For some reason the left seems to think that if the public knew Trump was only worth $300mm instead of $100B or something, they'll refuse to vote for him in 2020. Or that there will be a line item on his 1040 form saying "tax deductible bribe from Vladimir Putin, $10mm."
Should Trump have released his tax returns long ago? Of course. Is there going to be something in there which will be straightforward rationale to impeach or cause him to lose the election, no. Do I care if they're released and he's embarrassed, likewise no. This reminds me of the Bill Clinton days and right wing dipshits wanted to release Bubba's medical files because they were sure he had an STD and that would be what caused him to lose the election. It was stupid then, and it's likewise stupid now.
The judicial system is biased toward protection of the innocent. While it isn't written, a president's "innocence" is of less consequence, since the entire gamut of national security, economic stability, and the integrity of the Law for everyone have more consequence. CIA careerists don't have First Amendment rights for this reason; their colleagues must vet any employee seeking to publish a memoir, spy novel, or any book. It is likely that Julia Child's authoritative book on French cooking was reviewed by a committee pending the company's decision to allow publication.
This is why CSI employees begin to put together a complete evidence profile of a crime, and are often asked no less than other investigators to find additional evidence. Reasonable doubt is in the eye of the beholder, but there are at least twelve of them. "Not guilty" does not equate to "innocent".
Trump's three generations of family were notoriously proven to commit tax fraud, and if they weren't convicted or charges were dropped, it had less to do with the Truth and more to do with negotiated settlement of back taxes and fines. Trump would not be attempting to use IRS employees to thwart the traditional audit of presidential taxes if he weren't guilty of something; it is unlikely that he merely wants his limited wealth hidden to preserve a myth.
The audit and traditional release of candidate taxes are two different things. If the candidate had released his taxes in the first place, there would never be news items of too much consequence about the audit findings. The audit findings might later turn up as documents of historical fact, like Nixon's tax audits. But if there is something that cannot be white-washed as "taxpayer error" or "interpretation of tax law", if there is something egregious, then -- it will out.
And the Supreme Offender will be judged by his Citizens -- not just his peers. This is how one crime likely explains another one, and meddling with IRS agency policy to keep tax crimes hidden is probably as serious as obstruction charges could get.
How could anyone approve an elected official using the official powers of government to cover up his crimes, or fabricate reality to support greater chances of re-election? Or are you some sort of Space Alien, with the morality of a snail, indifferent to the Law, to Fairness, Justice, and all the other things that make Life, Liberty and Happiness possible?
The prosecution of tax fraud, in my opinion, has declined to laxity. If all loopholes were closed and all deliberate fraud were punished, we would worry less about deficits. And the ability of a nation-state to hold its public accountable for the obligation to pay taxes, with the willingness of the public to meet that obligation, separates an nation with integrity from a third-world banana republic.
Now, add in all the other things for which (a) there is a CSI-level of collected evidence, and which (b) can be inferred from the existing facts, and you can be fairly certain that Trump is guilty of several crimes, and these crimes far exceed minimum understanding of "high crimes and misdemeanors". It is likely that Trump, no less than for anyone else in his socio-economic class, should serve hard time for things he has done beginning a year or more before the 2016 election, and perhaps extending over longer period of time. It is likely -- highly possible -- that all the so-called "hoaxes" are linked together by an overlap of evidence and action.
There is a despicable criminal in the White House, and you want to shake it off as "moral turpitude". I'm sorry, but these issues are no less profound than the moral issue of slavery in Lincoln's time.
You don't know what's in his tax returns. It's pretty likely damaging to him and I'm all for anything that damages his influence or better yet his reelectability. The scum that's accumulated around this presidency is already up around the ankles. Release of T's tax returns would probably put it up around his calves.
Public officials must be held to a higher standard. Public officials have less fundamental rights. The disclosure of presidential taxes or even the taxes of every lower elected official in our three-tiered system of government should be a criterion just for being allowed to run for office.
Being "public" officials, you could almost say that the Public owns their elected officials. The officials may have power, but the Public is owed complete disclosure. Otherwise, Slick Willie would not have had to answer for a bl*w-j*b in the Oral Orifice. It is an outrage that any Responsible Citizen should think that Willie cannot have his knob polished without disclosure in the Oral Orifice, while Trump's tax returns and abject criminality should remain unpunished and hidden from the public.