards

The Clinton camp is the king or queen of double standards. If you state a fact or data, they yell or scream unfair, bias, terrible treatment because you do not respect them. They never accept the reality and do their best to yell you down on any subject. Moreover, if you bring logic to the table they get upset and say you are using dirty tactics against them.

To me this is the main reason why her candidacy or presidency will be an epic failure. Because instead of trying to use truth, to be fair, emphatic and positive, she and her minions use dirty and sneaky tricks to get their way.

Submitted by sorrowforhumans on Mon, 04/11/2016 - 10:48pm

And then there are their numerous

strange accounts in Maryland . .. . and god knows what else: Byzantine. Yuk. How much f'n money does anyone need: really, the standard of oppulence is obscene, and why? It gets to the point where it seems like "keeping up with the Trumps" or merely the perversion of depriving other folks on a massive scale: entitlement.

Submitted by JuliaW on Tue, 04/12/2016 - 8:44am

A nice link to that issue, but in Delaware (hi Joe)

http://freebeacon.com/issues/delaware-address-home-200000-shell-companie...

Submitted by sorrowforhumans on Mon, 04/11/2016 - 10:59pm

And then there are their numerous

Submitted by Not Henry Kissinger on Mon, 04/11/2016 - 8:04pm

I have this picture in my head...

of Bill on TurboTax.

"Hey Hill, d'yew ever find that receipt for the handbag you bought in Dubai?

—

The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

Submitted by fugwb on Mon, 04/11/2016 - 8:39pm

There are just

a few ways to get really wealthy. Be born into it. Win the lottery. Come up with some brilliant idea and get lucky with it. And the easiest of all, run for congress. Bernie is damn poor for being in congress 25+ years. It shows he never took advantage of the congress's "legal" insider trading and other such shenanigans like most of his peers have. Or cashed in on his prestige as a Senator. Compare this with his opponent. Wake the fuck up Dems!!!!

Submitted by Leu2500 on Mon, 04/11/2016 - 9:09pm

Additional deductions:

- property taxes on their house & condo
- state taxes

Submitted by sorrowforhumans on Mon, 04/11/2016 - 10:53pm

they make a very comfortable living for high accomplishment and

position: but it is a life lived becomingly: service over grift. Love them. This is leadership.

Submitted by Haikukitty on Tue, 04/12/2016 - 9:12am

Exactly - a comfortable living

and surely a deserved one. But not an extravagant living. That alone proves integrity to me.

There are so very many opportunities in Congress to take money, and anyone making a paltry 200k is obviously not availing themselves of all that sweet lobbyist money.

Submitted by Bisbonian on Tue, 04/12/2016 - 9:20am

Jane Sanders was on one of the Sunday Shows

"All Due Respect", it was misnamed. The guy was just HOUNDING Jane on the income tax issue. When was she going to release it (well, it's not even done yet) Will it be the whole thing, not a two page summary? (well the whole thing is probably four pages) How many years back? (well, how many do you want). It was obnoxious, like he just KNEW that they had millions tucked away in some offshore tax haven...on a 200K salary.

—

"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

Submitted by Damnit Janet on Mon, 04/11/2016 - 9:19pm

taxes

I have no freaking clue how to do my taxes for next year for the Feds.

Why?

Cause I work in a medical marijuana dispensary. It's legal in Oregon but not Federal. But the damn Feds they want their taxes on my paycheck...

Give them hell Bernie!!!

—

"Love One Another" ~ George Harrison

Submitted by truehawk on Tue, 04/12/2016 - 9:53am

The Country is a Co-op

So you don't want to pay your share for bridges, roads, schools etc. just because some assholes in the 20s decided to make Hemp illegal?
If you do a W4 then the IRS does not care where the money comes from.

Actually I have an issue with the way we structure and have to fill our a gizillion forms to pay taxes income tax in general. But that is another story.

Submitted by Damnit Janet on Tue, 04/12/2016 - 10:55am

Actually I don't min paying taxes

it's supposed to be an investment in my community and country. It's just not we aren't getting jack shit for it.

