FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 17, 2017
CONTACT:
press@taxmarch.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. – As demand continues to grow for Donald Trump’s tax returns, 11 new groups are joining the nationwide Tax March on Tax Day this year to demand President Trump release his tax returns to the American people. The groups joining the coalition are: Action Group Network, Common Cause, CREDO, Daily Kos, Economic Policy Institute, Jobs With Justice, Project Vote, Public Citizen, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, Rise Stronger, and Stand Up America.
Together with the seven groups already in the coalition, a grassroots movement is building all across the country to demand Trump make his conflicts of interest clear by releasing his tax returns. Countless potential conflicts of interests have already been revealed between government and Trump’s financial interests. Urgency for his tax returns has grown with the latest revelations about his campaign’s contact with Russian operatives and with the public disclosure of two pages of his 2005 tax returns earlier this week.
Despite promises throughout the presidential campaign, Donald Trump still has not released his tax returns, bucking decades-old norms. Every major presidential candidate and president since President Nixon has released his tax returns. Because we have not seen President Trump’s full tax returns, the American public still does not know where Trump’s income came from, and who he is indebted to, and we still do not know if he’s cheated the system by not paying his fair share.
The national march will be in Washington, D.C., beginning with a rally in front of the U.S. Capitol. The march will proceed up Pennsylvania Avenue, passing one of Trump’s most prominent conflicts of interest, the Trump International Hotel, as well as the IRS building. In addition, there are now more than 100 marches planned nationwide including in major cities like New York and Los Angeles, and many in red states including Little Rock, Arkansas, and Boise, Idaho. The groups join American Federation of Teachers, Americans for Tax Fairness, Center for Popular Democracy, Indivisible Project, MoveOn.org, Our Revolution, and The Working Families Party as supporters of the Tax March.
“We are excited to join the Tax March movement and support the grassroots work that is being done to show Donald Trump that we will not stand idly by as he continues to hide his sources of income and overseas business deals,” said CREDO political director Murshed Zaheed. “Wealthy Americans like Trump have exploited tax loopholes to avoid paying their fair share in taxes for too long,” Zaheed continued. “Trump and his billionaire cronies cannot be allowed to steal from their fellow Americans anymore.”
“Transparency is a vital ingredient of a functioning democracy. By refusing to release his tax returns, Donald Trump blatantly disregards precedent and disrespects voters,” said Jessica Adair, director of partnerships at Stand Up America. “The American people have legitimate questions about Trump’s conflicts of interests here and abroad. Our team at Stand Up America and our grassroots community of over a million Americans will not rest until we have answers.”
“As Americans, it is our responsibility to hold our elected officials accountable. We join the Tax March movement to do just that, to hold President Trump accountable for his actions,” said Andy Kim of Rise Stronger. “The longer President Trump withholds his tax returns, the more it feels like he is hiding something significant from us and we, as his constituents and his boss, deserve answers.”
“Accountability begins with transparency, and for President Trump, transparency begins with his tax returns,” said Karen Hobert Flynn, Common Cause president. “Donald Trump now works for the American people and they deserve to know that their president is making decisions in the best interest of the country and that his thinking is not clouded by the interests of his extensive international business holdings. If Donald Trump’s claims that he has nothing to hide are to be believed, then he must begin by releasing his taxes – a low presidential bar that even Richard Nixon met while he too was under IRS audit.”
“We are honored to be joining the Tax March movement – made up of workers and Americans who pay their taxes year after year,” said Saru Jayaraman, co-founder and co-director of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United. “Workers, even those earning the subminimum wage like restaurant workers, are the backbone of this country, paying their taxes, doing their civic service, and contributing to their communities. It is unconscionable that our president does not do the same.”
“We’re united by the desire to earn a fair return on our work so our families and communities can thrive. As good citizens and neighbors, we pay taxes to build jobs and neighborhoods that sustain our families. We contribute our fair share, but too many corporate CEOs aren’t doing the same,” said Sarita Gupta, executive director of Jobs With Justice. “President Trump is rigging the rules by avoiding his tax liability and failing to release his taxes. That’s why we’re joining together with hundreds of thousands of people across the country on April 15 demanding Trump disclose his tax returns. The unprecedented interest in the Tax March is proof positive that Americans want an economy that works for all and not just for the wealthy and the well-connected.”
For decades, presidents have released their tax returns to show the American public that they have nothing to hide, and they are putting Americans’ interests first,” said Autumn Dornfeld, program director for Action Group Network. “We are joining with the Tax March because we are seeing everyday Americans, regardless of party affiliation, come out of the woodwork to ask ‘What is he hiding?’ ”
The Tax Marches will take place in Washington, D.C., and around the country on April 15, the due date for Americans’ taxes. Every year, millionaires and billionaires are able to avoid paying their fair share of taxes, exploiting loopholes in our tax system to pay the bare minimum, and sometimes nothing at all. The March will call for an equitable tax system, one that ensures that the super rich pay their fair share.
