Democrat Governor Who Pushed for Trump's Tax Returns Didn't Pay Income Tax for Years
Gov. Jared Polis used loopholes to avoid tax
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Democratic Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado failed to pay income taxes for a number of years, despite his repeated calls for Donald Trump to release his tax returns.
ProPublica reported on Polis' apparent hypocrisy when poring over financial documents contained from wealthy lawmakers and public officials.
Polis was one of those who used loopholes to avoid paying taxes.
But while Polis was in Congress in 2017, he was very vocal against Trump’s decision to keep his tax documents private was a violation of transparency.
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Polis also accused Trump of having “something to hide,” even attempting to pass a resolution to force Trump to disclose his financials.
Polis, who is worth a reported nine figures, decided he would not release his own tax returns when facing off against Republican Walker Stapleton.
The reason? Maybe because Polis avoided paying federal income taxes for a number of years, even paying at a lower rate than a middle-class worker would have.
“Despite a net worth estimated to be in the hundreds of millions, Polis paid nothing in federal income taxes in 2013, 2014, and 2015. "
"From 2010 to 2018, his overall rate was just 8.2% — less than half of the 19% paid by a worker making $45,000 in 2018,” ProPublica reported after having obtained the tax forms of some of the country’s wealthiest public servants."
The report on Polis’ tax documents is something Colorado’s voters need to think about.
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In 2018, the Associated Press reported on the then-gubernatorial hopeful’s hesitancy to release his tax returns during his race against Stapleton.
″[T]he American people have the right to know whether or not their president is operating under conflicts of interest related to international affairs, tax reform, government contracts or otherwise,” Polis said of Trump as he sought to have the former president’s financial forms looked at by the House Ways and Means Committee in 2017, the AP reported.
During a Denver rally in 2017, Polis also made an issue out of Trump’s tax status.
“The people deserve to know if he’s beholden to Russian financial oligarchs,” Polis said.
“We deserve that level of transparency from all our presidential candidates, Democratic and Republican, in the future.”
“With public pressure, like these marches, like letters and calls to your elected officials, hopefully, we’ll build the movement to demand transparency,” Polis told demonstrators.
While in Congress, Polis was the wealthiest Democrat in the House, worth an estimated $313 million in 2018, the AP reported.