I live in the city of bridges, damn straight I don't believe the bridge fairy comes at night and fixes all the roads and such

—

"Love One Another" ~ George Harrison

Submitted by momsie on Mon, 04/11/2016 - 9:23pm

I would love to see Bernie and Jane in the White House.

Submitted by lizzyh7 on Tue, 04/12/2016 - 12:15pm

I was just thinking about that the other day

and I cannot help but wonder how they'll manage living there - all those fancy big rooms full of antiques, etc and then their personal quarters being much more "normal" than others. I think of that like me taking my own furniture into the White Hut and just how weird that would be. Gotta say though, I love the idea of that. A First Couple who maybe has dinner with the "help" every night. A First Couple who's family quarters is full of family and just ordinary stuff. A First Couple who's last concern would ever be redecorating the White House!

—

Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

Submitted by momsie on Tue, 04/12/2016 - 5:32pm

And they would bring dignity and real class

to the White House

Submitted by edg on Mon, 04/11/2016 - 9:38pm

Money money money money!!!

I think it's important to keep in mind that Hillary Clinton makes more money from each one hour speech she gives to bankers than Bernie and Jane Sanders earn from working an entire year.

But who is the media focused on? Why, Senator Sanders, of course. They just know there's some kind of tax shenanigans going on.

Submitted by sorrowforhumans on Mon, 04/11/2016 - 10:56pm

^%&#$%@'s

think of all the good, decent harworking law abiding folks who can't even get to the level that Bernie earns ( after many year service) and the Clintons figured out how to capitaiize on their earnings: grift.

Submitted by importer on Mon, 04/11/2016 - 10:04pm

Bill/Hill have had to file and refile reports on

The Clinton Global Initiative. That's the big slush fund and it's a mess.

Submitted by sorrowforhumans on Mon, 04/11/2016 - 10:57pm

deliberately

chaos works well for lawyers

Submitted by Writerinres on Tue, 04/12/2016 - 7:56am

Chaos

I'd call it lawyerly deflection.

Submitted by Alison Wunderland on Tue, 04/12/2016 - 8:04am

CHAOS - Where brilliant

CHAOS - Where brilliant dreams are born...

Before the beginning of great brilliance, there must be Chaos.

Before a brilliant person begins something great, he must look foolish to the crowd.

I Ching #3

And... my tat.

—

Improve the Resilience Resource Library by adding your links.
Vote Smart - Just the Facts - 40,000 politicians by name or zipcode

Submitted by mjsmeme on Tue, 04/12/2016 - 1:30pm

I think you read my post a week or so ago about my most

recent I Ching change. There was a time when I threw the coins all the time (I spent a year in a bodycast back in the 60s due to a motorcycle accident, and had lots of time back then to see what the oracle had to say). Over the years I would consult the book on special occasions, but it had been years since I'd opened it until a couple of weeks ago, when I got the change that I wrote about. 60 to 19. 19 = Approach. Approach has supreme success. Perseverance furthers. When the 8th month comes it brings misfortune. [Not good, I think,] but the commentary says: The hexagram as a whole points to a time of joyous, hopeful, progress…..Success is certain. But we must work with determination and perseverance to make full use of the propitiousness of the time ….We must take heed of this change in good time. If we meet evil before it becomes reality …we can master it.
In my experience its usually been a good idea to listen to the book.

Submitted by FreakFlagFly on Mon, 04/11/2016 - 10:27pm

Clinton Pivots to Bernie's Taxes to Defend Speeches

Clinton Angrily Defends Paid Speeches, Defiant On Releasing Transcripts[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udhgQ0oxgNM]

Clinton Angrily Refuses to Release Wall Street Transcripts
Again Claims She’s Being Held to a Double Standard

Clinton avoided discussing the transcripts and instead focused on the “30 years” worth of tax returns that she had released. Seeing as rival Bernie Sanders has yet to release his tax returns, Clinton claimed, she was being held to a “double standard.”

