Don’t Throw Me in That Briar Patch!

Kevin Brady (R-TX) warns that releasing Trump’s tax returns could lead to the release of tax returns of Supreme Court Justices pic.twitter.com/ggwOPFKvFj

— Acyn (@Acyn) December 20, 2022

Horrors

Representative Kevin Brady (R-TX) has the vapors over the House Ways and Means Committee releasing Donald Trump's tax returns. It appears that he b elieves that this could lead to could lead to the release of tax teturns for Supreme Court Justices.

Maybe it is a matter of concern if you are a hypocrite from Texas, but for the the rest of us, this appears to be an unalloyed good:

The House Ways and Means Committee released the executive summary of a report on former President Donald Trump's tax returns late Tuesday, and the findings were about what you'd expect. The headline seems to be that the IRS was not conducting its mandatory audits of a sitting president while Trump was that president. Longtime viewers may remember that Trump used to promise he would soon release his returns, but they were under audit so he couldn't. (He could've.) After a while, he stopped even offering the audit excuse and just waged an all-out legal war to keep them out of public view. You'll be shocked to learn that the returns in question feature red flags regarding charitable contributions, "related party loans," and various deductions Trump has claimed since 2015.

But maybe the funniest element here has been the extended histrionics from House Republicans at the prospect that Trump's tax returns could be released. As a reminder, every presidential candidate since Nixon has voluntarily released their tax returns except Trump, the guy whose eponymous foundation and university have been shuttered for extremely above-board business practices, and whose flagship company was found guilty of criminal tax fraud earlier this month. If you're curious whether Joe Biden is getting shady kickback payments from Hunter Biden via his laptop or whatever, you could start your investigation by reviewing his tax returns for the last few years. They're posted on his website! But the public getting a look at the tax returns of his predecessor, Mr. Legal Man, is a national emergency.

It's such an emergency, in fact, that Rep. Kevin Brady took to the microphones to warn of the slippery slope we're toeing up to on this dark day in American history.

The Supreme Court is the most opaque institution in the Federal government.  We do not know how corrupt they are, though between Clarence Thomas and Bret Kavanaugh, I am pretty sure that there are some snollygosters on the court.

Releasing their tax returns would go a long way toward deterring corruption at the court.