“There certainly has been a double standard between me and others who run,” Clinton said. “Let’s meet the same standards. Let’s start with tax returns. That has been the standard.”

Submitted by JuliaW on Tue, 04/12/2016 - 8:49am

These "tax return" talking points are ubiquitous

in the Klintonsphere-the talking points are ENDLESSLY repeated, ad nauseum, and even when shot down again and again, continue to resurface like tar in the Kalamazoo river. It's such a grand example of everything Chomsky has written about.

Submitted by Writerinres on Tue, 04/12/2016 - 7:54am

Tax Returns

Man, that's a lot of speeches for $27+ million in one year. Why don't the Clintons have laryngitis? Or at least a tonsillectomy? How do they do it, year after year? Life as a politician is gooood, if you know how to make it pay.

Submitted by DonMidwest on Tue, 04/12/2016 - 8:11am

Then there is Clinton Foundation

If the Justice Department and law enforcement agencies do their jobs, the foundation will be closed and its current and past trustees, who include Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton, will be indicted. That’s because their so-called charitable enterprise has served as a vehicle to launder money and to enrich Clinton family friends.

It is beyond dispute that former President Clinton has been directly involved in helping foundation donors and his personal cronies get rich. Even worse, it is beyond dispute that these very same donors and the Clintons’ political allies have won the focused attention of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton when she served as Secretary of State. Democrats and Clinton apologists will write these accusations off as conspiracy mongering and right-wing propaganda, but it’s an open secret to anyone remotely familiar with accounting and regulatory requirements for charities that the financial records are deliberately misleading. And not coincidentally, those records were long filed by a Little Rock–based accounting firm called BKD, a regional auditor with little international experience.

It’s odd that a small Arkansas-headquartered firm would handle the books for a giant entity like the Clinton Foundation, and even odder given that BKD has been implicated in a variety of misconduct. For example, last year the Securities and Exchange Commission sanctioned BKD for “violating auditor independence rules when they prepared the financial statements of brokerage firms that were their audit clients.”

It brings to mind Bernie Madoff, who also used a small accounting shop when he was running his notorious Ponzi scheme. And it’s worth emphasizing here that smaller firms are typically far less likely to challenge major clients, and the Clinton Foundation was one of BKD’s major sources of revenue.

Article by Ken Silverstein published in Harpers in Nov 2015.

I had not noticed Ken before and then he published some excellent articles at The Intercept. One was how Tom Daschle became rich after leaving the Senate. Then there was a flap and Ken left the intercept in a huff. There was also controversy about Matt Taibbi at The Intercept. Things seem to have settled down and they are doing truly excellent work on many topics.

We probably have not heard the last word on the Clinton Foundation.

Shaky Foundations The Clintons’ so-called charitable enterprise has served as a vehicle to launder money and to enrich family friends.

Submitted by JuliaW on Tue, 04/12/2016 - 8:54am

"If the Justice Department and law enforcement agencies do their

jobs"-and THAT is the killer point. Anyone who thinks Obomber will allow that to happen has a better grade of smoke than I've been exposed to. AND-it may explain the incredible outpouring of pressure to support them, the hysteria in the campaign, and the obscenely evident media spin for them-the ENTIRE political class will be affected by any prosecution, and they are deeply afraid that Bernie will be elected, since HE is the ONLY guy that might do it.

Submitted by Australian2 on Thu, 04/14/2016 - 9:01pm

Personal financial disclosure

is not one of the axes I have to grind with the Clintons. Even their opponents need to admit that they really do pay their taxes - around, what, 30% of gross income went to tax?

That said, I do think the hoo-haw about Sanders' personal finances is remarkably silly on the Clintons' parts. The last thing they want people to be thinking about is the candidates' finances!

—

Self-exiled from DKos, ahead of the arrival of the Clinton Thought Police.

Markos' transition from gatecrasher to gate-polisher is now complete.